Recycled Bunker Firm Gets €1 Million More Financing

Ecoslops Monday announced that it has signed its first medium term financing of €1 million.

France-based Ecoslops Monday announced that it has signed its first medium term financing deal worth €1 million ($1.11 million) with a Portuguese bank, which extends over a four-year period.

Ecoslops also says it is on track to meet its annual target of producing at least 30,000 tonnes of regenerated slops in 2017 from its Port of Sinès refinery.

Vincent Favier, CEO of Ecoslops said that the company's "successful performance" has been obvious over the year since the company's refinery in the Port of Sinès was officially opened.

"Having proven its industrial efficiency by recycling and upcycling over 98 percent of the hydrocarbon residue collected, we can confirm that the monthly production target of 2,500 metric tonnes will be reached by the end of 2016 and that at least 30,000 tonnes will be produced in 2017, meeting our initial objective," said Favier.

"Simultaneously, our prospective and development projects and partnerships are progressing well. This industrial and commercial momentum further increases our confidence, and we are reiterating our objectives of signing deals for three new sites by the end of 2017 and seeing our Sinès site break even by the end of 2016."

The Sinès plant is said to be continuing to deliver regular increases in its production, having produced almost 2,100 metric tonnes a month during April and May - a development which is said to have reinforced the company’s confidence in its capacity for a monthly output of 2,500 metric tonnes by the end of the year.

Highlighting other recent developments, Ecoslops says it has established a partnership with a number of ship owners, including Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC), which discharge their slops when they call the port.

Ecoslops says the arrangement has enabled the company to obtain competitive prices and enabled it to grow the amount of collected dehydrated slops from 400 metric tonnes to more than double that.

"This demonstrates that ECOSLOPS can substantially boost the collection of local slops due to the proven viability of its business model, which is based on transforming slops into commercial products, rather than on the high collection prices that have to be paid by shipping companies elsewhere," stated Ecoslops.

"Implementing ECOSLOPS’ model on a widespread basis will serve to drive the sustainable disposal and regeneration of slops across the shipping industry."

In April, Ecoslops, announced that the French government had awarded the company a €200,000 ($225,360) grant in support of a MDO desulfurisation project.