Business

European Shippers’ Council acts on bunker surcharges

Requests European Commission to investigate fair competition violation of shipping firms.

Published

8 years ago

June 17, 2018

Admin

The following is a letter written by Nik Delmeire, Secretary General at the European Shippers’ Council, sent to various members of the European Commission including Violeta Bulc, Commissioner for Transport; Henrik Hololei, Director-General for Mobility and Transport; Hubert de Broca, Head of Unit: Antitrust, Post and Other Services, DG Competition to investigate if recent Emergency Bunker Surcharges of shipping companies have violated any principles of fair competition:

The European Shippers’ Council (ESC) has been informed by its members that most of the largest container liner companies have increased their freight rates as of June 1st, 2018, by adding an emergency bunker surcharge to the normal freight rate.

Under the present circumstances, the use of such instrument is unjustified. Oil prices had indeed been rising during the last month, but the latest hike cannot be assimilated to an emergency. Oil price fluctuations, up or down, had been frequently happening in the past years and no negative surcharge was applied when the barrel of oil went down to 40 US$ some time ago.

The application of any emergency surcharge should be reserved for events that cannot be foreseen (such as a crisis influencing the availability of oil). In those situations, it would be unreasonable to have the carrier bear alone the impact on the price of bunker fuel.

On the contrary, under the present circumstances, the carrier can use a specific clause which exists in many contracts, except for all-in rates type of contracts or spot contracts, to revise the freight rates accordingly. Including such a clause in the contract is part of the negotiating process between the parties. If such a clause is not provided for in the contract in force, the price should remain the same until the contract is completed.

The fact that the container liners, who announced that they would apply such a surcharge, have been doing it almost simultaneously is, from ESC point of view, tantamount to price signaling, and therefore, is in contradiction with the spirit of the “GRI commitment” which liners agreed upon with the European Commission 2 years ago. At that moment, fourteen container liner shipping companies committed to increase price transparency for customers and to reduce the likelihood of coordinating prices by ending the practice of publishing and communicating General Rate Increase (GRI) announcements, i.e. changes to prices expressed solely as an amount or percentage of the change, along with several other measures to improve price transparency. This commitment was given legal force by a Commission Decision on 7 July 2016.

The current potential sign of restricted competition is also given at a time when the European Commission is starting the process of assessing the existing Consortia Block Exemption Regulation.

With this letter, we would like to make you aware of the present state of facts and urge the European Commission to act accordingly if any principles of fair competition are broken. ESC remains at your disposal for any further clarification you may require.

Published: 18 June, 2018

Technology

Singapore: Ofiniti, ONE trial direct platform integration to streamline bunker workflows

Ofiniti started a trial in Singapore, integrating FuelBoss directly with a bunker buyer’s own platform, with Ocean Network Express as its first buyer-side integration partner.

Published

52 minutes ago

July 22, 2026

Admin

Singapore: Ofiniti, ONE trial direct platform integration to streamline bunker workflows

Ofiniti, the digital platform for maritime fuel operations, on Tuesday (21 July) said it has started a trial in Singapore, integrating FuelBoss directly with a bunker buyer’s own platform.

The company announced Singapore-headquartered container shipping firm Ocean Network Express (ONE) as its first buyer-side integration partner.

“It is no coincidence we start in Singapore, as the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) remains at the forefront of digitalisation of all things bunkering,” the company said in a social media post.

In November 2023, MPA launched its digital bunkering platform, becoming the world’s first port to implement e-BDN.

Ofiniti said every bunker delivery still runs on retyped data.

“The buyer’s system says one thing, the supplier says another, and someone reconciles the gap by email, phone, or PDF. On every stem,” the company said.

“We built FuelBoss to change this reality.”

With the integration, operational data now flows without manual re-entry, fewer reconciliation errors and faster processing and data, instead of documents, are readily available for procurement and claims workflows.

“One connection will not transform the industry on its own, but digitalisation gets built one integration at a time. We are grateful to ONE for being willing to go first,” Ofiniti added.

Manifold Times previously reported ONE completing its successful trial of the electronic Bunker Delivery Note (e-BDN) with Shell.

The e-BDN trial, using the digital bunkering solution developed by Angsana Technology, was conducted on 9 September 2023 at the Port of Singapore, with support from the MPA.

In March 2025, Ofiniti acquired Singapore-based Angsana Technology, with the entire Angsana team joining Ofiniti as part of the acquisition.

Photo credit: Ofiniti
Published: 22 July, 2026

Legal

Singapore withdraws remaining 127 charges against Hin Leong founder OK Lim

Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges on 17 July.

Published

23 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

Founder of collapsed oil trader Hin Leong Trading, Lim Oon Kuin, also known as OK Lim, has had the remaining 127 charges against him withdrawn, according to The Straits Times on Monday (20 July).

OK Lim was issued a stern warning and a district court granted him a discharge amounting to an acquittal for these charges, including those for cheating, on 17 July. The discharge means Lim cannot be prosecuted again for the same offences.

Lim, 84, is currently serving a 13½-year prison sentence after the High Court reduced his original 17½-year jail term in March 2026. He was convicted in 2024 on two cheating charges and one count of abetting forgery in a case prosecutors described as one of Singapore’s most serious trade finance frauds.

Lim was convicted in May 2024 of two charges of cheating the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and one count of abetting forgery that proceeded to trial out of a total of 130 criminal charges.

He was first charged in court on 14 August 2020, and was subsequently handed further charges in court on 25 September 2020, 30 April 2021 and 24 June 2021 for his role in perpetuating fraud on various financial institutions.

A total of 130 charges were eventually brought against him for cheating and forgery-related offences.

Photo credit: Sora Shimazaki
Published: 21 July, 2026

Winding up

Singapore: Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd to be wound up voluntarily

Coastal Logistics was reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

Published

23 hours ago

July 21, 2026

Admin

Several resolutions for Coastal Logistics Pte Ltd were made during an extraordinary general meeting held on 14 July, according to a notice in the Government Gazette on Friday (4 July).

The following resolutions were duly passed during the meeting:

As Special Resolution

That it has been proved to the satisfaction of the meeting that the Company cannot by reason of its liabilities continue its business and accordingly the Company be wound up voluntarily pursuant to Section 160(1)(b) of the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (No. 40 of 2018);

As Ordinary Resolutions

that Mr. Wong Pheng Cheong Martin and Ms. Koay May Yee, both care of FTI Consulting (Singapore) Pte Ltd, One Raffles Quay, #27-10 South Tower, Singapore 048583 be appointed as the joint and several Liquidators of the Company for the purpose of such winding up; and
that the Liquidators be at liberty to open, maintain and operate any bank account(s) or account(s) for monies received by them as Liquidators with such bank(s) as they deem fit; and
that a Committee of Inspection will not be formed.

Manifold Times previously reported Nicholas James Gronow, director of Heng Tong Fuels & Shipping and Coastal Logistics, filed statutory declarations for both companies stating the firms cannot continue their businesses due to liabilities.

Both companies were reportedly affiliated with troubled Singapore bunker player Coastal Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

In 2019, several vessels owned by both firms entered the sale & purchase (S&P) market in Singapore.