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Old 08-12-2019, 02:51 AM
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I'll create some good karma for myself by sharing. My husband was a bunker trader for about close to 2 years and recently left the industry. He shares with me what goes on at work daily so I have a very good idea what the job entails. In short, it's a very bad time to join the industry now. I'll list the points down:

1. Shipping industry is doing badly so the requirement for bunker (marine fuel) has also dropped in correlation.
2. With the implementation of the mass flow meter, suppliers aren't able to quote low prices by short changing the ships anymore. The margin has dropped by a lot.
3. It's a very competitive industry with many small and medium bunker trading companies fighting for the same pie. I quote an example, for a trade of about USD 50k for a small vessel the profit margin is only about USD1-2k. Even if u get a 10% cut out of the 1-2k it's only usd 100-200. They expect u to make profits enough to cover your base pay before u get any bonus sharing. Only the few big boys are able to trade with the big shipping companies as they have huge volumes and thus are able to negotiate for much better prices with suppliers compared to the small and medium fry bunker trading companies.
4. Within the trading companies competition between traders is very stiff. For the past 1 year after the fall of OW bunkers ( u can google for yourself to find out what happened) , the traders from OW flooded the markets and they join existing bunker creating a very very negative infighting environment. They fight for the same customers with each other.
5. My husband has been getting quite a few calls from recruiters asking if he's keen to join etc bunker trading companies but no thanks. He has found a much better industry where the environment is healthier and more stable. Recruiters told him a lot of bunker traders have exited the industry and they can't find experienced ppl to join. It must be bad enough for the experienced ones to switch.
6. Basic pay if u look around in indeed.sg or jobstreet, could be anyway from 2.5k to 3+k. Not going to reveal my husband's pay here. A lot of the companies want u to have existing customers before they hire u, they don't have time to wait for u to build up your customer base or learn from scratch, they basically want to see the $$ now so fresh grads have almost naught chance of entering.
7. If you don't hit your target u will be asked to go, they only give u 6 months to perform, after that u can FO if they don't see the $$$. Happened to my husband's colleagues. Heard the common target is $20k profit, not revenue mind you.

Anymore questions feel free to ask me. I'm so happy my husband left this industry.
this post from 3 yrs ago coming to 4 yrs now. been in bunkering for a year now so share some stuff for those who are still curious.

basically everything mentioned by the poster is true esp with the introduction of MFM.

indeed it is a very competitive industry with only 55 businesses licensed to do bunkering in singapore as of 2019. the bulk of the volume goes to the top 10-15 bunkering companies as they have the infrastructure to actually take on the orders and deliver the product. the market is still there and whilst its not growing, it remains a huge one.

bunkering is a capital intensive industry that involves physical delivery of cargo (bunkers) so small shops will find it really hard to compete. you need barges, storage units, a lot of manpower (crew, engineers, shore staff, physical and paper traders, etc etc). if you are a trader with one of these small shops without an existing network of clients it will be highly challenging for you to eke out a living, simply because the demand for your services is weak although nothing is impossible.

fighting for a slice of the market between companies is very prevalent and even within a company there are significant politics.

one important thing to note; the poster mentioned that on a deal of 50k the margin would be between 1-2k i.e. 2-4% and your comms might be 10% of that 100-200. these figures are not too far from the reality but most bunker deals go into 6-7 figures, easily.

a single bulk carrier, container ship, oil product tanker sailing from singapore to south africa/japan/europe/usa often buys more than 1500MT of fuel. there is a demand for bunkering in singapore because we have one of the lowest prices in asia for fuel, owing to our refining capabilities and other industry efficiencies.

only certain ports e.g. fajuirah, osaka, seattle and a few russian + middle eastern ports have prices that beat ours.

to illustrate, 1000MT of IF0380 at today's prices of 320/MT (which are near a 6-month low) would be a 320 000 USD deal. 2% of that is 6400, giving you a comms of 640 USD. in a large bunkering company with a reputation of being able to fulfill orders promptly, you will be doing multiples of this quantity, per day. if you as a trader as responsible for just one of these deals, averaging 10 a month, you will be earning a commission of close to 6.4K USD/mth on top of your basic allowance.

its doable but there are better alternatives out there for degree wielding millenials. besides, you need connections to enter this industry and the most lucrative roles will often be given to family.
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