Image Credit: Bunker Holding

As the world's largest marine fuels firm by sales volumes, almost everyone in the bunker industry will have at some point had dealings with one part or another of Bunker Holding.

The firm saw bunker sales of about 24 million mt in 2025, down slightly from 25 million mt in 2024 and 2023.

Bunker Holding was founded in 1981 in Middelfart by entrepreneur Torben Østergaard-Nielsen.

The firm is the flagship subsidiary of the United Shipping & Trading Company (USTC), a family-owned Danish conglomerate established in 1876 that encompasses diverse maritime and logistics businesses.

Under the USTC umbrella, Bunker Holding benefits from links to sister companies like Uni-Tankers for tanker operations and Global Risk Management for hedging services, though it operates with significant autonomy.

With a workforce exceeding 1,300 employees across 62 offices in 32 countries, the company is the largest seller of marine fuels around the world, with coverage at 1,613 ports worldwide. That fuel is all sold via a network of individually branded bunker trading, broking and supply entities.

Key Brands

Bunker Holding operates a wide network of individually branded bunker trading, broking, supply and other entities.

While the company is increasingly looking to centralise functions where beneficial, its diversified brand structure remains key to its strategy, with the brands competing with each other as well as the rest of the market for sales and staff.

Its most significant subsidiaries, all with a global reach, are the following:

• Dan-Bunkering: A trading firm founded in 1981 and based at Bunker Holding's headquarters in Middelfart.
• Glander International Bunkering: Founded in New York in 1961 and having later moved to Florida, Glander is a broker/trader now based in Dubai. The modern incarnation of Glander International Bunkering's brand was formed in 2013, when Dubai-based International Bunkering acquired US-based Glander International.
• KPI OceanConnect: A hybrid broker/trader known previously as KPI Bridge Oil before merging with OceanConnect Marine in 2020. KPI OceanConnect also contains Bunker Holding's key accounts unit, KPI OceanConnect Global Accounts.
• Bunker One: Bunker Holding's physical supply unit, launched in 2018.
• AuctionConnect: The longest-established name in the digital bunkering space, AuctionConnect was originally part of OceanConnect Marine and then KPI OceanConnect before being spun out into its own business. The firm offers digital bunker purchasing through online auctions.

2024/2025 Results

Bunker Holding continued to experience financial pressure in the 2024/25 financial year, reporting its lowest profits in seven years.

The company saw pre-tax profit from continuing operations of $46 million, down by 63.8% from a year earlier.

Bunker Holding had lost about $125 million in the 2023/24 financial year from its onshore cargo trading unit PSTV Cargo.

The operation focused on non-maritime onshore customers, and the company had previously said the loss came from 'unfavourable market conditions and political instability'.

Investigations into those losses revealed the need for further write-downs totalling about $36 million in 2024/25.

The company expects further turmoil in the 2025/26 financial year, it said in June 2025.

Management Changes

The firm has undergone significant changes since late 2024.

In September 2025 it announced the departure of CEO Keld Demant after 27 years with the company.

Demant was replaced in the role by Peder Møller, who had previously served as CEO of sister company GRM.

Anders Grønborg, previously CEO of KPI OceanConnect, now serves as Bunker Holding's chief commercial officer after joining the firm in November 2024.

At the end of 2024 the company also announced a management reorganisation, splitting its commercial department into two divisions: Bunker Holding Sales and Bunker Holding Operations.

In May 2025 Bunker Holding announced a restructuring of its legal structure in an effort to streamline operations and strengthen engagement with customers. The changes included a simplification of legal structures that were geared towards goals such as needing to hold fewer ISCC certifications for individual brands, and were not made as part of any staff reduction programme, the company said at the time.

The firm also announced in November 2025 the merging of the Baseblue brand's Eastern Mediterranean operations into KPI OceanConnect. The move followed earlier steps in Hong Kong, where Baseblue and KPI OceanConnect were combined under one brand to expand market share and strengthen supply links.

In July 2025 Bunker Holding told Ship & Bunker it had been presented with a counter-offer for a rival bunker company for which it had made an offer earlier in the year, but no further news has been announced since.