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Oct. 6, 2020 Purchasing Manager — Greece

Are you pledging your invoices as security to your banks?

As not everyone may be familiar with the term “pledging” let us first briefly explain what pledging is. When a bank provides credit or a loan, they may ask for security in case the loan is not paid back. The security could be various assets such as real estate, cargoes, vessels but also the receivables of invoices – this is pledging. The answer to the question, if we as BMS United Bunkers pledge our invoices, is clearly no! But others reading your question may still not be sure WHY this is a relevant question to ask. Quite simply put:

COMPANY A sells goods to CUSTOMER B and the invoice is pledged to the BANK
COMPANY A is not able to pay their loans to the BANK and go bankrupt.
BANK will ask CUSTOMER B to pay the invoice value to them, as part of the terms and agreement with COMPANY A.
COMPANY A and the BANKRUPTCY ESTATE will also ask CUSTOMER B to pay the invoice value to them as they are acting for all the creditors.

There have been some cases in recent years, where companies were forced to pay their invoice more than once, as they were totally unaware whether their counterparties where pledging and what this could lead to. We therefore urge everyone to know who they are dealing with and simply ask their counterparties IF they pledge their invoices, to know any potential risk.

Jul. 16, 2020 Senior Dry Cargo Ship-broker — Greece

How can shipowners protect themselves and their fleet from non-compliant fuel, when ordering bunkers?

There are two things the buyer can do to ensure compliant fuel oil: Firstly, the contractual agreement must be clear in terms of the specs, the sampling, the obligations of charterer & owner, and the determination of procedure in case of a dispute. The other thing is to ensure that the parties follow the agreements, primarily to ensure that the sampling (which usually is the contractually binding sampling procedure in the contract) is witnessed and ensured to be exactly as per MARPOL procedure. Note that the MARPOL procedure is clear in terms of method, but leaves the sampling point to be agreed in the contract. In most contracts, bunker suppliers offer basis MARPOL sampling procedure, with sampling point at Barge Outbound Manifold.

It is not a secret, that there is often a difference between the specs and terms the shipowner wants, and those a supplier is able to offer, and attention should be paid to such differences; most suppliers are making a very good effort to accommodate the requests from their clients, but often they cannot comply fully, as their cargo specs or supply procedures may differ and they will usually offer based on what they are able to guarantee.

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