INTERVIEW: Bunker Holding Denies Widespread Layoffs After Recent Reorganisation

Keld Demant is CEO of Bunker Holding. Image Credit: Bunker Holding

Bunker Holding CEO Keld Demant has denied market rumours of large-scale layoffs at the firm since a reorganisation announced in November.

On November 21 the company announced its commercial department would be split into two divisions, Bunker Holding Sales and Bunker Holding Operations, led respectively by Chief Commercial Officer Anders Grønborg and Chief Operations Officer Peder Møller.

This month, Ship & Bunker has been approached by several readers mentioning rumours of large-scale changes at the company, thought to include numerous redundancies.

Bunker Holding's CEO discussed these rumours in an interview with Ship & Bunker on Wednesday, saying the changes at the firm have been on a much smaller scale.

"Anders and Peder took over commercial and operations respectively, and of course, having new brooms, they are sweeping - but it's normal housekeeping," Demant said.

"I'm not aware of anywhere where it's more than one or two [staff leaving], and actually others have come in.

"So a layoff of a high number of people, I can definitely deny that it was anything at all close to the truth.

"As it is in any organisation, if Peder or Anders come across people who they find are not producing or living up to the standard they expect, they of course have the liberty to makes changes to their organisation.

"But in the magnitude of what you heard, no way at all."

Reorganisation

The firm's reorganisation is geared towards dealing with an increasingly complex market in a more focused way, Demant said.

"If we look out in the industry that we are servicing, they are getting more and more specialised, and they are putting in higher and higher demand, which we appreciate," he said.

"We see more pooling.

"We see companies finding the business environment when it comes to bunkers becoming more complex, which we agree with.

"And to make sure that we don't become dinosaurs, but keep developing with the market that we are in, we made a program - we call it Fit for Future - and it's very simple; we make sure that our people do have the skills, the knowledge and are working with the client where they can actually provide the most value.

"The major change is that, if you look 25 years back, everybody could work with everybody, but now we are more specialised.

"With either a specific geographic area or a specific segment, you are working more focused on that, and that is the change.

"That is why we have said very clearly that we need people who understand the client's needs, and that's Anders's people who are working on that, and we need some who are able to actually supply the exact needs of the commercial organisation to the customer, and that is what Peder is building."

Multiple Brand Strategy to Remain

Bunker Holding is made up of several different marine fuel brands, including well-known ones such as physical supplier Bunker One and hybrid firm Dan-Bunkering.

This strategy of maintaining a stable of different brands is set to continue for the foreseeable future, Demant said.

"That's definitely a strategy that we will stick to; we will have multiple brands also for the future," he said.

"I would never rule out if it's six, or four [brands], but at the moment there are no plans to change.

"But it would be stupid of me to say that that will never happen; it can happen in a year's time, in five years' time, or whenever it suits us best, but at the moment there are no changes.

"And it's still our strategy to have more brands, definitely."