Singapore: Launched in late January by shipping media veterans at Asia Shipping Media, Maritime CEO this week celebrates its 100th interview.
Every day we catch up with a top name in shipping to gauge their thoughts on the industry, with every Friday guaranteed to be a shipowner interview. Our aim is to cover every facet of the industry, but only from the viewpoint of the top echelon of management. In our first 100 reports we have met up with the heads of:
Every day this week we bring highlights from our first 100 interviews, split into segments. Wednesday sees the Maritime CEO team – with 17 correspondents across the globe – focus on shipmanagement.
Nearly one in ten of our first 100 profiles has been with shipmanagers. They provide useful insights into the nitty gritty of life onboard with plenty of opinion on forthcoming legislation too.
The secretary general of the shipmanagement trade association InterManager is a good starter. He told us of his fears that seafarers will bear the brunt of the many ambiguities in incoming legislation.
Captain Kuba Szymanski, who has served as InterManager’s secretary general since 2010, told Maritime CEO about his concerns over the incoming Maritime Labour Convention and the Ballast Water Convention.
“Both are entering into force and both have gaps,” he said. “Both are very needed but have not been acted upon with the right attention to details, and we are very concerned that it will be sea staff who will need to deal with gaps and ambiguities of those very important new legislations.”
Rajaish Bajpaee, the ceo of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), spoke to us about opportunities for managers in the downturn.
“Whilst BSM cannot find immunity from the downturn,” he said, “we are not pessimistic about the revenue front given more tonnage looking for shipmanagers.”
The Hong Kong-based executive outlined opportunities in his field. “Just by looking at those repossessed vessels by the banks, old tonnage to be scrapped, etc,” he said, “I already see immense opportunities for shipmanagers like BSM where we offer not only shipmanagement services but also a cradle of value added services.”
V.Group, meanwhile, aims to increase revenues by at least 50% in the coming three years. Speaking to Maritime CEO at the end of January in London the group’s president and ceo, Clive Richardson, said acquisitions could be on the cards to hit these ambitious growth targets.
The group’s largest subsidiary, V.Ships, is the world’s biggest shipmanager with around 800 ships in full technical and crew management.
“Our plans involve growth in our managed fleet in our Asian offices, spearheaded from Singapore and Shanghai, as well as penetration of the market for our marine service brands, particularly our technical and travel business divisions,” Richardson said.
Like V.Group, Hong Kong’s Wallem Group is actively trying to get the market to notice it is far more than just a shipmanager.
Group managing director Simon Doughty told Maritime CEO: “Much of the marketplace views us too narrowly as just shipmanagers. We are a maritime solutions company.” Likewise, Doughty reckons Wallem’s geographic footprint is not known widely enough. The company has offices in 22 countries around the world.
“Really all these services we offer differentiate us from the competition,” Doughty said.
Acknowledging both the cutthroat nature of shipmanagement and the dire financial situation facing many owners, Bjorn Hojgaard, ceo of Univan Ship Management, warned readers of Maritime CEO: “There is undoubtedly financial pressure in the industry that could have an adverse impact on safety, if companies or people are willing to take chances.”
On the markets, Hojgaard was not optimistic when we caught up with him in Hong Kong in February. While reckoning shipping might have hit the bottom, “it will stay this way for quite some time,” the Danish national warned.
“Shipping is hard hit by the 'new normal',” he explained, “where global GDP growth is perhaps only half of what it was in the years up to 2007. This is seriously affecting growth in global trade and a subsequent reduction in demand for additional tonnage in the years ahead. We need to see equilibrium in the demand/supply balance before a sustained recovery can take place. Once we do, however, it may well be the start of quite a spectacular upturn, perhaps from 2015 or 2016.”
Hong Kong is home to a plethora of shipmanagers. In March we tracked down its newest entrant, J M Cordeiro, formerly with giant Bernhard Schulte, and now managing director of December-created Jade Shipmanagement.
“We provide personalised services, at reasonable management fees, spares/stores/lubricants costs,” Cordeiro said.
In April we were in Singapore at the offices of Thome Ship Management where ceo Carsten Brix Ostenfeldt said more ships were vital as fees in the downturn are not going up. “Management fees have not developed much in the last three years,” admitted Ostenfeldt, “so we have to get more ships.”
Thome has been one of shipmanagement’s pioneers in terms of shifting back office work to cheaper climes, in this case Manila, a move rivals are now copying.
“The trend of managers and owners to shift back office operations to Manila is growing,” he noted, adding, “It is something that cannot be reversed.”
Meanwhile, Fleet Management’s managing director Kishore Rajvanshy hinted that his firm might take the plunge and join its clients. “We are considering going into shipowning,” he said, adding that dry bulk is his preferred ship type to own.
Fleet’s fastest area of growth has come from China in recent years. China’s demand for shipmanagement services is still nascent, but one international managers are keen to cash in on. Fleet selected the northeastern city of Dalian to tap this growth market. In Gu Jianwen, managing director of Gold Fleet Shipping, the Hong Kong firm has one of the People’s Republic’s most savvy shipmanagement brains.
“China has a huge potential market for shipmanagement business, but it is still at the beginning stages,” Gu told Maritime CEO, concluding our wrap of shipmanagers in our Maritime CEO 100 week. [12/06/13]
