Former Oilmar COO Sets Up New Bunker Trading Firm

Rakesh Sharma has established the new company. Image Credit: Rakesh Sharma

Rakesh Sharma, the former chief operating officer of Oilmar, has set up a new bunker trading company.

Sharma stepped down from his role at Oilmar in June, and has now launched FLEX Commodities, he told Ship & Bunker on Wednesday.

The firm is primarily focused on bunker trading, with a side-line in products cargoes.

"We wanted to develop a platform whereby we can bring about more digitalisation of the services that we give our customers," Sharma said.

"We are doing traditional bunker trading, as I and the team have been doing for more than eight years.

"Apart from that, the difference is that we have started moving clips of smaller cargoes already; we are quite active in West Africa, along with Fujairah and Khor Fakkan.

"And probably during Sibcon, we will establish our base in Singapore too."

Digitalised Service

The firm will use a digitalised approach to differentiate itself, Sharma said.

"We are developing our digital platform whereby the customers working with us will have access to the platform to monitor their fleet and their bunkers," he said.

"If they wish to, they are able to actively trade as well."

The firm is also working with a Geneva-based software company to introduce algorithms to help its customers make purchase decisions.

"They develop algorithms to determine the trend and the movement [of prices]," Sharma said.

"With a combination of all of this, we will end up providing better decisions for the end-consumers."

Company Focus

The company has a particular focus on bunker trading at the ARA hub in Northwest Europe, Malta, Khor Fakkan, Fujairah and India, and may form a closer partnership with an ARA physical supplier in time.

"We are very strong out of ARA, WAF and Med regions; we have tremendous supply relationships at those hubs," Sharma said.

"We might become, at one point, partners with one of the physicals down there as well -- that's something in the works, and it might take six months to one year to materialise."

Bunker buyers in the tanker and dry bulk segments are expected to take up the majority of the firm's sales.

Staff Expansion

At present the firm has four employees, but it plans expansion over the next few months as HR, back-office and other staff join.

"I think largely we will be a team of eight people on September," Sharma said.

"And by mid- or end-October, we will be a team of 10 people."