Digital bunkering firm Ofiniti is pushing for growth on the buyer side of the marine fuel market following the appointment of Torben Carlsen, former chief executive of ferry and logistics group DFDS, as its chair.

The company has historically built its position on the supplier side of the industry, and now says it is targeting growth among fuel buyers — shipowners, operators and charterers — as it enters what it calls its next phase of international growth. Digital bunkering refers to digitising the paper-based processes that traditionally surround a physical fuel delivery, most notably the bunker delivery note. Carlsen brings a perspective from the shipowner and customer side that the firm says strengthens its strategic leadership.

"What I find particularly interesting about Ofiniti is that the company is addressing a very tangible challenge in shipping: how do we better connect the many players involved in a bunker operation?" Carlsen said in an emailed press release on Friday.

Ofiniti expects operational complexity to increase as methanol, biofuels, and eventually ammonia take a larger share of the marine fuel mix, building on a position it says is already strong in LNG. That shift is being driven by shipping's decarbonisation rules, including the International Maritime Organization's 2023 greenhouse gas strategy, which targets net-zero emissions from international shipping by or around 2050, and the EU's FuelEU Maritime regulation, in force since January 2025, which requires ships above 5,000 gross tonnes calling at EU ports to reduce the greenhouse-gas intensity of the energy they use, with penalties for non-compliance and stricter limits phasing in from 2030. Planning, safety, quality, and documentation requirements are typically more demanding for such alternative fuels than for conventional fuels.

"We have built our position very close to the operational side of bunkering. But our ambition is bigger than optimising one part of the value chain. We want to connect supply, demand and the infrastructure that enables the industry, and that requires us to understand the entire ecosystem – particularly the buyers of marine fuel," said Tue Raguse, CEO of Ofiniti.

"With Torben, we gain a highly experienced international industry leader who has sat on the customer side and understands what matters to a major shipowner. He will be an important strategic sparring partner for me and the wider leadership team, while also being actively involved in the next phase of Ofiniti's development and helping us accelerate both organic and inorganic growth," Raguse added.

Carlsen led DFDS, the Copenhagen-headquartered ferry and logistics operator with a route network centred on northern Europe, from 2019 to 2025. He now chairs investment funds at Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and GRO Capital, and also sits on the board of Royal Unibrew.

Ofiniti says it holds around 40% of the digital bunkering market in Singapore, the world's largest bunker port, where digital bunkering has been fully adopted and bunker sales reached a record 56.2 million mt in 2025. Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority made digital bunkering mandatory in the port from 1 November 2025, following trials of electronic bunker delivery notes that began in November 2023, and has required the use of mass flow meters for bunker fuel oil deliveries since 2017. The firm serves more than 200 customers globally.

The company began as FuelBoss within Norwegian class society DNV and was spun out as an independent company in September 2024, with DNV remaining a shareholder. Its other investors include Norwegian state-owned climate investment company Nysno, UK-based Verb Ventures, and Singapore-based ShipsFocus Ventures.

Since the spin-out, Ofiniti has acquired Angsana Technology in Singapore and Teqplay in the Netherlands, and now runs offices in Copenhagen, Dubai, Oslo, Rotterdam, and Singapore.

Source: Ship & Bunker