United Shipping & Trading Company is a global group of companies headquartered in Middelfart, Denmark. The largest company in the group is Bunker Holding A/S, one of the world's leading companies in bunker trading and the parent company of several autonomous bunker fuel companies around the world. USTC Group is represented by 95 own offices in 32 countries and is actively involved in the global supply of fuel in the shipping industry via Bunker Holding A/S, ship owning via Uni-Tankers A/S that operates a fleet of product and chemical tankers, shipping and logistics via SDK A/S, hedging for fuel price risk via A/S Global Risk Management Ltd., and IT services via Unit IT A/S. USTC Group has approximately 1,780 employees, and holds a turnover of 71.6 billion DKK. The group is solely owned by Torben Østergaard-Nielsen.
History
United Shipping & Trading Company was founded as Julius Mortensen Shipping in Fredericia in 1876. In 1974, the company acquired the local shipbroker H. Sommer in Middelfart. In 1978, the current owner of the company, Torben Østergaard-Nielsen, was appointed as new Managing Director of H. Sommer's Eftf. Shipping ApS and under his leadership the company diversified into bunker trading. In 1980, Østergaard-Nielsen embarked on a process which has led to the transfer of bunker activities to independent subsidiaries around the world, now the backbone of Bunker Holding A/S. In 2013, USTC moved to its present head office, a fully restored turbine hall at Turbinevej in Middelfart.
Business units
Bunker Holding A/S the largest company in the group with 59 offices in 31 countries
Uni-Tankers A/S founded in 1989 and since 1995 operating in its current form
SDK A/S the group's shipping and logistics unit. The current name is from 2018 but its roots go back to 1876
Unit IT A/S founded in 2003 as Outforce and merged with MindZet and it-Craft in 2019 as Unit IT
Global Risk Management is a Danish company based in Middelfart, Denmark, that provides customised hedging for price risk management on fuel. Founded in Middelfart, a town on the Danish island of Funen, in 2004, it has branches in Copenhagen & Singapore. The company's managing director is Peder D. Møller Rooted in the financial services industry, GRM specialises in protecting its clients from fuel price volatility through a combination of fuel risk management strategies and hedging. The company's main objective is to "help clients protect their margins from the risk posed by notoriously volatile fuel prices." GRM's primary client base includes the shipping and aviation industry, along with oil suppliers and those in industrial production.
