breakbulk americas 2016 EVENT COVERAGE
BREAKBULK AMERICAS 2016 PHOTOS
STRIKING A BALANCE
BY CARLY FIELDS
Rickmers-Linie Navigates MPP Supply/Demand
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TOP TO BOTTOM: Ribbon cutting ceremony, with officials from the Port of Houston; Diego Maldonado, Regional Project Cargo Manager with Expeditors, at Meetup Americas; on the floor at the Port of Antwerp booth; attorney Lawrence W. Hanson speaks during a steel panel; tables were lively at the Breakbulk Career Fair.
56 BREAKBULK MAGAZINE www.breakbulk.com
ickmers-Linie is not blind to the opportunities presented by record-low asset prices. Equally, CEO Ulrich Ulrichs is mindful of the need to balance supply and demand of the multipurpose sector, and that now is not the time to flood the market with new ship capacity. Rickmers-Linie has settled for a halfway house having created prototypes for new ship designs, ready to place orders when the time is right. The operator has compared the existing fleet to its current fleet, factored in future needs, talked to clients, looked at traits, and considered restrictions to create a basic design concept. The final tender document will be put to shipyards when the time is right, leading to the final technical specification. “Newbuilding prices for these type of ships have come down tremendously since last year, but financing is still an issue and the last thing the market needs right now is more ships. On the other hand, if you order ships now, you won’t get the first one until 2018.” He acknowledged that RickmersLinie’s current fleet is robust enough to last another five years, and that scrapping isn’t an option for 15-yearold ships. “But we want to be ready when we decide it is the right time to order.” There is no specific yard in mind, although one in China would be preferred because of Chinese shipbuilders’ openness to bespoke designs. While its fleet remains static for now, Rickmers-
Linie is looking to build on the services it offers. It is looking to further expand its portfolio with acquisitions – such as Nordana Projects and Chartering – while remaining open to other partnerships. “NPC Projects has shown us they can deliver quality. If there are other players out there who want to cooperate, we’re open to that. However, we’re not taking multimillion-dollar risks. If it’s reasonable, it makes sense, you have synergies in the market and it expands your overall coverage product- or region-wise, then it’s worth considering.”
TACKLING BOND BLUES While the painful restructuring of a soon-to-mature bond relating to Rickmers Maritime Trust recently made headlines, when Breakbulk met Rickmers-Linie on the sidelines of Breakbulk Americas, Ulrichs was keen to impress the distance between the two companies. “While Rickmers Maritime is a fully consolidated subsidiary in the Rickmers Group’s consolidated financial statements, financially it is a self-contained, independently acting company due to its listing on the Singapore Stock
ISSUE 5 / 2016