Aegean will quit the Singapore physical bunker supply market in January 2018, however, retain a trading presence in the Lion City. Aegean has had a physical supply presence in the world's largest bunkering market for 11 years.
In what it described as a “highly competitive” market Aegean said it had hoped the introduction of mandatory Mass Flow Meters (MFM) at the start of the year by the Singapore authorities help improve the market.
“We had hoped that enforcement of mandatory mass flow meter (MFM)-equipped bunker barging in January would have driven commercial improvement in the Singapore market allowing Aegean to compete profitably. However, 2017 has seen heightened commercial pressures in Singapore, and as a result, management has determined that Aegean's resources can be more profitably deployed elsewhere,” Jonathan McIlroy, president of Aegean said.
The company said that all deliveries booked by clients would be fulfilled.
"We will continue to employ a team of traders and support staff who will actively support our valuable clients in this market. This office will support our broad base of Asian customers across both our global physical supply network as well as handling back-to-back bunker trading and our lubricants business in Singapore and Southeast Asia,” he added.
With the decision to pull out of the Singapore physical trading market Aegean has expansion planned in other geographical areas, which it says are at an advanced stage of development, following a move into Savannah in the US and La Croix in the US Virgin Islands this year.
"We expect to debut these new markets over the course of 2018 and believe they will continue to reinforce Aegean's commitment of being an innovative market leader as the industry looks forward to change ahead in 2020,” McIlroy said.
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