Typically ranging from 40 – 60% of total operating costs (depending on several factors), bunkers represent one of the most significant cost components associated with any voyage. In addition to the cost implications, bunkers also significantly impact other important areas of your business that must be carefully measured and managed – such as your risk management strategy, voyage optimization, and environmental impact.

Therefore, it isn’t enough to simply consider marine fuel a transactional asset to be acquired before and during voyages. Today’s organizations require a data-driven bunker procurement and management strategy, which yields financial and environmental dividends. Following are four ways your business can embrace a more intentional and strategic approach to bunker procurement and management:

1. Integrate voyage management and bunker procurement.

To ensure the Bunker Desk has full visibility of all Bunker stem requirements, it is important that real-time visibility of all bunker requirements is available in a centralized workflow to help determine the most efficient and best options of where to bunker and when. Alignment between your Voyage Operations and Bunker Procurement teams is also essential to ensuring that your bunker procurement process achieves economies of scale in the bunker purchase market. Veson clients leverage the VIP Bunker Module as well as integrations with our strategic Platform Partners, such as BunkerMetric and ZeroNorth, to work collaboratively and size opportunities at the right time.

2. Measure mark-to-market exposure with comprehensive insights.

When market realities or voyage conditions and bunker price volatility create unexpected challenges for the commercial management of marine freight, having the right tools and processes available to assess the impact of these changes in real-time allows you to take appropriate action to minimize any negative consequences, and stay ahead of the market. The integrated Voyage P&L function and VIP Trading & Risk module assists our clients to do just that.

3. Make bunker swaps to proactively hedge against risk.

A proactive approach is key. One way to hedge against bunker exposure is to perform bunker swaps and virtually lock in fuel prices in favor of a more consistent bottom line. To accomplish this, you’ll need a commercial maritime solution that can capture and account for bunker swaps and their impact on voyage and fleet finances.

4. Report on everything.

Between bunker prices, vessel performance, fuel consumption, emissions, and the ever-changing voyage P&L, the bunkering function has no shortage of KPIs to keep track of. By performing consistent and comprehensive analyses before, during, and after every voyage, your organization can achieve a more robust benchmarking and understanding of the bunker management function and proactively capitalize on opportunities for improvement.

Comprehensive bunker procurement, management, and analysis with the Veson IMOS Platform (VIP)

As maritime shipping organizations adapt their bunker procurement and management strategy to handle more volatile markets, numerous fuel types, and evolving sustainability requirements, it is critical that they select a platform and partner that position them for long term success. Veson is that partner for 300+ of the world’s largest buyers and sellers of marine freight. To learn more, visit our Bunker Management page below and check out this use case.