Cypriot national Kyriacos Panayides heads up breakbulk, project cargo and heavylift operator AAL Shipping and has done since 2015, when he moved to Singapore to take over as managing director. But he has worked for Schoeller Holdings - which owns AAL together with Limassol-based Columbia Shipmanagement, as well as various local real estate ventures - for a lot longer and has been involved with AAL since its founding in 1995.

Today AAL operates a core fleet of 25 multipurpose vessels (MPPs) a...