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Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) Kuwait has won a major contract to provide support to the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC).

The Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) is a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), which is the holding company integrating KOC, KNPC, KOTC and PIC under government control.

KOTC currently owns and operates 25 vessels which include crude, product, LPG and bunker carriers. Since KPC was established in 1980, KOTC assumed responsibility for transportation of its cargoes between Europe, West Africa and Far East with Kuwait being the home port.

The UAE ports of Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah are the major husbandry ports for KOTC and apart from spares delivery; their vessels perform repairs, crew change, take provisions and provide Cash to Master.

Throughout the three year contract, WSS will co-ordinate and provide all major services in addition to any others which the KOTC fleet and its personnel may require.

Commenting on the deal, WSS said: "Wilhelmsen Ships Service Kuwait account manager Hisham Setarah, supported by the team in Fujairah and senior management in UAE has worked diligently to win this important new business."

"We are very proud to be working with KOTC and are confident that this partnership will lead to further, equally important, business opportunities within the KOTC group," added Setarah.

Bunker Division

In 2009, Wilhelmsen Premier Marine Fuels (WPMF), one of the world's largest independent bunker brokers, was incorporated into Wilhelmsen Ships Service in a move that aimed to further enhance the company's ability to serve customers and deliver additional cost efficiencies.

This was followed last year by the incorporation of WPMF UK into its main operating centre in Dartford, Kent, which was described as a "natural move", thus providing clients with a single contact point for its range of services. The company also said that the move represented "a greater consolidation of the broad range of ships agency and bunker services that Wilhelmsen Ships Service offers to its customers."

WSS's bunker broking services aim to complement its broad range of maritime products and services. When the company's bunker brokers set up a bunker deal, they can also offer the customer in-house ships agency services in 2,200 ports around the world.

Shipping agents are a vital local link to the operational side of the bunker business, coordinating the timing of the bunkering between vessels and suppliers and dealing with all other matters relating to the delivery.