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OW Bunker, one of the world's largest suppliers and traders of marine fuels and lubricants, today confirmed the launch of its offshore physical fuel supply operation in West Africa, covering Morocco, Mauritania, Senegal and offshore waters down to the Ivory Coast.

OW Bunker Canary Islands will supply customers with the full range of fuels and lubricants from its newly launched 8,250 dwt double-hulled tanker Wappen von Frankfurt.

The launch of the physical supply operation complements the company's existing trading operation across the region and will provide customers with end-to-end bunker and lubricant supply and related services, including slops disposal.

Wappen von Frankfurt, built in 2005, has a pumping capacity of up to 750 metric tonnes per hour and has been fitted with a Coriolis Flow Meter to provide accuracy in the quantity of fuel supplied. This is also designed to provided additional assurance against any measurement inaccuracies caused by swelling during offshore supply.

Jan Christensen [pictured], Vice President – Physical Supply, OW Bunker, commented: "We know what our customers need in this region – fast and accurate supply, high quality products and being able to avoid unnecessary port calls and lengthy waits. With our own vessel and control over the supply chain, we are able to provide our customers with the highest quality fuels and lubricants in the most efficient and cost effective way."

OW Bunker supplies a full range of bunker fuels offshore West Africa, including marine gasoil (MGO) and intermediate fuel oil (IFO) ranging from 30 to 380 centistoke (cst). The company also supplies marine lubricants, including bulk supplies, and provides a fully certified offshore slops-removal service, collecting waste from vessels offshore for transportation to shore in full compliance with MARPOL Annex I regulations.

Christensen continued: "With expertise in serving offshore markets worldwide, as well as an in depth knowledge of the local market, we can deliver OW Bunker's trademark quality service where our customers need it. Offshore supply is time-critical and safety is of paramount importance, so it is important that our customers can be assured by the rigour and transparency that define our operations. This is exactly why we have set our own extremely high quality standards, that go over and above the industry requirements and guarantee reliability of supply."

OW Bunker will aim to ensure the quality of its products through the use of its own global standard that is used in all its physical operations. Customers are provided with a specification analysis on physical product orders, which is delivered prior to the usual testing procedures conducted by an external fuel oil analysis provider.

OW Bunker Canary Islands is ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 certified and is in the process of becoming occupational health and safety standard OHSAS 18001 certified.