Anglo-Eastern Univan: ‘We don’t want to be a jack-of-all-trades’

Six weeks on from shipmanagment’s mega deal, Peter Cremers, the architect of the merger between Anglo-Eastern and Univan, is a little surprised at just how big an impact the transaction has had across the industry. Cremers, now chairman of Anglo-Eastern Univan Group, tells Maritime CEO in his typically deadpan way: “The impact on the market was more profound that I expected,” adding with a smile, “For us it was a relatively simple deal.”

The deal now gives the group 610 ships under full technical management, and has forced other managers to up their hunt for acquisition targets, Maritime CEO understands.

The Univan brand – created by the late Capt Charles Vanderperre, a fellow Belgian – will remain, Cremers says. Univan will be a Hong Kong tanker manager, he explains.

While other shipmanagers go about boosting their other service offerings, Cremers is determined to remain focused on shipmanagement. “I still think shipmanagers should focus on managing ships in the first place,” he says, adding: “We don’t want to be a jack-of-all-trades.”