Bunker services available

Johannesburg - Shipping group said its subsidiary Cockett Marine Oil will start a bunkers-only service for shipping operators transiting the English Channel, one of the world's busiest trading routes, next week.

From Monday, Cockett Marine Oil will be able to quote prices for fuel oils for delivery from Wednesday, when the new service officially starts.

Cockett Marine Oil predicts that it will supply at least 1 million tonnes of marine fuels, including low and high sulphur fuel variants, and
gasoil.

The unit is a specialist marine oil trader based in London with a network of international offices. Read more on www.inetbridge.com

Cockett Marine Oil has worked closely with the Port of London Authority to develop a bunkers-only service in the English Channel, Grindrod said.

The new service will be operated from three anchorages in the Thames Estuary and will commence from next Wednesday.

This service, Grindrod said, will take advantage of being closer to the traffic separation schemes in the English Channel and require a diversion of only 1-2 hours from the shipping lanes, in contrast to the diversions required to reach other bunkering facilities in the English Channel.

Grindrod said shipping lines had reacted "extremely positively" to the news that Cockett Marine Oil is to start a new bunkers-only service for ships transiting the English Channel.

"We have been delighted to receive such positive feedback and have been promised strong support, especially from European shipping companies. The message we are hearing loud and clear is that the industry has been waiting for an alternative bunkers-only facility serving the English Channel and at the entrance to the North Sea," Karl Beeson, managing director at Cockett Group, said.

The two key commercial factors driving interest in the service are competitive pricing and that it requires a diversion of only one to two hours from the shipping lanes, Beeson said.

"As a result we will be able to compete head-to-head with existing facilities in the English Channel, and also with other major international bunkers-only supply centres," Beeson said.