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Guardian Marine Testing Ltd. (GMT) has announced that it has formed a partnership with Fobas, Lloyd's Register's fuel consultancy service.

As part of the agreement, UK-based GMT, which offers marine fuel testing services to ship owners and managers, has agreed to LR taking a non-controlling stake in the company.

As a result of the deal GMT, which recently developed a system to detect chemical contaminations in fuel, will also be investing in the expansion of its laboratories and is in the process of recruiting around 20 additional members of staff.

The company expects its association with Lloyds to lead to a rise in the number of samples it tests to 4,500 a month within the next 12 months and turnover to reach GBP 5 milllion (US$7.9 million).

The business was formed in 2007 by Managing director Andrew Shaw, operations director Paul Livingston and technical director Andrew McEwen, who had all previously worked together in the marine fuel testing industry.

Commenting on the benefits of the strategic alliance with Fobas, GMT said its clients would benefit from:

i) A far wider data base for fuel statistics and quality advice.
ii) An increase in the availability of services on a global basis.
iii) Local testing facilities in Singapore.

With regard to pricing, the company said: "GMT wishes to reassure all clients that we will remain competitive and all prices will remain unchanged; therefore all GMT clients will still benefit from one of the leading competitively priced fuel testing providers."

Douglas Raitt, global manager for Fobas, said: "Through our investment in GMT we will further improve our ability to serve the shipping industry.

"We understand the industry and we understand fuel - so do GMT, so this is a really good fit for both companies.

"Fuel represents one of the most significant operational costs for ship operators and the impact of poor quality or contaminated fuel could put the safety and environmental performance of fleet operations at risk - fuel analysis is vital."