Hapag-Lloyd and ZeroNorth Team Up on Bunker Procurement

A new partnership between container carrier Hapag-Lloyd and tech company ZeroNorth will aim to develop and launch a new bunker procurement and planning solution for the maritime industry.

The partners said on Wednesday that they will set out to create a new digital solution that enables Hapag-Lloyd to effectively navigate the energy transition, reduce fuel spend, and cut cost to serve.

Jan Christensen, Senior Director Global Fuel Purchasing, Hapag-Lloyd, said, “We have a clear strategic direction to advance decarbonization across our fleet and across our business. To do this, we need to find the right partners – and we believe that ZeroNorth is perfectly placed to enable us to digitalize our bunker procurement and planning activity.

“ZeroNorth has strong domain expertise, a proven track record of success in developing and operating industry-leading solutions, and a credible vision for the future of the bunkering industry. Together, we believe that we’ll be able to meaningfully impact how we plan and buy our bunker fuel – by far the single largest lever that we can pull in service of our decarbonization ambitions.”

The partnership comes amidst the continued digitalization of the bunker market, with advances in technology and increasing amounts of data enabling a new era of transparent and accountable bunker procurement decision-making.

By digitalizing the end-to-end bunker planning and procurement process, the solution will offer a new and enhanced user experience and new features such as streamlined contract and port planning, contract tender capabilities, a true price algorithm and more. For customers, this solution is available and is ready to be rolled out immediately, ZeroNorth said.

Kenneth Juhls, Managing Director ZeroNorth Bunker, said: “We are excited about this impactful partnership with Hapag-Lloyd, which will see us leverage the extensive knowledge and ambition between our two organizations with the aim of transforming the way companies approach bunker planning and procurement during the energy transition.

“At ZeroNorth, we believe that the challenges that the industry faces are too large to tackle alone. Partnerships are necessary to succeed, and working with Hapag-Lloyd will see us closely collaborate with another top industry player to help them decarbonize and digitalize.”