Enhancing Counterparty Risk Management and Vessel Compliance Efficiency at Flex Commodities

About Flex Commodities

Flex Commodities is a Dubai-based marine fuels trading company supplying bunker fuels to vessels across key global maritime hubs. The company sources products from a network of established refiners and suppliers, serving shipowners, charterers, and trading counterparties worldwide. In addition to its trading operations, Flex Commodities maintains physical bunkering operations in Walvis Bay, Namibia, underpinned by rigorous operational, compliance, and risk management standards.

Tenaz Postwala, Business Manager at Flex Commodities, brings more than eight years of maritime and marine fuels industry experience to her role. She is responsible for overseeing the company’s operational and compliance functions, including counterparty onboarding, vessel compliance reviews, and internal due diligence processes across all trading activities.

The Challenge: Speed, risk and fragmented data

Marine fuels trading is characterised by its pace and complexity. Trading enquiries are frequently time-critical — in many cases remaining valid for only a matter of minutes — which requires compliance and risk functions to operate with a level of speed that is difficult to sustain when due diligence processes rely on multiple disconnected data sources. 

Prior to implementing Seasearcher, Flex Commodities’ due diligence workflow required manual cross-referencing across several third-party platforms. Vessel checks were conducted using MarineTraffic, Equasis, and VesselFinder; corporate ownership information was sourced from public registries including OpenCorporates; and sanctions screening was performed against OFAC, EU, and UK OFSI lists individually. Each platform provided valuable information in isolation, but the process of consolidating findings from multiple sources introduced delays that were difficult to reconcile with the demands of a live trading environment. 

“Without a centralized source of information, this process required gathering data from multiple sources and manually consolidating the findings. In such a fast-paced trading environment, this could create delays in onboarding and approvals.” 

The consequences of inadequate due diligence in this sector extend beyond operational inefficiency. Failure to identify complex ownership structures, beneficial owner links to sanctioned entities, or vessel-level compliance risks can expose a trading business to significant regulatory liability. At the same time, overly slow compliance processes can result in missed commercial opportunities — a particularly acute risk when enquiry windows are measured in minutes rather than hours. 

Summary of pre-implementation challenges:

• Due diligence checks requiring manual aggregation across five or more data sources
• Assessment timelines of 20–30 minutes per vessel or counterparty, incompatible with live trading enquiry windows
• Increased risk of incomplete sanctions screening due to the manual nature of cross-referencing
• Operational bottlenecks delaying trader confirmation and counterparty onboarding
• Limited visibility into vessel trading patterns, cargo history, and beneficial ownership structures 

Implementation of Seasearcher & Counterparty Risk

Following a review of available maritime intelligence platforms, Flex Commodities selected Lloyd’s List Intelligence’s Seasearcher platform on the basis of its breadth of integrated data, the quality of its compliance-specific functionality, and its suitability for a fast-moving trading environment. 

Seasearcher consolidates vessel intelligence, corporate ownership data, sanctions exposure indicators, incident and inspection records, cargo history, and counterparty credit information (powered by Infospectrum) within a single platform – eliminating the need to cross-reference multiple external databases and providing compliance and trading teams with a unified, reliable source of information from which to conduct risk assessments. 

Platform capabilities of particular relevance to Flex Commodities: 

• Consolidated compliance view: Vessel information, ownership structures, and sanctions exposure accessible within a single interface
• Incident and inspection history: Comprehensive records of casualties, port state control detentions, deficiencies, and operational incidents, supporting assessment of a vessel’s track record
• Cargo intelligence module: Historical cargo data and trading patterns, including port call history and exposure to high-risk or sanctioned jurisdictions
• Watchlist functionality: Identification of vessels associated with shadow fleets or elevated-risk trading activity
• Automated alerts and monitoring: Notifications triggered by changes affecting monitored vessels or entities
• Ownership and corporate mapping: Visualisation of connections between vessels, companies, and beneficial owners
• Seasearcher Counterparty Risk module: Credit ratings and indicative credit limits for trading counterparties, vessel owners, and charterers 

“Seasearcher allows us to access multiple layers of information in one place, including vessel data, corporate ownership links, and potential risk indicators. This significantly reduces the need to switch between different platforms and manually consolidate information.”

Of particular operational value is Seasearcher’s transparency into ship-to-ship (STS) operations. In the bunkering sector, physical supply is frequently conducted via barges. The platform’s ability to identify the barge involved in a given operation enables Flex Commodities to determine which physical supplier executed the delivery, providing greater transparency into the full supply chain and supporting more informed post-transaction review. 

The cargo intelligence module has proven especially relevant from a sanctions compliance perspective. For tanker vessels, the platform provides historical cargo records and voyage data — including calls at Russian ports and the nature of cargo carried — enabling more thorough and evidence-based assessments of sanctions-related risk. 

Measurable improvements across risk and operations 

Since implementing Seasearcher, Flex Commodities has observed meaningful improvements in both the efficiency and quality of its due diligence and risk assessment processes. 

Operational efficiency

Due diligence checks that previously required 20 to 30 minutes per vessel or counterparty are now completed in a significantly shorter timeframe. The consolidation of intelligence into a single platform removes the need for manual data aggregation, enabling the compliance function to support faster commercial decision-making without compromising the rigour of the assessment process. 

Risk assessment quality

Access to integrated ownership mapping, cargo intelligence, and incident history has materially improved the depth of risk assessments conducted by the team. Connections between vessels, corporate entities, and beneficial owners that may not have been apparent through fragmented manual searches are now surfaced systematically, supporting earlier identification of potential compliance concerns. 

Counterparty credit evaluation

The integration of the Infospectrum counterparty risk module has introduced a financial dimension to Flex Commodities’ onboarding process. Credit ratings and indicative credit limits for trading partners, vessel owners, and charterers are now incorporated into counterparty assessments, providing a more complete basis for credit and onboarding decisions. 

Confidence in compliance decision-making

The availability of consolidated, multi-layered intelligence has increased confidence across the business in the quality of risk-based decisions. Teams are able to act on a comprehensive and reliable picture of each counterparty or vessel, rather than findings assembled from disparate and potentially incomplete sources. 

“Being able to see connections between vessels, companies, and beneficial owners provides greater transparency and helps identify potential risks earlier in the process. Overall, the platform has streamlined our workflow and enabled our teams to respond more efficiently to trading opportunities while maintaining robust due diligence standards.”

Key outcomes for Flex Commodities

Since implementing Seasearcher, Flex Commodities has observed meaningful improvements in both the efficiency and quality of its due diligence and risk assessment processes. 

• Reduction in due diligence assessment time from 20–30 minutes to a fraction of that, per check
• Consolidation of five or more previously separate data sources into a single platform
• Improved ability to identify sanctions exposure, ownership risks, and vessel compliance issues at an earlier stage
• Enhanced counterparty credit evaluation through integrated Infospectrum intelligence
• Greater alignment between the speed of compliance review and the time-sensitivity of live trading enquiries
• Increased confidence in the completeness and reliability of risk assessments across the business
• A scalable due diligence framework capable of supporting continued growth in trading activity 

Seasearcher provides maritime trading organisations with the integrated vessel intelligence, ownership transparency, and counterparty credit insights required to conduct thorough due diligence at the speed that modern trading demands. 

For an end-to-end workflow solution, learn about Seasearcher Maritime Trade 360