Greater ChinaOperations

Langton’s Birley eyes becoming a shipowner

Hong Kong: Michael Birley, the founder of Langton Shipping Group in Hong Kong, has plans to become a shipowner. Langton was established last year as a broker and shipmanager by the ex-Wallem employee. The company now has six ships under technical management and three under commercial management. Birley, 60, told Splash: “I hope over the next two to three years there could be an opportunity to buy or invest in ships as a separate entity.”

Birley said the plan for Langton was to get the number of managed ships up so that the company can attract more conservative owners who would not normally give their ships to independent start-ups.

“We want to get to 20 ships,” said the veteran broker.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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