Digital bunker procurement: what changes for the bunker desk and what stays

Most functions in a shipping office have gone digital. Bunker procurement has largely stayed on the phone, in email threads and in spreadsheets, while it carries 40 to 60 percent of a vessel’s operating expenses. In an interview with Digital Ship published on 21 July 2026, Nikolas Gkikas, Founder and CEO of Nereus, and Fernando Alvarez, PhD, Vice President of Sales Northern Europe, explained why the bunker desk has resisted, and why the compliance calendar now forces the change.

Why has the bunker desk stayed manual for so long?

The first reason is trust. A platform that plugs into the largest cost line of a vessel has to earn the confidence of the people who carry the number. The second reason is habit. Bunker managers have run inquiries by phone and email for decades, and the move from those ways to a software is a real change in the working day.

The third reason is transparency. A procurement process that runs on scattered emails and private calls leaves little on record. Some parties in the market prefer it that way. Shipowners, in the experience of Nereus, want the opposite: a record of every inquiry, every offer and every stem.

What does a 37-minute inquiry actually cost?

In a manual process, one bunker inquiry takes an average of 37 minutes from the first price check to a shortlist of quotes: finding the prices, sending the documentation to suppliers, entering the fuel prices by hand. Multiply that by the stems of a fleet over a year and the cost is measured in weeks of a bunker manager’s time, spent on administration.

On Nereus the same inquiry reaches shortlisted quotes in 8 minutes. The market intelligence, the supplier information, the negotiation and the documentation sit in one environment, and the bunker manager spends the time on the negotiation.

Why does regulation change the way fuel is bought?

FuelEU Maritime, EU ETS, UK ETS and CII are live at the same time, with further IMO requirements ahead. Each regulation pulls fuel choice in a different direction, and the fuel that scores well under one may cost money under another. Fernando Alvarez, who has spent eighteen years on fuel and emissions compliance optimisation, is direct about what this does to experience: the knowledge built over twenty years in bunkering may no longer be enough on its own.

The bigger shift is in the unit of decision. Bunker procurement has always been optimised vessel by vessel, for the weeks immediately ahead. Compliance is assessed per fleet, per year, and FuelEU permits fleet-wide pooling. A stem that looks right for one vessel today can leave a liability for the fleet in December.

“You need to think about what’s going to happen to the fleet overall. Your compliance is measured year by year. You might find that you have dug a deep hole for yourself and you’re going to pay some severe penalties.”

The volume of commercial, operational and regulatory information behind each decision is beyond what a spreadsheet handles. In Fernando’s words, the regulations overlap and pull in different directions, and algorithms are needed to work through them. The platform processes the volume. The decision stays with the bunker manager.

Does digital procurement replace the bunker manager?

No. Commercial judgment and experience remain essential, and the phone will keep ringing. Nikolas Gkikas expects personal interaction between buyers and suppliers to continue for many years. What goes is the extra work: the retyping, the chasing, the filing, the search for a price that should already be on the screen.

“I don’t think the phone calls will stop, and the personal interaction will be for many years to come. The only thing that is going to disappear is the extra work.”

What should a shipping company ask of a bunker platform?

Integration first. A shipping company runs four or five platforms, and data has to move between them without disrupting the other departments. A bunker platform that stands alone adds one more system to check. Nereus has treated integration as a priority from the outset, and its daily indication prices are now available inside Sedna for 450 ports and six fuel grades.

Focus second. In a voyage optimisation suite, bunker procurement is one module among emissions monitoring, performance reporting and chartering, and it competes with them for development priority. A dedicated procurement platform carries its own price feeds, supplier intelligence and benchmarking, and serves the bunker desk as its only customer.

A record third. Every inquiry, every first and final offer, the stemmed confirmation, the nomination and the calling instructions should be filed against the vessel and pushed to the ERP without a second entry. That record is what makes a claim defensible and a budget exposure visible.

Where does Nereus stand?

Nereus is the intelligence platform for bunker and lubricants procurement. It covers the full lifecycle from market research and inquiry management through negotiation, post-fixture execution and fleet-wide budget monitoring, with live indication prices across 450 ports and digital supplier connectivity. It was built with more than 20 years of hands-on bunkering experience, for the way bunker desks work.

Questions and answers

What is bunker procurement software?

A platform on which a shipping company finds, compares and buys marine fuel. It brings market intelligence, supplier information, negotiation and documentation into one place, replacing the phone, email and spreadsheet workflow.

How long does a bunker inquiry take?

In a manual process, from inquiry to a shortlist of quotes takes an average of 37 minutes. On Nereus it takes 8 minutes.

How does FuelEU Maritime change bunker buying?

Compliance is assessed per fleet and per year, and FuelEU permits pooling across vessels. A stem decided for one vessel and one voyage has consequences for the whole fleet at year end, so fuel procurement and compliance planning have to be optimised together.

What is the difference between a bunker procurement platform and a voyage optimisation suite?

A voyage optimisation suite covers many fleet functions, with bunker procurement as one module. A dedicated bunker procurement platform focuses on the buying workflow alone, with its own price feeds, supplier intelligence and benchmarking tools.

Does a digital platform replace the bunker manager?

No. Commercial judgment, experience and the relationship with suppliers remain with the bunker manager. The platform removes the administrative work and processes the volume of information behind each decision.