Bunkering to target profitable vessels, Shimad says

A bunkering service, which was launched in Ihavandhippolhu on Thursday, is aimed at providing services to large profitable vessels, said Shimad Ibrahim, Managing Director of STO, one of the three companies operating the project.

Shimad was speaking at a ceremony held in HA. Hoarafushi on Thursday to launch the offshore bunkering service which provides various services to international vessels traveling from the north across Maldives.

The project is being implemented by STO and MPL on behalf of Maldives and Vitol as an international partner.

Speaking at the ceremony, Shimad said that since the project was signed and marketed with Vitol, Vitol started receiving inquiries from different parts of the world.

“Together with Vitol, we want to [serve] the luxury vessels and niche markets that are going through the Maldivian region. We can target vessels that will give us big profits and serve those vessels,” he said.

"It's not just about servicing every ship that travels."

Initially, two types of ships will be launched, he said:

"Under the agreement with Vitol, we are starting the project with a zero working capital, so to speak. This means that Vitol will supply us with oil. Vitol will help us to sell the oil and we will spend the money from the sale of oil on Vitol," he said.

In his speech, Shimad mentioned that Vitol also provided a lot of assistance in setting up the infrastructure to provide this service. He added: