A real win-win partnership
BW LPG - part of the BW Group, which is one of the world’s leading owners and operators of vessels transporting oil, gas and dry commodities - sought to improve the planning and procurement of marine lubricants across its fleet. Historically, lubricant ordering followed vessel-driven requisitions with limited fleet-level visibility.
Through its partnership with Closelink, BW LPG introduced continuous fleet demand monitoring, automated demand alerts, and structured demand reporting. These capabilities allowed the company to detect lubricant demand earlier, improve coordination between technical and procurement teams, and plan supply at more cost-efficient ports.
Within the first year of the partnership, BW LPG achieved an 8% reduction in fleet-wide lubricant spending while improving supply planning and procurement efficiency.
Over the following years, the approach further strengthened procurement performance by increasing liftings at more favorable supply ports, improving planning lead times, and reducing logistics costs.
Introduction
Marine lubricant procurement often operates under operational constraints. Orders are typically initiated by vessels when stock levels approach operational limits. While this ensures supply security, it limits the ability of procurement teams to plan purchases strategically in advance across an entire fleet.
BW LPG sought to address this limitation by introducing structured demand monitoring and fleet-wide planning visibility. The objective was to aggregate more lifting volumes in the best price efficient ports by detecting lubricant demand earlier and creating more time for procurement teams to coordinate supply decisions.
Customer background
BW LPG is a global owner and operator of LPG carriers and part of the wider BW Group, publicly listed on the Oslo and New York stock exchanges. The company operates a large and internationally trading fleet, requiring lubricant deliveries across multiple ports worldwide.
According to the performance analysis, lubricant procurement activities included about a hundred of orders each year across a growing number of ports and vessels. For example, between April 2023 and March 2024 alone, the fleet placed about 70 lubricant orders, representing approximately 1.5 million liters delivered.
Managing lubricant supply for a fleet of this scale requires coordination between vessels, technical superintendents, and procurement teams, as well as careful planning around global port availability and pricing conditions.
Operational Challenge
Before introducing structured demand monitoring, lubricant procurement largely depended on vessel-initiated requisitions. This process ensured safe stock levels but created operational challenges for procurement planning.
Demand signals typically appeared only shortly before supply was required. As a result, procurement teams often had limited time to evaluate supplier options or coordinate supply at cost-efficient ports.
In addition, lubricant consumption data, vessel schedules, and procurement information were often distributed across different operational systems. This fragmented information environment made it difficult to maintain a consolidated view of upcoming fleet demand.
For a globally trading fleet, these factors reduced the ability to optimize supply locations and plan deliveries strategically.
Continuous fleet demand monitoring
To improve procurement planning, BW LPG implemented a demand-monitoring approach supported by Closelink’s procurement platform. The solution introduced several operational components.
Lubricant consumption and stock levels across the fleet were monitored continuously. When stock levels approached predefined operational thresholds, automated alerts were generated and distributed to relevant stakeholders.
In 2025 alone, over 700 automated notifications were sent across vessels, technical superintendents, and the procurement team. Most alerts were related to approaching stock thresholds:
- >500 warning limit alerts
- > 40 safety reserve alerts
- >200 key port notifications
These alerts created early visibility of upcoming lubricant demand.
Early demand detection
Automated monitoring enabled demand signals to appear before vessels formally issued requisitions. In 2025, 98 of the 133 enquiries that led to confirmed orders were triggered by automated alerts, which were sent on average 2.9 days before the vessel submitted its requisition. This provided procurement teams with additional time to evaluate supply options and coordinate deliveries.
Structured demand reporting
In addition to real-time alerts, Closelink provided BW LPG with a monthly fleet demand overview report. This report highlights upcoming lubricant demand across vessels and is shared with the technical team.
The report enables technical superintendents to review demand signals without needing to access individual systems, supporting more coordinated planning between technical and procurement departments.
Results and operational impact
The implementation of structured demand monitoring and planning delivered measurable improvements.
Cost reduction
Within the first year of implementation, BW LPG achieved an 8% reduction in fleet-wide lubricant spending. This improvement was driven by better procurement planning and more cost-efficient supply decisions.
Improved port selection
Demand visibility enabled procurement teams to consolidate deliveries at more favorable ports. As a result, liftings at Tier 1 and Tier 2 ports increased from 69% to 84% between 2023 and 2025, supporting lower procurement costs and improved price stability.
Longer planning windows
Earlier demand detection also increased the time between demand recognition and expected delivery. Planning lead times increased from 14.9 days in 2023 to 20.6 days in 2025, enabling better coordination of supply decisions.
Reduced logistics costs
Improved planning also helped reduce logistics-related costs. The share of logistics and delivery costs fell from 3.1% of total lubricant spend in 2023 to 2.0% in 2025, largely due to fewer costly barging operations.
Key takeaways
For globally trading fleets, the introduction of demand forecasting and structured planning can therefore transform marine lubricant procurement from a reactive process into a more proactive supply chain discipline. BW LPG’s experience highlights several lessons for fleets looking to improve lubricant procurement planning.
Early demand visibility enables better planning.
Continuous monitoring of stock levels allows demand to be detected before vessels formally request supply.
Fleet-level transparency improves coordination.
Shared demand reports and automated alerts align technical teams, vessels, and procurement departments around the same operational information.
Better planning improves supply decisions.
Earlier demand detection allows procurement teams to coordinate deliveries at more favorable ports and avoid short-notice orders.
Operational improvements compound over time.
As procurement processes become more structured and data-driven, fleets can achieve measurable improvements in both cost efficiency and supply reliability.
