ADDING VALUE TO THE SHIPPING INDUSTRY

The Ashley Group has been operating in shipping for decades. Under its three subsidiaries, the company offers logistical shipping services, chartering management and facilitates the movement and sale of cargo with regional partners worldwide. Group Director Peter Allan told Hannah Barnett how the company strives to provide value in everything it does.

Mann is a renowned and wellestablished name in global shipping and the Mann family has been part of the industry since the early 20th century. Operating under various names throughout the years, it took on the mantle Ashley Global Shipping in 2011. That company is now part of the wider Ashley Group.

According to Peter Allan, Director of the Ashley Group, the company continues to run smoothly by doing what it does extremely well. “We concentrate on our niche,” he said. “We are not trying to take over the world. We focus our core expertise on where we can add true value Plenty of opportunities come across the desk where we can do something, but it wouldn’t add value to the company, or to the clients, or partners.”

The group and subsidiaries

To continue to add value in the most efficient way possible, The Ashley Group was established in 2021 to provide a parent company for the various arms of the

Ashley operation. According to Peter, this corporate restructuring has indeed provided significant value for the company. “It gave a clearer understanding of what we do with each entity and brought continuity to our clients and customers,” he said.

The company now maintains the Ashley Global Shipping name, to provide logistical solutions to the group's trading activities, as well as Alfa Commodities, which is the commodity trading arm, and Ashley Chartering Ltd (ACL), the freight solution provider for the group.

At any one time, ACL has between 15 and 25 ships under its operation. But the company’s core trades are in the Supramax, Ultramax and Panamax sector. “Occasionally we operate ships all the way down to 10,000 deadweight and up to Capesize.” said Peter. “But the core is definitely the 52,000 to 82,000 deadweight. Around 80% of our clients require these vessels.

“At first with ACL, we were quite asset light, but then we decided to start investing in dry bulk carriers. In Q4 of 2019, we purchased our first Supramax. And since then, we have focused on growing the fleet in support of our commodity trading book. We now own five dry vessels and one tanker.”

Organic growth

Over the last eight years, the company has enjoyed a 45% year-on-year growth, with a particular increase in the last eighteen months, since its corporate restructuring.

Ashley Group I Profile

The Ashley Group recorded a £400 million turnover for 2022. “This year we are due to move about eight-and-a-half to nine million tonnes of commodities – either third party or our own inhouse cargo,” said Peter.

This growth, though impressive, is the result of carefully considered decisions, not hasty ones. Peter emphasised that the company is very specific on the assets it acquires, and the Supramax and Ultramax vessels in particular serve ACL’s client base well.

“They are shallow drafted, very ecofriendly, with good speed and consumptions,” he said. “We operate in areas where gears, cranes and grabs are required. But we are not looking for a big milestone of acquiring ten vessels at once: we’re very much looking for organic growth.

“Any asset we acquire must be the correct one. We take a lot of pride in analysing the minute details of every vessel. If we can save half a tonne on a particular vessel, that's key for us, because it adds value further down the supply chain. This organic growth is about finding the asset that suits us. That means the right price, trading history, spec and condition; then we’ll purchase It's very measured growth: we want to be operating here in the next ten, twenty, thirty years.”

Partners and suppliers

Working closely with its partners, the Ashley Group is adding value to its operations by improving sustainability credentials on both sides. Establishing with producers and buyers how they can reduce their carbon footprint has the potential for long-term benefits, according to Peter.

“It’s an education, especially for our suppliers. We always try and promote the more economical vessels,”. “Although they can be more expensive in the short term, the positive impact flows through the industry considerably.”

The company’s in-house technical department is continuously monitoring the route, speed and fuel consumption of vessels. If there are delays at a discharge port, the technicians will slow the ship down so fuel consumption is lower. And ACL is in the early stages of working with third-party, UK-based tech companies to find a digital solution to further reduce emissions.

“We are shipping people: we understand the freight, the logistics, and the commodities themselves,” Peter reflected. “But there’s expertise we don’t have, and having those partnerships adds value to us and to any third party we work with. That means partnerships and joint ventures, constant dialogue, frequent brainstorming . This is what really drives the growth of the company.”

Meeting challenges

Another way the Ashley Group is expanding the strength of its operations is with the expansion of its small technical department for the assistance of both its owned and third-party vessels. And it is no surprise that the company brings the same measured yet proactive approach to any challenges it faces, too.

For example, in January 2022, Indonesia implemented a month-long coal export ban to prevent potential power loss and blackouts, after supplies at domestic power plants fell to critically low levels. “The ban came in overnight,” recalled Peter. “We had two ships there. Within a day, we redeployed the ships and negotiated with the charterers.

“The problem was beyond their control, but what was important was that action of being reactive and having a dialogue with the client, so you can immediately pick up the phone, have a video call, find a solution and mitigate.”

Since restructuring, the Ashley Group is continuing to evolve, creating value that is both substantial and sustainable. “We are here for a long time,” concluded Peter. “Every single employee in the group buys into the mantra that we are a service provider, and we focus on partnerships. There are always going to be problems, but everyone should know how to overcome them. The continuity of business is more important than maximising the profit in the short term. We are all here for a career and we all love the industry.”