Americas News
Aegean Moves to Optimise Los Angeles / Long Beach Operations
Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc. [NYSE: ANW] (Aegean) will optimise its operations in the Los Angeles / Long Beach market by lowering its storage costs, but rumours of wider changes are untrue, Keith Richardson, Director of Supply at Aegean Bunkering (USA) LLC, has told Ship & Bunker.
"Our lease is coming up for renewal at the VOPAK terminal and we have the opportunity to move to more cost effective storage, so it makes sense for us to do that," said Richardson.
"Everything else remains the same - we will continue using the same barges and have the same operations."
The move is in line with Aegean's widely publicised target of reducing its global operating expenses by $20 million. In 2Q 2017, Aegean President Jonathan Mcilroy said it had already achieved annualized cost savings of approximately $7 million.
News of the move for Aegean's LA / Long Beach operations was circulating the market last week, prompting some to speculate the world's largest independent physical supplier was looking to reduce its presence there, or was even contemplating exiting it altogether.
Richardson said that this was absolutely not the case.
"We remain 100% committed to serving our customers in this important market," he said.
Alongside efforts to reduce costs, Aegean says it will continue to capitalize on growth opportunities and in June announced the launch of a new service center in Savannah, Georgia.
