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The chairman of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc., Peter Georgiopoulos [pictured], has said 'good riddance' to the now-defunct Danish firm OW Bunker during the company's quarterly earnings call on March 17.

During the call, Kevin W. Sterling, Senior Vice President and Senior Equity Research Analyst at BB&T Capital Markets, asked the Aegean chairman: "If you had to kind of look at the market today, versus maybe say a year ago, would you say the general marketplace is a little bit more rational today in terms of pricing, than say a year ago?"

In reply to the question, Georgiopoulos said: "Yes, because we are not competing against one big competitor that was playing in a lot of games, and we had one competitor that would enter markets, undercut us on price, to try and build up their volumes for various reasons. Now that that competitor is gone, good riddance. We are seeing much more rational pricing."

Following the bankruptcy of OW Bunker, Aegean - like other bunker companies - moved in quickly to hire former members of staff. In December, the company agreed to take over OW Bunker's storage contract at the Vopak storage terminal in Los Angeles and acquire 28,567 metric tonnes of marine fuel for a total purchase price of around $11 million at an auction of OW Bunker's assets. The Danish company had been utilizing the Vopak facility since April 2014.

Also in December, Aegean confirmed that it had assumed the contracts for two ocean-going bunkering tankers previously under charter to OW Bunker and that it was to commence immediate marine fuel supply operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

In January, Aegean announced the launch of physical supply operations in all German ports and the opening of a marketing and business development office in Hamburg. The company also assumed the contracts for two double-hull bunkering barges previously under charter to OW Bunker and approximately 20,000 cubic meters of onshore storage capacity.

Towards the end of January. Aegean confirmed the appointment of the former head of OW Bunker's subsidiaries in North America, Adrian Tolson, who has been tasked with developing "new physical supply locations" and also "assist in the marketing of Aegean as it continues to both grow and expand its footprint worldwide".

The company also announced in January the launch of a marketing operation in St. Petersburg, Russia, with five former employees of OW Bunker.

In February, just three months after the demise of OW Bunker, Aegean Marine Petroleum S.A. confirmed the launch of a new marketing and trading division with offices in Piraeus, Singapore, Hamburg and St. Petersburg.

Commenting on the new operations in Germany and Russia during the earnings call, E. Nikolas Tavlarios, president of Aegean Marine Petroleum Network Inc., said: "These opportunistic expansions came on the heels of the OW bunker bankruptcy and required no invested capital; aligned with our strategy to diversify our operations and expand our global footprint in a risk-averse manner."