Leon Overseas Zhoushan Co, a branch of Leon Overseas, one of the top four global oil inspection and testing agencies, in Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province, starts operation on May 16. [Photo/zj.zjol.com] 

Leon Overseas, one of the top four global oil inspection and testing agencies, has set up a branch in the shipping service cluster area of New Town, Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province. The branch started operation on May 16. 

Leon Overseas is an exclusive global arm of China Leon Inspection Holding Limited formed to serve global inspection, testing and certification markets beyond China.

It aims to build the branch in Zhoushan into the largest professional oil inspection and testing company in East China to support the construction of a whole oil & gas industrial chain in the China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone (FTZ).

A researcher tests oil samples at Leon Overseas Zhoushan Co. [Photo/zj.zjol.com] 

"All the oil samples will be finished testing within 24 hours before being sent back to clients," said Guan Difeng, managing director of China Leon Inspection Holding Limited. 

According to Guan, the branch will focus on testing marine diesel oil, bunker fuel oil, crude oil and petrochemicals in the first phase of its construction, and its capacity will be extended to cover gasoline, diesel oil, liquefied natural gas and jet fuel after the second phase.

"The reason why we set our branch in Zhoushan is because of the city's bright development prospects. It is where the Zhejiang FTZ is located, and is building a river-sea intermodal service center. It also has good natural harbors and a national base for environmentally-friendly petrochemical production," said Guan.

Zhoushan's international maritime service base saw its bonded bunkering business reach 3.59 million metric tons last year, according to Zhao Jun, who is in charge of investment promotion at the base, adding that oil testing is an important part of professional shipping services.

"We used to send oil samples to Shanghai or Ningbo for testing before the branch opened, which is time-consuming and adds to the cost," said Zhao.

Zhoushan has been accelerating the development of its shipping service industry in recent years, with 55 modern shipping service companies and agencies having settled in the New Town of Zhoushan so far, providing services ranging from ship management and shipping counseling to maritime law and technical services.