Americas News
Jamaican Bunker Player Partners with "Massive Global Company"
Jamaica's West Indies Petroleum (WIP) says it has partnered with a "massive global company" in order to support its efforts in expanding its bunker business in the Caribbean and Central American region, local media reports.
"We've partnered with a massive global company and they have a lot of product in storage at different locations all over the world. They are not very big players in the region, we're working with them and, based on our ability to sell, getting the product delivered here is not a problem. We will trans-ship regionally as well, using other vessels," WIP CEO Charles Chambers told local media.
WIP says it expects a first shipment of about 400,000 barrels of fuel to arrive by the end of March, putting the company's the new storage facility at full capacity by April.
Chambers says WIP is working to develop into a major regional player, adding: "our business is primarily focused on the regional export market and we feel like we've identified an opportunity to participate in that space."
With a third 96,000 barrel capacity fuel barge now in operation, the company is reported to have more than doubled its delivery capacity to 168,000 barrels.
"It's a big deal to have that much volume of fuel," said Chambers.
"The bunker market is where it all started for us, we're pushing deeper into that space and literally turning it into something that it is not at the moment."
In June, WIP told Ship & Bunker that had completed a $22.5 million (JMD2.8 billion) acquisition of an ethanol dehydration plant from the Jamaica Broilers Group (JB), which it planned to turn into a bunker storage facility to support its expanding operations.
