Hong Kong handy specialist Taylor Maritime has revealed plans for the rapid expansion of its fleet.
Founded in 2014, Taylor Maritime has grown its fleet of Japanese-built handsize bulkers to nine ships in under two years. Taylor Maritime was founded by Edward Buttery, who has revealed to Splash that he is spending considerable time preparing for a rapid fleet build up.
“By the end of next year, we plan to have a fleet of 15-20 vessels,” Buttery said, effectively doubling the company’s fleet size.
“We also intend to have enough funds on hand to be able to add an additional 10 vessels,” Buttery added.
In terms of finding ships, Buttery conceded that he will have to consider Chinese built ships, “as long as they meet certain quality criteria for our customers.”
Speaking yesterday at Marine Money in Singapore, Buttery was not too optimistic on the general dry bulk market saying: “Nobody knows when a recovery is coming, so we have to work on ensuring we have the legs to last by implementing a responsible capital structure within the group.”
