Tanker operator Torm adopts IMO 2020-ready bunker app

Product tanker operator Torm has been closely involved in designing Inatech’s Smart Trader fuel risk management app, a toolkit that scours the globe in real-time for the optimal bunker ports, and is one of the first companies to sign up to use it.

Inatech, a unit of Glencore that specialises in energy trading risk management systems, has built the Smart Trader app to enable companies to map their entire fleet of ships and visualise best routes given sea and port conditions to achieve the lowest prices for the desired quality of fuel.

The toolkit leverages bunker alerts and pricing data from S&P Global Platts, the leading independent provider of information, and benchmarks prices for the energy and commodities markets including its IMO 2020 compliant 0.5% sulphur cargo price assessments.

“Improved technology is vital because the new IMO rules will not only increase costs but could also trigger unprecedented volatility in prices as a widening array of choice between the various fuel oil types skews supply and demand dynamics in what is still a relatively opaque market,” said Inatech chief executive Jean-Hervé Jenn. “That motivates our push to broaden the available options for bunker buyers, who will suddenly be immersed in an infinitely more complex market in less than a year’s time.”

Smart Trader enables companies to track their vessels on an integrated system that manages fuel levels on board and updates with live prices and news for supply en route.

The interactive platform not only displays which ships in the fleet are running low on fuel but whether their fuel type is compatible with availability and optimal pricing in the direction of travel and, if it’s not, what would be the most optimal rerouting.

Potential suppliers are checked for quality and credit references to control counterparty risk.

The technology moves the bunker buyer from operational to analytical, continually dissecting and analysing quotes as they’re updated from the full suite of international suppliers.

The app is powered by comprehensive S&P Global Platts data spanning refined wholesale and retail marine fuels including all standard ULSFO, LSFO, IFO, MGO and MDO grades at more than 350 ports worldwide, along with regional indices, 28-day spreads and moving averages.

Smart Trader also includes Platts’ news for the ports of Rotterdam, US Atlantic Coast, US Gulf Coast, Fujairah and Singapore, along with intraday news and feature articles to round out a full picture of the global bunker markets.

Hafnia Tankers has also contracted Inatech to digitalise its bunker buying process.

Have you made your post-IMO 2020 fuel arrangements? Catch up with the thinking on fuel options at the Sulphur Cap 2020 Conference, Awards and Exhibition in Amsterdam 8-9 May 2019.