Danish bunker and tanker group Monjasa is accelerating its trainee programme to meet changing demand from shipowners.
The company said there are no obvious recruitment channels for its specialised roles, so it is going down the do-it-yourself route.
The Monjasa Oil & Shipping Trainees (MOST) scheme started in 2018.
Trainees from 11 different countries make up the 12 new recruits this year.
Two are based in Panama, three in Dubai, one each in Singapore and Cyprus, and the rest work in Denmark.
They will attend academic modules at the Danish Shipping Academy.
"The marine fuels industry is facing growing complexity arising from shifting regulations and dynamic customer demands," the company said.
"In-depth maritime understanding and cultivating of trusted relationships remain central to Monjasa’s future traders, but in continuous volatile markets, shipowners’ service demands are shifting."
Monjasa added that procurement of forward pricing contracts and discussions of sourcing and supply transparency at a global level are now becoming part of the trading floor dialogue.
The way forward
Group chief operating officer Svend Molholt said: "At a time where global trade and shipping is experiencing extreme pressure from global externalities, we are recording a growing demand and continue to develop our business.
"We can only continue doing that by getting specialised people into our business and this is aided by our MOST programme. We see our graduated and current trainees playing an important role in leading the changes of the industry and we are certain this is the way forward."
The two-year programme covers all the economic and legal aspects of the business.
Five trainees are still on the scheme from previous years.
Monjasa's net profit for 2019 was up to $26.5m, from $5m the year before, above its own expectations.
Revenue edged up to $2.2bn from $2.1bn, while total volumes increased to 4.5m tonnes from 4.1m tonnes in 2018.
