In this week’s ship.energy podcast, Steve Bee, Group Commercial & Business Development Director for fuel quality testing specialist VPS, discusses the company’s approaches to digitalisation and decarbonisation, including its Core software which enables vessel owners to plan for fleet-wide emissions-reducing initiatives.

Steve also talks about marine biofuels and the absence – as yet – of a commercial standard for their use, as well as the uptake of methanol as a bunker fuel and VPS’s work on sampling and testing this fuel.

With VPS now owned by the pan-European investment firm Fremman Capital (since 2021), Steve also looks at the role of private equity in shipping’s decarbonisation.

Steve joined VPS in 2016 and in his current role he is responsible for the development and implementation of the company’s global commercial strategy.

A graduate of Northumbria University with a BSc (Hons) in Applied Chemistry, Steve worked as an R&D Chemist for BNFL, ICI and Sanofi-Aventis, before joining Anachem Ltd, in a commercial role in 1997. 

Following sales and marketing roles at A1 Envirotech, he joined Lintec Testing Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Intertek, as Operations & Key Accounts Manager in 2007, before becoming General Manager of Lintec in 2011, and then Director of Intertek ShipCare in June 2012, a role he held until he moved to VPS.