Taking control of your fuel costs

In today’s shipping world, bunkers are no longer ‘just another expense’. 

In many cases they can be the single biggest cost a ship owner faces. 

With commodity markets experiencing some of the most volatile times to date, today’s ship operators are faced with great uncertainty. Here at Lindsay Blee, we have come to understand that it is no longer enough to simply offer a spot price on any given day. With the right tools, market intelligence and advice, you can now turn the markets to your advantage.  Whether you need 25mt of MGO, or 10,000mt of RMK, we are on hand to advise how to maximise the value of your purchase.

One of the most effective financial tools for controlling bunker costs is a ‘CAP’.  A cap works by placing a ceiling (Cap) on potential rises in fuel costs.  Each cap premium is based on your metric ton monthly requirement. The ceiling or ‘Strike level’ will be determined by the size of your premium. The more you pay, the lower your ceiling will be.  A cap can be considered as an insurance policy for rises in bunker costs.  One of the main benefits is certainty of costs and budgets, with a cap in place you can be sure over the lifetime of the policy that you will never be exposed to costs above your premium strike level.  The cap policy will be purely a financial transaction, and will not interfere with your physical bunker purchases. An added benefit compared to a traditional hedge, is that if the market falls, you not only gain from lower physical prices, but you also do not have the potentially unlimited paper swap (hedge) exposure that you normally would have to pay back.

A cap, partnered with effective market intelligence and buying advice, can be invaluable to today’s ship owners and operators. All of our financial tools are backed by major financial institutions. For more information on how you could effectively use a cap or similar financial tools, please contact enquiries@lindsay-blee.com

Dean Joins the Team

We are delighted to announce that Dean Morrison has joined our growing team at Lindsay Blee Ltd, as a Broker. Dean’s previous role was European Operations Manager at ‘K’ Line Europe Ltd in London, and he took up his new position here in June.

Dean has a solid background in liner shipping and brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and contacts. He will be an asset to the company as we expand into new markets, and we wish him the very best of luck in his new role.

Dean is a keen golfer and is married with two children.

Lindsay Blee have moved!

After several happy years in Market Place, Henley on Thames we are moving to more spacious and modern offices about half a mile away and bit closer to the river and train station.

From the 10th May 2010 our new address will be:

Chiltern House
45 Station Road
Henley-on-Thames
Oxfordshire
RG9 1AT

Our telephone number is also changing to:
+44 (0)1491 845415

Meet the team

Most business these days seems to be done on the end of a phone or by email. We wouldn’t change that but sometimes it’s nice to put a face to a name. Our annual golf day has certainly proved very popular, photos of this years event can be found here.

If golf’s not your game, and you have yet to meet our small but talented team, here are some brief background notes:

James Hills, Manager

James started his working life at a UK container terminal and quickly moved on to liner shipping planning and scheduling voyages. Through this he got to know the bunker market and joined Lindsay Blee in 2005. James is responsible for developing and growing the company in-line with client’s needs. Outside of work he is a keen golfer but don’t play him for money, he has a single figure handicap of 9!

Crispian Hurley, Junior Broker

Crispian graduated from Portsmouth University in 2008 with a BSc (Hons) in Business Economics. With a keen interest in the stock market and a work placement at BG Group, Crispian always wanted to be involved in the energy and commodity markets. Crispian enjoys a busy social life, keeping fit, playing football and listening to a wide variety of music.

Make your fuel go further

Today’s specifications offer the fuel buyer a number of options including protection from engine damage, filter contamination and a host of other problems associated with ‘bad bunkers’. But, if you look more closely at two seemingly identical products, you may find a world of difference that might have a huge impact on the efficiency of your vessel. At Lindsay Blee we go further than just looking at the fuel grade and whether it conforms to the latest ISO specifications. By taking typical specifications from each supplier for water, density, sulphur and ash we are able to run a calculation to determine what fuel offers the most energy content per unit. This can be expressed as BTUs, calories or, perhaps more importantly, dollar savings per metric ton. We can then weigh this up against the levels being offered from different suppliers and present you with the best options. This means that you not only get the benefit from reduced consumption per nautical mile but also the nett benefits such as reduced sludge and emissions.

If you would like to know more information on the subject of energy content or, if you have a general enquiry, you can contact Lindsay Blee 24 hours a day.

www.lindsay-blee.com