Financing
Trades fail on payment mechanics more often than on price.
We stand between a producer who needs to be paid at load and a buyer who cannot pay until discharge — and we carry that gap with instruments a bank will actually issue.
The banking syndicate
A syndicate that prices physical risk properly.
Commodity finance is a specialist discipline, and a lender who treats a cargo as a generic receivable prices it wrong or declines it entirely. Our facilities sit with banks that underwrite physical trade — that read a bill of lading, an inspection certificate and a discharge port as the security they are.
The practical effect is that payment structure is settled as part of the commercial terms, before fixture, rather than discovered afterwards. A counterparty knows at indication stage how they will be paid or secured, and against what documents.
Instruments
What we can put behind a trade.
The right instrument depends on which risk the trade actually carries — payment, performance or tenor. They are not interchangeable, and using the wrong one is how deals stall at the bank counter.
Documentary letters of credit
Confirmed and unconfirmed, issued under UCP 600, with the document set built to match the discharge jurisdiction so it negotiates cleanly rather than coming back with discrepancies. Where country or bank risk requires it, confirmation is added by a bank acceptable to the beneficiary.
Standby instruments
Standby letters of credit and bank guarantees where the trade needs performance security rather than payment routing — a term supply contract, a tender obligation, or an advance payment that has to be secured back.
Avalised drafts & discounting
Where tenor is the constraint rather than credit. Bank-avalised drafts and receivables discounting let a seller take value at sight while the buyer keeps the credit period the trade requires.
Structured facilities
Borrowing-base and transactional facilities for term business, where a programme of cargoes is financed as a rolling exposure rather than deal by deal.
How it works in practice
Payment security is agreed before fixture — never bolted on after.
The sequence matters. Instrument type, issuing and confirming bank, document set, latest shipment and expiry dates, and the presentation period are all agreed while the commercial terms are being agreed — not once the vessel is nominated.
That is why our contracts carry the payment clause in full rather than a placeholder, and why we ask for counterparty onboarding to be completed early. Banks issue faster against counterparties already on file, and a documentary credit drafted against a completed file is a credit that gets paid.
Alongside the freight
Financing and logistics are quoted from one desk.
A delivered price is a freight position and a payment position at the same time. We hold both, which is why a CIF indication from us reflects capacity and a payment structure we already control.
Enquiries
Every enquiry is answered by a trader.
Send the product, quantity, delivery basis, destination and timing. We revert with availability, an indication and the documentation that accompanies it. Specifications are released once we know who we are speaking with.