State of the Industry: Bunker Suppliers, Ship Owners in for Harder Times

Bunker suppliers and ship owners can expect harder times ahead, says Robin Meech, Managing Director at Marine and Energy Consulting Limited, who spoke to Ship & Bunker ahead of tomorrow's inaugural "State of the Industry" webinar.

The two-hour online event will be held on May 26 at 11 AM CET / 10 AM London / 5pm Singapore time, and is free to attend.

"It may take five years before bunker demand recovers from a 7% drop back to 2019 levels with smaller ports feeling the strain. The market will become more competitive, credit more difficult to source taking its toll on the least robust suppliers. Ship owners are also in for harder times with only minimal growth in international trade," said Meech, who is one of six confirmed speakers.

"This lack of liquidity will slow our efforts to improve the environment. Covid is devastating and was unexpected, but we can see global warming on the horizon - its impact on humanity will make the current pandemic seem like a walk in the park."

Meech will be joined by Adrian Tolson of BLUE Insight, Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at BIMCO, IBIA Chairman and Senior Director at Bunker Holding Henrik Zederkof, Paul Hardy of NSI, and Steve Bee, group commercial and business development director at VPS.

In addition to the presentations, the webinar will have two panel discussion sessions with Q&A moderated by Ship & Bunker Managing Editor, Jack Jordan.

"This is not the post-2020 environment we expected," said Martyn Lasek, Managing Director of Ship & Bunker.

"There is much to discuss, and we are delighted to have this impressive slate of speakers to help us understand what the key issues for marine fuel industry stakeholders today are, how did we got here, and what can we expect in the months ahead."

For more information and to view the full agenda please visit: https://shipandbunker.com/webinar.

To register for the webinar, click here.