• Can Besev launches Suzun Marine Fuels serving as its Gibraltar-based CEO
• Suzun aims to be the first global bunkering firm focused only on truck-to-ship deliveries
• Company aims to sell about 20,000 mt of bunkers worldwide this year in about 800 delivery operations.
• Besev is joined by Oğuz Ataç, formerly managing director of MGN Energy Bunkering, who servers as global head of trading
• Suzun Marine Fuels is majority owned by Selçuk Mehmet Uzun, CEO of energy and logistics firm Uzun Grubu, who also serves as Chairman
• Besev formerly global business origination manager at Peninsula

Can Besev, formerly global business origination manager at Peninsula, has launched a new bunker company, Suzun Marine Fuels.

Suzun aims to be the first global bunkering firm focused only on truck-to-ship deliveries, he told Ship & Bunker in a recent interview to discuss the new venture.

Besev serves as the new firm's Gibraltar-based CEO and has hired Oğuz Ataç, formerly managing director of MGN Energy Bunkering, as global head of trading.

Suzun Marine Fuels is majority owned by Selçuk Mehmet Uzun, who also serves as its chairman.

Uzun is CEO of energy and logistics firm Uzun Grubu, which has a history in Turkish fuels stretching back to 1965, originally under the leadership of Uzun's father.

Peninsula

Besev is well know in the industry and served at Peninsula for well over a decade. He says the departure has been amicable, and he discussed ideas for his new company with senior management there in advance.

Having played a significant role in Peninsula's expansion to its current position as one of the top marine fuels firms, and said the growth was a case of "unity for progress, and that unity will remain always."

"When I first joined, it was a mid-sized company, and we were a smaller team, and everybody was doing everything; it was very exciting," he added.

"We had one idea in our minds, to make Peninsula the biggest and the best."

"Peninsula is probably the largest bunker company in the world now, handling over 20 million tonnes a year.

"I didn't want to be the person to just stay in the building and tinker about; I wanted to go and build something different far afield."

Neglected Area of the Market

Suzun aims to be the first global bunkering firm focused only on truck-to-ship deliveries, an area of the market Besev argues has been neglected because of its low volumes, but one that is an essential part of the supply chain, especially with increasing demand for gasoil.

"Large players and bunkering hubs are like arteries of bunker supply, but in a healthy system there also has to be capillaries," he said.

"No big company can pay attention to it, nor should they as it is a different business model, a different segment.

"We will focus on that to develop our own niche.

"For any kind of big bunker company, even 300 tonnes is small, because they are very volume-focused by nature.

"They can only handle a number of enquiries per day. Chasing after a 20 tonnes delivery has an opportunity cost.

"Also, the kind of company that typically buys truck deliveries, which is mainly small companies, the big companies don't tend to like these kinds of customers."

Turkish Focus With Global Ambitions

At the core of the new business will be a physical supply operation in Turkey.

Suzun Marine Fuels aims to be the first global bunkering firm focused on truck-to-ship deliveries.

Sister company Rifki Uzun Petrol has a physical supply licence in Turkey and a fleet of more than 20 modern trucks equipped with cameras, flow meters and satellite tracking.

Suzun aims to create a global network of similar trusted suppliers that can deliver by truck at ports across the world. The company aims to sell about 20,000 mt of bunkers worldwide this year in about 800 delivery operations.

"Worldwide, we want to work with people that are as stringent as us about quality, because there are a lot of cowboys out there, and lot of dubious product floating around," Besev said.

"We want to create this trustable network. Our job is to be out on the road and go and vet them to see if they're real, tested suppliers."

Credit Approach

One problem with the smaller companies typically requiring deliveries by truck is that many of them operate somewhat nebulously, and may present a credit risk.

Suzun will take on credit insurance to protect itself from any problems on this front.

"Nobody wants to lose any money," Besev said.

"Credit risk is the most painful part of bunkering. No matter how small it is, you want to put credit insurance in place. For most of these kinds of clients, you are not going to find any database credit report from agencies, or if you do they are going to be outdated.

"We will also do our own assessment and review of these customers. What we find, in an interesting way, is the small guys have more to lose than the big guys; a lot of them are very traditional family businesses that have been around for decades."

The firm will also work with seafarer welfare organisations to ensure its customers are upholding high standards in this area.

"We are not going to work with people who are not kind to their seafarers," Besev said.

"We hope other industry participants will copy us in our stance on CSR, and as a member of IBIA we will bring this to their attention.

"Seafarers are one of the easiest sources of cash, free credit when cash is tight for operators.

"They are often owed months of wages and they are stuck in bad working conditions.

"We want to make this an integral part of our credit and compliance checks so there can be a commercial link between seafarers welfare and assessments."