Danish owner and operator Norden has formed a joint venture with Singapore-based shipmanagement group Synergy for the technical management of Norden’s entire tanker fleet.
The new 50/50 owned joint venture is called Norden Synergy Ship Management (NSSM) and commences operations on August 20 headed up by Henrik Christensen who previously managed Norden’s technical department.
NSSM will be headquartered in Copenhagen with a subsidiary in India, and Norden will transfer 116 employees to the new venture, including seafarers, although 25 jobs will be lost as part of the move.
Norden said the establishment of NSSM is part of its strategy to focus more on the trading of assets and being a more agile owner. It also expects to save around $7m-$8m per year under the new structure.
Jan Rindbo, CEO of Norden, commented: “Norden requires a nimble approach to ownership, both commercially and organisationally. The partnership with Synergy enables Norden to be fully focused on optimising trading and commercial operations while ensuring safe, efficient and flexible technical management of the owned fleet.”
The establishment of the joint venture follows Norden appointing Synergy Group to manage its fleet of owned bulk carriers last year.
Rajesh Unni, CEO of Synergy Group, said: “We see great alignment when we have partnered previously and we expect that to lead to more mutual wins in the future through NSSM.”
Norden has a fleet of 45 MR tankers and 12 handysize tankers according to its website, with a further five vessels under construction.
