Those of you that attended the Barge Conference in May this year will know that there is an initiative going on where the trading terms around barge cargoes in Europe will be standardised. I agreed to report back and I know that Roger Sepkes is giving his view in the Asdem newsletter – contactsarah@asdem.co.uk to subscribe to Asdem’s newsletters
LEAP is the Leadership for Energy Automated Processing group which is a collection of oil companies, service providers, and technology groups getting together to streamline transactions in the physical oil business.
What do I know? I have been talking to Kevin Jandora at LEAP over the last few months and this is my impression of what is going on.
First of all the group is looking at the trading terms between oil companies and NOT the terms for chartering barges. I don’t know if they intend to look at the charter party at a later stage but this may be difficult for this group as they represent the oil companies. No barge or indeed ship owners are currently members of LEAP, although it is open to them. Personally I would like to see a review of the chartering terms at a later date as it is clear that the current arrangement of TTB rules, Owners standard terms and the odd oil company charter party make this quite fragmented and messy. I am sure that this is something that Asdem could co-ordinate for the industry – see Asdem’s newsletter on this point and other areas of dispute identified at the Barge Conference.
Back to LEAP and what they want to achieve.
They are looking at all aspects of the deal, not just laytime and demurrage and will be covering things like quality and quantity, payment terms VAT etc.. Their timeline means that they are aiming to complete this process by midyear in 2013, which I think is pretty ambitious and it would be great if this timetabIe can be maintained. As I mentioned at the conference there are about five companies involved in the process, any more than that then I would expect the timeline to slip. Other LEAP members are entitled to contribute to this process, I’m not sure exactly how but if your company is a member then speak to your rep or else consider joining LEAP.
If your company is not a member how do you get your voice heard? Asdem has agreed to collate any comments and pass them on to LEAP – email roger@asdem.co.uk although we must all understand that this is merely as an advisory capacity. If you feel brave you can open up a debate by using the comments feature here. This will be open to all to see and I’m sure LEAP members will read it and let’s see if we can get some healthy debate going on.
The group is meeting by teleconference every two weeks and I know they have started on probably one of the mist difficult areas first – Nominations. I presented an alternative procedure where the penalty for a late nomination was on a sliding scale rather than losing everything when you are just one minute late. I am disappointed to hear that so far this alternative was not favoured by the group so I suspect we will end up with a drop dead clause of 48 hours or 2 clear working days. Voting is still to take place on this so there is still time for them all to come to their senses and agree with me!
The use of a standard calendar for public holidays has gained some favour but which dates will be agreed? The jury is still out on that one but I understand a London based calendar versus a Rotterdam calendar is being considered, or indeed a combination of both.
If you have any comments to make on any points I have raised here, or even points you want to discuss please add your comments here. And don’t forget to subscribe for Asdem’s newsletter for more information on this subject.