UAE-based GP Global has announced ambitious plans to strengthen its international bunkering business with the addition of new supporting infrastructure, and hiring experienced industry professionals at key offices including Dubai and Singapore.
With the goal of expanding the group’s marine fuel business while getting ready to supply IMO 2020 compliant fuel to their customers, GP Global is leveraging their international network to ramp up its bunkering business and gear up to meet the International Maritime Organization’s global 0.5 per cent fuel sulphur content.
Key bunkering activities that GP Global will be focusing on include plans to increase the number of barges to boost the group’s capacity to up to 100 KTPM, said a statement from the company.
The group has already increased its time chartered fleet in the ARA market by three barges, giving them seven barges in total, with one of them being a specialist barge focusing on 0.86 gasoil market, it said.
GP Global has also restarted its trucking business to cover fuel oil and marine gas oil in major ports in the UAE, increasing the group’s market share by drawing on its assets of owning trucks and utilising tanks at the Hamriyah Terminal.
Group Director Prerit Goel said: "GP Global is committed to providing bunker customers globally with compliant fuel for regulatory changes by IMO in 2020. We are prepared to offer 0.5 per cent Low Sulphur Fuel oil (LSFO) from April to our customers in major ports and at physical delivery points of Rotterdam/ARA, Fujairah and Singapore."
“These can help our customers plan their voyage economics and fuel compatibility for 2020 and beyond. We shall extend the availability of low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) to other smaller ports where we are physical suppliers by Q4 2019 in preparation for the regulatory changes in January 2020,” stated Goel.
"In addition to above, our fuel delivery systems at all ports shall include high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) and marine gas oil (MGO) meeting the changing needs of our customers as we go into 2020. We are also gearing up to provide specific lubricant solutions in the major ports conforming with the changes in fuel specs over the course of a vessel’s voyage," he added.
The company, he stated, was a global bunker supplier with operations in Europe, Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and the Far East with bunker trading offices in Rotterdam (Netherlands), London (UK), Geneva (Switzerland), Dubai (UAE), India, Singapore and Seoul (South Korea).
"We are currently exploring to enter the bunker market in America and expect to supply 5 million metric tonnes of bunkers to customers globally in 2020," he added.
Additionally, GP Global has announced four key appointments in Singapore namely Steve Goh, Jason Kong, Rohan Bhatia and Aaron Hong, all bunker traders.
The new appointees have a proven track record in maintaining a high performing trading book.
Each brings different areas of expertise to the table, Bhatia having spent the bulk of his career working European markets, Hong with experience in physical bunker operations in South East Asia, Kong a blue chip account managing specialist, and Goh with a solid reputation of integrity and reliability amongst suppliers in the region, added the statement.
The team joins existing employees Nishmit Chowta and Eric Toh to form a six strong desk in Singapore, it said.
In other key appointments, David Matthews has joined the London office as bunker trader, West of Suez, while Thanasis Baxevanis and David Rowland have joined the trading desk in Dubai for marine lubricants and bunker trading respectively.
Two new gasoil traders, Marco Van Drom and Barbara Ammelrooij, have also joined the Rotterdam office to focus on niche gasoil business in North West Europe along with the development of greener products in line with our company’s CSR programme to ‘Go Green’.
The new appointments brings GP Global’s bunker trader team to a total of 50, it said.
With the global marine lubricants market expected to reach $9.32 billion by 2025, a focus area of growth for the company too, GP Global is looking to add more lubricant traders to its trader portfolio, it stated.-TradeArabia News Service
GP Global boosts support infrastructure, appointments
Prerit Goel, group director at GP Global
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