United Arab Emirates shipbroker OceanExl has established a division focusing on trading marine fuels and refined products.
OceanExl Trading will be headed by Matthias Andreasen, who has worked as a trader for bunker supplier Monjasa for almost six years.
The trading division will focus especially on cargoes being traded in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
OceanExl said it already has a physical bunker supply in all major UAE ports, which launched on 1 January this year. The first deliveries have already been completed, according to the company.
“We have a strong team in place and are well positioned to take advantage of the growing shipping activities and demand in the Gulf region,” Andreasen said.
“I am confident that the new trading set-up will be able to make a significant contribution to the success of OceanExl as well as change the landscape of traditional trading, allowing us to think differently, utilise technology and trade more efficiently.”
Jesper Uhre Espensen, co-founder and partner at OceanExl, described the new division as “a major step forward for our company”.
“We believe it will provide us with a new platform for growth and expansion, while we can service our clients even better,” he said.
Partner Parham Zamani, who co-founded the firm, said: “With a focus on long-term projects in niche markets, we are truly able to supply markets that have long been overlooked and ignored, while we are adding another branch to our supply chain, offering clients a wider range of services, starting from buying or chartering the vessels to moving cargo and finally supplying the vessels.”
Zamani and Espensen will, meanwhile, concentrate on OceanExl’s core shipbroking business, which centres on the tanker sector.
The pair met in 2019 at Maersk Broker, as TradeWinds reported in early 2022. They worked for the Copenhagen-based company for around two years before leaving to start OceanExl in Dubai.
Espensen focuses on chemical tankers and tankers, mainly undertaking sale and purchase, as well as some period chartering. Zamani handles S&P.
