The maritime fuel industry is bifurcating into light and dark. On one side: legitimate operators, verifiable records, and a wave of regulation forcing one of the world’s last paper-based commodity markets into the digital age. On the other: shadow fleet operators moving sanctioned cargoes, fraudsters aerating fuel deliveries to sell air as oil, and a vast grey economy that depends on documentation nobody can audit.
Singapore mandated electronic bunker delivery notes for all fuel suppliers in April 2025, the first port in the world to do so, with Rotterdam expected to follow. On 31 January, the first FuelEU Maritime reporting deadline passed, requiring ships in EU waters to submit verified fuel data or risk being barred from European ports. The IMO formally accepted digital records as equivalent to paper in 2023.
Shadow fleet operators moving Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan sanctioned cargoes are actively avoiding the ports and systems that create auditable records. Meanwhile, bunkering fraud remains endemic. The most notorious example is the cappuccino effect: the deliberate aeration of fuel during delivery to inflate apparent volume. Paper documentation makes it almost impossible to detect at scale. Digital records make it visible.
Ofiniti, the digital platform processing marine fuel deliveries across five continents with approximately 40% market share in Singapore, has just closed a $6.8 million growth round backed by DNV Ventures, Verb Ventures, ShipsFocus, and Nysno Climate Investments, and is expanding into Rotterdam, the Middle East, and West Africa.
