Athens-headquartered tanker pool firm Heidmar has sealed a stunning resurgence, announcing a new joint venture with Evangelos Marinakis’s Capital Ship Management which will see all 32 tankers managed by Capital join Heidmar’s pools.
Heidmar will now operate around 60 tankers, a significant increase on the seven the company had in its fleet when Pankaj Khanna took over the company in November 2020.
Commenting on the deal, Khanna said: “I am extremely pleased to announce today the joint venture with Capital and the relaunching of the Heidmar brand. The unique and transparent trading platform of Heidmar that has enjoyed an excellent reputation in the market for decades and the exceptional performance of our pools have been key drivers in attracting quality tanker owners like Capital.
“Overall, we have worked hard since November 2020 to rejuvenate the Heidmar fleet from 7 to almost 60 tankers today. I am humbled by the trust placed by Capital in the Heidmar ethos of trust and long standing relationships. The addition of the talented Capital commercial team to the Heidmar team will create a strong engine to extract the best performance from the assets under management in a challenging and dynamic tanker market.”
Khanna told Splash this morning that he had been working on the deal right through the Christmas and New Year period, and the vessels entering the Heidmar pools are made up of 12 VLCCs, eight aframaxes, five MRs currently on the water, six MRs currently under construction, and one 13,000 dwt tanker.
When asked what was next on the agenda, Khanna said that Heidmar was looking to further expand its commercial operations as well as offer technical management. Two new hires have also been brought in to expand into the dry bulk market. When asked, the former Pioneer Marine boss said that shipowning, however, was not on the agenda.
Heidmar has a team of 35 people across its offices in Athens, London and Singapore, and currently runs six different tanker pools.
