Naples-based Marnavi is one of the few shipping companies in Italy which was not involved in restructuring processes in recent years even though the chemical, liquid bulk and offshore markets in which it is active were particularly challenging. The company is managed by its president and chief shareholder, Domenico Ievoli, in close cooperation with his two sons and vice presidents Attilio and Gennaro, in charge of different commercial and technical functions.
As of today Marnavi owns and operates some 30 vessels serving four markets: chemical, offshore, edible products and anti-pollution services. In petrochemical transport the company operates a fleet of vessels with capacity ranging from 5,400 up to 26,500 dwt in the Mediterranean, on the continent and on the transatlantic runs. Offshore is the most recent initiative instead and where the company invested heavily in recent years to build up a modern fleet of anchor handling towing vessels classified and arranged also for salvage operations and recoil assistance, a shuttle tanker and some barges with deadweight ranging from 7,000 to 9,000 tons.
“The company’s strategy is to work as much as possible with long-time contracts in order to offer our clients integrated sea transport services with our vessels” says Domenico Ievoli to Maritime CEO, emphasizing that “for this reason we are not used to charter-out to or charter in vessels from other owners. We are not looking for financial speculations but our main target is to have an industrial approach to the business in close cooperation with the shippers we work for.”
Shipping is the sole activity Marnavi wants to do in the best possible way, no diversification is planned, and they are discussing with some shipyards for new projects. “We are interested at making new ships as versatile as possible and this is part of the constant renovation process of our fleet,” Ievoli adds. The owner wants to build new vessels able of working in several market segments. That’s exactly what they did in the offshore avoiding standard OSVs or PSVs but ordering ships with special equipment which make those vessels fit for supporting activities in the oil&gas industry, deep-sea cargo transports and special handlings.
Further confirmation of the traditional and industrial approach of the Naples-based shipping group, Marnavi is not looking at all for investment funds or new shareholders to grow up: “We have been always working with traditional lenders with mutual satisfaction and we are confident that the banks will go on supporting our projects also for the future,” says the seasoned shipowner. “We use to define ourselves sort of ‘truckers of the seas’ since our main focus is just to transport goods in the best possible way and that’s enough. That’s why we have never been interested at having a speculative approach neither in the business nor on the financial side of the business”.
Looking at how the shipping industry is changing compared with some decades ago, the head of Marnavi considers that “new regulations are probably the main issue a shipping company has to deal with today. The big challenge for the next few years will be to make new ships ready for the next market period and I’m thinking about new regulations coming for ballast water treatment, LNG as alternative fuel, scrubbers, and so on. The good part of the story might be that those requirements probably will phase out older tonnage in some segments which today are suffering of over tonnage”.
