Maritime CEO Issue Two 2021

ISSUE TWO 2021

Indian intentions

BY

Ravi Mehrotra’s flagship aspirations

MANIFEST

3 At The Prow

Profiles

Economy

23 Cover Story Foresight 29 Seanergy 31 Mastermind 33 Anglo International 35 Furetank 37 Energifonden Maritime

4 US 7 EU 9 China 11 India 13 Brazil

Markets 15 Dry Bulk 17 Tankers 19 Containers 21 Finance

Executive Debate 22 Maritime PR

Recreation 38 Wine 39 Gadgets 40 Books 41 Travel

Opinion 42 Frank Coles 43 Jon Chaplin 44 MarPoll

41

AT THE PROW

An ASM publication Editorial Director: Sam Chambers sam@asiashippingmedia.com Associate Editor: Adis Adjin adis@asiashippingmedia.com Correspondents: Athens: Ionnis Nikolaou Bogota: Richard McColl Cairo: Camelia Ewiss Cape Town: Joe Cunliffe Dubai: Yousra Shaikh Genoa: Nicola Capuzzo Hong Kong: Alfred Romann London: Paul Collins New York: Suzanne Smith Oslo: Hans Thaulow San Francisco: Donal Scully Shanghai: Colin Quek Singapore: Grant Rowles Sydney: Ross White-Chinnery Taipei: David Green Tokyo: Masanori Kikuchi Contributors: Nick Berriff, Andrew CraigBennett, Paul French, Chris Garman, Lars Jensen, Jeffrey Landsberg, Dagfinn Lunde, Mike Meade, Peter Sand, Neville Smith, Eytan Uliel Editorial material should be sent to sam@asiashippingmedia.com or mailed to 24 Route de Fuilla, Sahorre, 66360, France Commercial Director: Grant Rowles grant@asiashippingmedia.com Maritime ceo advertising agents are also based in Japan, Korea, Scandinavia and Greece — to contact a local agent email grant@asiashippingmedia.com for details MEDIA KITS ARE AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD AT: www.asiashippingmedia.com All commercial material should be sent to grant@asiashippingmedia.com or mailed to 30 Cecil Street, #19-08 Prudential Tower Singapore 049712 Design: Mixa Liu Printers: Allion Printing, Hong Kong Subscriptions: A $120 subscription is charged for 2021’s four issues of Maritime ceo magazine.

Shell ruling should send shudders throughout shipping

W

hat a hammering the oil majors took in May, reminiscent of Big Tobacco’s choking comeuppance in an American court 15 years ago.

In a single day, investors in the two biggest US oil companies punished Exxon Mobil and Chevron for dragging their feet on taking action to reduce global warming while more significantly in The Netherlands a historic court ruling could reshape how Shell carries outs its business.

Exxon Mobil lost at least two board seats to activist hedge fund, Engine No. 1 on May 26 while just over two-thirds of Chevron investors supported a resolution to further reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Still, in the grand scheme of things Chevron and Exxon’s CEOs will be relieved they’re not in the shoes of their Shell counterpart. A landmark judgment issued by the district court in The Hague said that Shell and its

suppliers must cut CO2 emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels, marking the first time in history a judge has held a corporation liable for causing dangerous climate change in a case originally brought about by NGO Friends of the Earth.

All three companies will now be under enormous pressure from both shareholders and the wider public to cut emissions, and cut them fast. What’s more, emboldened by this court victory, NGOs could well target other polluting industries, potentially opening the door for class action suits around the world to speed up decarbonisation of the transport sector. ●

“

Emboldened by this court victory, NGOs could target shipping next

”

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ISSUE TWO 2021

3

ECONOMY US

America’s back The economic upturn has caught many by surprise

T

he US economic picture is somewhat confusing at the moment. Naturally, due to the impact of Covid the US economy slumped in 2020. Yet despite that fall the rebound has been far swifter than just about any economist, or the new Biden administration, expected or forecast. Jobs are much more of an indicator in the US than in, say, China (where employment roll padding is still common in times of downturn) or Europe (with much wider furlough schemes).

Unemployment is still historically high in the US - 9.3m people remain unemployed. Although this is a significant decline of the highs seen in April last year, it is still well above the pre-pandemic measure of 5.7m in February 2020. Obviously catering, hospitality and retail have been the hardest hit sectors and are all notoriously quick to fire and to rehire in the US. In April, the number of jobs in restaurants, cafes and bars jumped by 292,000, for example.

The rebound does seem in part to be due to the effective vaccine rollout in the US allowing retail and catering to reopen and get things moving again and release household savings and relatively generous fiscal stimulus. Of course, though this is a bounce, after a hard landing and US major export categories, 2020 Category

$bn exports

Capital goods

547

Industrial goods

531

Consumer goods

206

Automotive

162

Foods, feeds & beverage Total exports Source: USDA

4

131 2.5trn

“

2021 US farm exports are on course to hit an alltime high this year

”

it may not presage a real economic resurgence in the second half of the year. That will be what economists are most keenly watching for.

As far as exports go it is a somewhat mixed and confusing picture too. The continuing US-China trade war may be less aggressive than it was under the Trump administration but it certainly hasn’t gone away.

However, the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) quarterly agricultural trade forecast projects fiscal year 2021 US farm exports at $164bn – the highest total on record and 21% up on 2020’s total. Exports of food products are still, despite some rancour, led by Chinese demand for soybeans and corn. Other top markets, in order, are Canada, Mexico, Japan, the European Union, and

South Korea, with demand remaining strong across the board. On the meat side, the USDA expects beef and pork export values and volumes to hit at an all-time high, as is broiler meat volume.

It also does seem to be the case that various trade disputes are playing off against each other. In some cases orders that would have gone to Australia for some consumer goods, food products and minerals/ores are shifting to the US as Washington-Beijing tensions calm while Canberra-Beijing tensions continue to escalate. Similarly so perhaps as the EU’s investment and trade deal with China falls apart. Still, the Biden administration appears to firmly believe that “significant imbalances” exist in the China-US trade relationship and the new White House is committed to levelling it, according to US trade representatives. Disagreements look set to continue into the second half of 2021 and perhaps beyond. ● maritime ceo

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ECONOMY EUROPE

All for one and one for all The bloc is bullish as vaccines speed up

N

owhere is the linkage between getting mass vaccination roll out going and economic recovery more pronounced than in the European Union (EU). Given the rather sluggish and overly bureaucratic start to the vaccine roll-out in the bloc its leaders appear fairly bullish on their expectations of economic rebound – they are issuing estimates that the bloc’s combined economy will expand by 4.2% of GDP in 2021, and by 4.4% in 2022. That is bullish after a 6.1% contraction in the EU, and a Main EU trading partners, 2020 Destination

% of total exports

US

18

UK

14

China

10

Switzerland

7

Russia

4

Turkey

4

Japan

3

Rest of world

39

Total

100

Source: Eurostat

ISSUE TWO 2021

6.6% shrinking in the Eurozone, in 2020. Everything back to normal by last quarter of 2022 is the aim.

There is, of course, some more stimulus to come in the EU - the €800bn EU recovery fund planned to start pumping funds into European economies in the second half of this year. Some economists also worry that much fiscal responsibility may be jettisoned to get economies back on track. There is talk of removing the mandatory3% cap on any deficit, and 60% of GDP debt ratio. It is talked of as ‘reform’ but sounds like it might be abolished. Public debt is also a concern for the bloc - public debt is set to peak this year in the EU at 94% of GDP before decreasing slightly to 93% in 2022. France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Belgium and Cyprus are expected to have debt of over 100% next year.

And not all the bloc will recover equally even if things go to the commission’s plan. Spain, the hardest-hit EU economy last year with a contraction of 10%, may grow 5.9% this year. However, Italy is set to expand by 4.2%, Germany by 3.4 % and France by 5.7%. Again, these

projections seem rather optimistic to many economists.

It’s a mixed message on exports within the EU and without. Some claim that British exports to the European Union are recovering.

Official figures for March show exports to the EU rose by 8.6% to £12.7bn – close to the £13.6bn recorded in December before Britain left the bloc and when there was a surge of trade as companies stocked up ahead of the Brexit deadline.

This seeming return to normal is hotly contested by many though on both sides of the English Channel.

But with the exception of the now non-EU UK, exports to destinations outside the bloc are more problematic.

And finally, even with the issues of Brexit still not all resolved as well as the pandemic, trade wars remain.

The US-EU trade talks seem to be at a truce though the EU-China trade and investment deal is now dead in the water over a lack of perceived reciprocity from Beijing on genuine market access as well as the sticking points of human rights, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. ●

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ECONOMY CHINA

Top of the charts No economy has rebounded more strongly than China’s. Shipping is thankful

D

oes the theory of first in (to the Covid pandemic), first out apply economically?

The experience of China seems to indicate it certainly does. In the first quarter, China’s official statistics recorded the biggest jump in gross domestic product (GDP) since the country started keeping quarterly records in 1992, 18.3%. This is leading economists to predict a 19% or over annual growth rate for 2021. Of course, these numbers are heavily skewed given the 7% contraction of the Chinese economy in the first quarter of 2020. But still this year’s same first quarter saw industrial China’s foreign trade growth /decline, 2020 Month

% +/- over same month 2019

Jan-Feb

-9.6

March

-0.8

April

-0.7

May

-4.9

June

+5.1

July

+6.5

August

+6.0

September

+10.0

October

+4.6

November

+7.8

December

+5.9

Source: China Customs

ISSUE TWO 2021

output for March rise 14.1% over a year ago, while retail sales grew 34.2%. And with global demand still down or only just rebounding globally that domestic retail sales figure is crucial if China is to meet the 19% GDP growth expectation for the year.

Naturally also crucial to the national economy, indicative of the global economy and of especial interests to those in shipping and logistics are China’s export numbers, which are, it seems, looking good. China’s exports in US dollar terms surged by more than 32% from a year earlier in the first quarter to almost $264bn.

This did though in part reflect the severe slump in Indian exports at the end of the first quarter as the disastrous second wave of Covid hit the country. Many sourcers switched orders to China in anticipation of locked down factories and ports thereby benefitting China’s manufacturers, particularly at the low end of the production arc.

Still the growth numbers are good as they appear to be being maintained even as India emerges from its second wave and also as these stats are being maintained despite still rancorous trade relations with the US, Australia and the EU, among others. While the trade war with the US may be receding as the Biden administration digs in

after the tougher-on-trade Trump administration, the trade arguments with Australia, primarily over beef and wine, appear to be escalating and positions hardening. Meanwhile the EU – China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) appears dead in the water. Other issues – Huawei investments overseas included – continue to bedevil China’s global trade ambitions.

China, too, though needs efficient global supply chains. Some energy imports are taking time to arrive from the Middle East while the global shortage of microchips, partly due to Covid, is meaning some hi-tech factories in China are at a standstill awaiting components.

And while numbers tell one story in China there are others – new hires appear to be stagnating meaning effectively a rise in unemployment in China, especially among young new and recent graduates.

In May Chinese enterprises laid off more workers than they hired – a rare scenario, but perhaps now an increasingly common one in the future. Firms have always been encouraged not to lay off workers to maintain social stability, but for many the severity of the situation over the last months has meant this padding is not longer financially possible. ●

9

ECONOMY INDIA

Second wave knock-back Spring’s Covid outbreak has wreaked havoc

T

he massive second wave of Covid that swept across India this spring destroyed any chance of a rapid rebound and economic recovery. Gross domestic product rose 1.6% from a year earlier in the three months ended March, just before the deadly second wave. The GDP growth was actually approximately 0.5% higher than most expectations. This exceptional growth spurt in the first few months of 2021 was largely due to pent-up demand for everything from mobile phones to cars after the long and hard nationwide lockdown at the end of 2020.

Now, after a bad second wave, most economists downgraded their forecasts in recent weeks – which India: Major exports, 2020 Category

% of total exports

Engineering goods

22.74

Drugs/Pharma

3.13

Oil/petroleum

1.9

Chemicals

0.95

Rice

0.50

Plastic and linoleum

0.35

Marine products

2.55

Others

26.45

Total Source: Indian Government Statistics

11 ISSUE TWO 2021

100

were running at about a 12% GDP growth rebound - to factor in local lockdowns slowing activity, lack of trade at India’s major commercial hubs, and the slow pace of inoculation. Estimates are now at around 10% and just below. Abhishek Gupta, an India economist, told Bloomberg recently: “Greater vaccination coverage, increased public investment and improved export demand are likely to be key factors supporting a stronger rebound.”

One question as we go into the summer will be whether the country is able to unlock as one or if there will be regional lockdowns. And, if so, whether these will affect major agricultural production areas, industrial areas or areas of high domestic consumption. Many local economists think that consumer spending will not rebound fast – a rise in unemployment and a lot of uncertainty about the future mean people may keep their wallets shut. Airlines and hospitals are getting some central government subsidies, but not much else. It’s sink or swim for most of the economy while there have been massive job losses in retail, transport and construction among other badly affected sectors.

The great hope of Indian economists is the still robust export

sector. Led by engineering and machinery, gems and jewellery, and pharmaceuticals, exports grew more than 60%year-on-year to a record $34.5bn in March and $32bn in April, the first month of fiscal year 2021-2022, according to official data.

Consequently India’s trade deficit is now the lowest since September 2020, when it was $2.7bn (helped by big falls in both oil and gold imports into India too). It is also the case that services exports also rose throughout the first six months of 2021 too – by 15.4% according to the New Delhi government.

Along with the sectors already mentioned above that are doing well in terms of exports, the government also predicts that this year will see strong export growth in other sectors including jute, pharmaceuticals, carpets and textiles, handicrafts, leather, electronic goods, oil meals, cashew, engineering, petroleum products, marine products and chemicals. This export growth partly reflects rebounding global demand.

The task now for India is to keep the economic momentum at home and in terms of exports while getting the country inoculated to avoid a disastrous third wave that could knock the national economic rebound off course. ●

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11

ECONOMY BRAZIL

Still working The country might have been ravaged by Covid, but the economy is proving to be more resilient than most had anticipated

B

razil has been one of the worst affected countries during the Covid pandemic – staggeringly high death rates, hospitals overwhelmed, a major hit to the economy. Yet, it also appears to be confounding the commonly held notion of post-pandemic recovery that argues ‘first in-first out’ (and is largely applied to China’s economy and Covid response). Despite the situation still being relatively perilous as regards Covid infection rates in Brazil it seems the national economy grew by 1.2% in the first quarter of 2021.Services, investments, and in particular fixed business investment appear to have rebounded far faster than the majority of economists expected. Brazil’s economy is now, approximately, the same size and with the same rate of growth as it was in late 2019 just before the pandemic hit.

In light of these surprising statistics economists have revised their full-year forecasts and consequently there has been a surge in Brazil’s currency. In early June the Brazilian real was at its highest against the US dollar for over a year. So bullish are some feeling that economists at Citi and Goldman Sachs raised their

2021 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecasts to 5.1% and 5.5%, respectively.

Still that is hopeful. Government spending has fallen in the last 12 months and manufacturing has contracted and not matched the rebound in services and investment.

Household consumption in Brazil held up better than expected and is expected to stay surprisingly strong for the rest of the year. Overall industrial production expanded by a nominal 0.7%, the services sector grew by 0.4%. Most importantly fixed business investment rose 4.6% in the quarter, according to Brazilian government statistics.

Household consumption fell by 0.1%,

Leading destinations for Brazilian beef exports, 2020 Destination country

% share of total beef exports

Hong Kong

16.5

China

16.2

Egypt

12.2

Russia

9.0

Iran

8.6

Chile

6.8

Other

30.7

Total

100

Source: Apex-Brasil

ISSUE TWO 2021

government spending was down by 0.8%, and the manufacturing sector declined by 0.5%, all again according to government figures.

Exports are, of course, crucial to the shipping and logistics industry and there are mixed signals from Brazil. Pork exports were up and, following a bumper harvest, exports of coffee to the UK and EU was up significantly – by a whopping 31% to the UK alone, according to Apex-Brasil, the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency. Soybean and soybean oil exports were up 12% to the EU bloc. Indeed, globally Brazilian soybean exports reached 16.4m mt in May, a record for this time of the year in both volume and price terms. The major growth destination markets were Europe, but also throughout the wider Latin American region where Brazilian export numbers have been lagging lately on previous historic highs.

The downside is live cattle and other livestock exports. Much of Brazil’s cattle stock is exported live for fattening and slaughter in other places. Many of these destinations have banned the trade due to Covid, causing both receiving problems and a slump in demand. ●

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MARKETS DRY BULK

US corn exports smash records BIMCO’s Peter Sand on the ramifications of longer sailings for so much American agricultural produce

M

any agricultural trades have been exceptionally strong in 2021 and several grain types have experienced record high exports. US corn exports are no exception, reaching a record high of 49.1m tonnes between September 1, when the marketing year started, and May 20. This is 77.6% higher than in the 2019/2020 marketing year which recorded exports of 27.7m tonnes and finished the season at 43.3m tonnes (September to endMay), a level already surpassed in this current season.

The previous record for exports between September and May was held by the 2016/2017 season when exports in the equivalent week of May stood at 41.9m tonnes.

Also performing strongly are outstanding sales for this season which, although no guarantee for upcoming exports, provide a good indication. These currently stand at 14.6m tonnes which, if all the volumes sold are exported, would bring total exports this season to 68.6m tonnes, considerably higher than the 2016/2017 marketing season which

ISSUE TWO 2021

currently holds the record at 57.5m tonnes. At this point in the previous marketing season, outstanding sales stood at 12.1m tonnes, slightly lower than what was exported between May 20 2019 and the end of that season: 15.6m tonnes.

At this point last season only 190,600 tonnes of corn had been exported from the US to China. This year that number has skyrocketed to 13.6m tonnes as Chinese buyers stock up on US grains and send the number of panamax ships (75,000 tonnes) needed for this trade from around three to 182.

Higher exports to China are the primary reason for the 77.6% growth in total US corn exports so far this season, with China taking the top spot.

Two other destinations dominate US corn exports: Mexico and Japan, and along with China, the three combined account for 75% of total US corn exports. Exports to Mexico and Japan have reached 10.6m tonnes (up 4.2% from last season) and 7.9m tonnes (+28.5%) respectively and 11.2m tonnes have been exported to the rest of the world since September 1 2020, up just 0.2% from last season.

After years of disruption to the US-China corn trade due to the trade war, Chinese buyers have well and truly established their dominance this season, putting in large orders, not only to ensure enough feedstock, but also stock building, and an effort to make good on the stipulations in the phase one agreement.

For shipping this is great news; not only are overall volumes higher than they have ever been, so are sailing distances with both China and Japan providing much longer sailing distances than the other top buyer Mexico, as well as other buyers in South and Central America and Europe. ●

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MARKETS TANKERS

Calling the rebound Tim Smith from Maritime Strategies International looks at how, where and when a recovery might materialise

Q

1 2021 saw the oil tanker market hit rock bottom with earnings very similar to mid2018. MSI believes, for spot earnings, Q1 21 will represent the low point of the market downturn, with improving levels seen across the rest of 2021 and potentially much better rates in the second half of the year. For the period market we see limited further loss of altitude in a market which has already been severely downgraded.

The tanker market could see conditions improve above and beyond the MSI Base Case as well.

MSI has begun publishing extended quarterly tanker spot forecasts on the MSI HORIZON platform. These spot projections do start to see significant upside movement before the T/C rates, but they are coming from a very weak position early in 2021.

As the market transitions from a low environment at the start of the forecast to a more solid footing and (eventually) strong conditions, we see the spot earnings exceed T/C rates.

What could make this recovery happen faster? In terms of fleet dynamics, the most likely impact would be from temporary factors.

ISSUE TWO 2021

Following the OPEC+ announcement in March, it isn’t likely that we will see an extreme oil surplus in the market in the near-term, and certainly not on the scale seen in 2020.

High oil prices are not conducive to floating storage, and so at present this source of tightening is unlikely.

With the ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19 and the events of the last 12 months, we don’t rule it out though.

Geopolitical friction remains another potential driver of fleet restrictions. By its nature though this type of event is not going to be a sustainable source of upside.

Nonetheless the tanker market is arguably the most exposed shipping sector to geopolitical volatility, and this usually works in its favour. The recent blockage of the Suez canal has had a positive impact on spot rates, but its duration was short lived.

What about more sustainable sources of recovery on the demand side? Although our Base Case incorporates a positive view on oil demand recovery, we could see it rebound even faster. Given the sluggish start to 2021 that is unlikely to happen this year but 2022 offers more potential for out-performance.

Such a scenario would require a lot to go right in the world’s ongoing battle against Covid-19.

Accelerating and widespread vaccination, sustained and strong protection against new variants, rapid recovery in air travel, and an explosion of pent-up travel demand unleashed with e.g. vaccination passports or similar, a mass return to working from ‘work’ etc would be among the waypoints required.

We can see jolt in oil demand next year with 2022 significantly exceeding 2019 levels.

The rapid change in the refining landscape could also herald more buoyant markets. This could come not just from import demand but changing trade patterns. Regional refinery contraction and expansion changes the balances of required crude and supplied products, driving global trade in both oil’s raw and refined forms.

For the world’s largest crude exporting region, the Middle East, more crude will be used in its expanding domestic refining facilities—reducing export potential, but significantly increasing products output.

Conversely, in the US, reduced refining capacity will potentially free up even more shale crude for export.

This will add a further dimension to the ongoing contest between OPEC and US shale crude, which is likely to resume in earnest when we see a strong and sustained recovery in oil demand following the pandemic. ●

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MARKETS CONTAINERS

Where’s the ceiling?

Alan Murphy from Sea-Intelligence ponders how close we are to topping out

T

he Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) hits new highs seemingly every Friday.

For many months now people have been questioning how much higher spot rates can go. It’s a tricky one, as there are so many unknown variables in play.

First, the obvious one. We are now so far into uncharted black swan territory that no-one speaks from a position based on experience, data, or models, we’re all just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing if anything might stick. A year ago – or anytime in the past 60 years of container shipping – anyone suggesting spot rates of $20,000 per feu would have been laughed out of the industry.

Secondly, there’s not enough empty containers and slots, so it’s a game of musical chairs, where the music is money. Shippers with low-value-to-volume goods are being crowded out by three other types of shippers: A) High-value shippers that have greater margins to eat into, B) shippers with goods with little to no friction in passing on the costs up through the supply chain, and C) shippers who are able to enforce their contracted space and equipment guarantees, although I hear they are referred to as unicorns in this market.

Another important stat to keep an eye on is the ratio of goods ready to ship versus placing new orders.

If you have $500,000 in a box, but it is worth nothing in a yard in China and rapidly decreasing in value (fashion apparel, high-tech, seasonal

ISSUE TWO 2021

products, automotive parts, perishables, pharmaceuticals, etc) you are willing to begrudgingly pay an awful lot of money to ship, if the alternative is spoilage or other type of massive value loss. On the other hand, if you are considering placing an order for 20 boxes of $500,000 of perishable goods, you will very likely consider whether you can postpone such an order, to a time of more reasonable freight. What is this ratio, no-one knows.

The contract versus spot ratio of course also plays a role. As do the limited substitution options in air, rail, or near-sourcing. As does the contagion of equipment shortages across trades: Asia-Europe is experiencing quite anaemic demand growth, but rates are through the roof because there’s no boxes to move the cargo that has to move, due to the transpacific soaking up all the empty boxes. All trades are up from last year, but the SCFI is a weighted average of nine different trades, and many trades are far from as high as Asia-Europe and transpacific, and in theory they can go much higher, but how high and what’s the ratio? These ratios are all unknown generally, and even more so in terms of how the ratios are split across different value classes of container shipments.

High freight rates are driven by equipment and space shortages, which in turn are driven by a confluence of unprecedented US demand (due to pandemic shifts from services to goods) and supply-side disruptions: Port congestion, Covid infections and quarantines in ports

(e.g. Yantian) and terminals, vessels being grounded due to quarantines, and the challenges of vessels getting stuck in canals, dropping boxes, or catching on fire. In the past 10 years, vessel incidents would be terrible for those immediately impacted, but they would not have any systemic impact, as the unaffected boxes and boxes waiting to be loaded would just go on the next half-empty ship, but all of the ships are full now.

Meanwhile, European consumers have not increased their spending on goods during the pandemic, but are rather holding back until lockdowns are lifted, so once the US consumers can shift their consumption back to services, the Europeans might take over. On top of that, there have been massive drawdowns of inventories worldwide which will need to be replenished, and with US consumer demand for same-day and next-day shipping, we will need bigger inventories than in the past. Oh, and the traditional peak season is starting now.

Can rates go further up in the coming weeks? Certainly! Can they go down a little? Also possible! ●

19

DECARBONISING MARITIME WILL TAKE

MORE THAN TECHNOLOGY

Read more at www.wartsila.com/decarbonisation

MARKETS FINANCE

Just what is green finance?

Dagfinn Lunde is confused about all these new green sustainability loans, which seem to lack consistency

T

here sure are a heck of a lot of conferences these days focused on so-called green finance. The term has become a buzzword, and yet, just what does it really mean? I certainly hope it is not some cunning way of trading pollution.

We are bombarded daily with claims of net zero, carbon neutral and zero carbon and yet no one can tell me clear, universally agreed definitions of what these terms mean in reality.

There is no consistency in all these green or sustainability loans.

Frankly a lot of it is simply trading certificates. Take planting trees, for instance. I remind readers of the ways of the Catholic Church, where you could pay extra to get rid of your sins.

The World Bank is all over this green finance craze, as is the Loan Market Association, while class societies are getting in on the act, saying they’re well placed to judge good corporate green deeds.

It is really such a confused market with no clear criteria. The loans can be fleet-wide or for single ships. The folk over at the Poseidon

ISSUE TWO 2021

Principles too have come in for criticism of late when it emerged that the green finance alliance’s annual efficiency ratio (AER) calculations have plenty of holes that need urgent fixing.

What it comes down to is the banks want to be seen to be green, but they really have little understanding or rather little guidance of what that means for their shipping clients.

We need a global objective standard where everyone can compare notes. One of those organisations who could do something sensibly is the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) as they know the quality and capabilities of the ships.

Banks could really benefit from using the expertise of IACS. Another thing to bear in mind as green cash becomes available is the very real prospect that the shipping industry’s total emissions could well rise this year in tandem with the exuberant markets.

Shipping has been very good at reducing emissions since 2008 thanks to vessel speed reductions as markets had been awful since the

global financial crisis. However, 2021 has been a fine year for many sectors - bulk speeds are coming back up as well as for the record-breaking boxships . There’s an exponential curve in terms of fuel consumption - one knot could see up to 25% increase in fuel consumption - underlining for me the urgent need for a carbon tax.

Clarksons Research noted recently the booming markets could “edge up” shipping’s emissions this year, outstripping 2020’s total and returning to 2019 levels. That’s something that will be tricky to explain to your green banker.

Another issue is of course the charterers. Present charter parties leave it to the charterer to decide the speed of the ship and if they just need the cargo quickly, I do not see them too concerned about whether the ship pollutes or even breaks the new standards coming from IMO and other official bodies.

Hopefully, shipowners in their eagerness to enter into new presently juicy charter parties will be smart enough to include a clause about complying at all times to the new rules and regulations coming. ●

21

EXECUTIVE IN PROFILE DEBATE

Maritime’s PR weakness Ben Pinnington’s new book, Making Waves: PR strategies to transform your maritime business, has just been published. The Polaris Media head writes for Maritime CEO on the takeaways from two recent high profile shipping moments in the media

T

wo torpedoes have slammed into the reputational hull of the maritime industry recently. The Ever Given Suez Canal crisis and the Black Trail TV documentary. Both exposed the PR weaknesses that are well known in the sector – organisations are not comfortable with the media, often do not understand or value PR and prefer a low profile. This approach is increasingly untenable in a media saturated world where social media

22

has given everyone a voice.

When the nearly 400 metre long Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal in March it thrust maritime onto the front pages worldwide. It was a golden opportunity to champion the industry and grow understanding.

But the aftermath saw a criticism in the maritime media of the ‘faceless’ response. While this was evidently a complex crisis for the PR teams to deal with, with different organisations and cultures involved, all

the latest media training teaches you – you need to front up in a crisis.

Organisations cannot tie PR teams hands behind their backs. Can you imagine a major global media crisis involving a Virgin plane and

“

The decarbonisation agenda is taking maritime out of its bubble

”

maritime ceo

EXECUTIVE IN PROFILE DEBATE

“

PR today is as much about listening as it is about broadcasting a message

not seeing Richard Branson on the media? It is unthinkable. Executives need to be visible in a crisis as it is in these moments that you find out what a company and its leaders really stand for. A crisis well-handled should see an organisation’s reputation enhanced with an empathetic spokesman sensitive to the human implications of the incident giving informed updates and answering difficult questions. So often where organisations go wrong is when they

ISSUE TWO 2021

”

seem detached, cold or insensitive to the impact of a crisis. Maritime organisations need to be aware how the low-profile approach can backfire.

The Black Trail documentary, meanwhile, is the mother of all wake up calls. Billed as ‘how shipping pollutes the planet, avoid taxes and dodges regulations’ it falls into the ‘viewing from behind the couch’ category for maritime executives of a sensitive disposition. While it clearly had an agenda the programme raised valid points which required serious answers but the candid unguarded interviews with some Greek shipping executives were painful to watch. It goes without saying that no executive should give an interview without media training and pre-prepared messages.

Maritime simply cannot go on in this way. Public and mainstream media scrutiny of maritime is only likely to increase as it becomes better known how the industry is responsible for carbon emissions equivalent to Germany. Organisations need to undertake crisis horizon scanning understanding that the decarbonisation agenda is taking maritime out of its bubble blinking into the blinding sunlight of the climate change emergency debate. This means shipping lines, ports, shipyards, logistics companies and OEMs have to be in touch with public opinion on environmental matters.

It is now expected that organisations demonstrate they are going green with hard evidence. The definition of PR is: PR is about reputation, the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. By far the most important element of this statement is what you do. As PRs we are aware that the environmental agenda places massive pressure and responsibility on maritime businesses to listen and shape their operations accordingly, not green

washing or purpose washing. This is not the soft world of CSR where companies did good things, which were not always fundamental to operations, and expected recognition. The advent of Environmental Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) in place of CSR is a tougher game altogether.

We see ESG in action particularly in maritime finance where the Poseidon Principles have been signed by lending institutions responsible for $158bn. The signatories demand that shipowners meet the IMO targets for their fleets otherwise ships risk not being mortgaged.

Public relations is also changing.

The era of PR being seen as a tactical tool, communications gloss or an add on to marketing is over. Astute organisations now use PR to shape their strategic direction. PR today is as much about listening as it is about broadcasting a message. If we expect stakeholders to believe in, and be influenced by, our messages we have to show we are prepared to listen and become an advocate of their message. Listening is the starting point of building trust and deepening relationships – the ultimate goal of PR. This is why organisations are making PR part of their C-suite to ensure they are in tune with their stakeholders, as well as public opinion on issues that effect them, giving them a considerable advantage over those who are not.

The world is a very noisy place.

It is harder than ever to pierce through that wall of sound. Maritime organisations need to find their voice on the issues that matter most like climate change as well as the human stories of triumph and adversity overcome. This is not the time to be quietly hiding, tapping on the door of government and the media with a sponge. We need champions so the immensity of maritime’s role in the world is heard, appreciated and acted upon. ●

23

IN PROFILE

Ravi Mehrotra p.26

Steve Davies p.33

Eugen Adami p.31

In profile this issue Maritime CEO’s 17 correspondents around the world have been in touch with many of the world’s top shipowners. Highlights are carried over the next 17 pages

24

maritime ceo

IN PROFILE

Lars Höglund p.35

Fredrik Johansson p.37

Stamatis Tsantanis p.29

ISSUE TWO 2021

25

IN PROFILE

The man determined to shape India’s shipping fortunes Foresight’s Ravi Mehrotra on plans to take over the Shipping Corporation of India

V

eteran Indian shipping and offshore entrepreneur Dr Ravi K. Mehrotra, 79, executive chairman and founder of Foresight Group, was back in the news this spring when a consortium led by his company was one of three shortlisted candidates to take over a controlling 63.75% of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) that the national government plans to divest.

Junior partners in the consortium are Belgian tanker giant Exmar (20%) and Dubai-headquartered GMS (10%), the world’s largest cash buyer of ships led by Mehrotra’s compatriot Dr Anil Sharma. Other shortlisted bidders are teams led by Mumbaiheadqaurtered Great Eastern Shipping and US-based Safesea Group run by Indian businessman S V Anchan.

Emotionally it would be “very thrilling” to win control of the

Spot on

Foresight Established in 1984 by Ravi Mehrotra in this diverse group there are six jack-up rigs, two aframax tankers and a VLGC.

26

company where he began his career sailing as an engineer back in 1964, says Mehrotra “Don’t forget,” he cautions, “it could also turn out to be a white elephant that would take down the whole group, for instance if SCI doesn’t keep control of government contracts.”

Mehrotra has no clear timeframe of when the SCI award will be made, especially given the latest uncertainties created by the pandemic, but discloses that the Indian government has said that a decision will be announced before March 2022. A transaction price of around $900m has been mooted but this will depend on exactly what assets such as real estate are included in the deal and therefore the market price, he adds.

The SCI fleet listed in the sale prospectus comprises 59 vessels as follows: 18 crude tankers (of which five are VLCCs), 13 product carriers, 15 dry bulk carriers, two containerships, one LPG/ammonia carrier, eight offshore supply vessels and two multipurpose supply vessels.

Average age of the fleet is 11.6 years and its market value - excluding the 10 supply vessels - is put at $821.5m

by VesselsValue with a scrap value of $415.8m.

Mehrotra’s long and varied career means he has experience of operating many of these ship types.

“

I’m happy that in my lifetime private shipowners will survive

”

After spending a spell in Iran running the Irano Hind Shipping Company jv, in 1984 he moved to London in to create his own group, Foresight, which built up a significant reefer fleet before quitting that market in 2008. It has run various ship types including container vessels, bulk carriers and even a cruiseship since then, and today it operates two aframax tankers and recently acquired a 90,000 cu m very large gas carrier that has been chartered out to an Indian oil organisation.

But shipping is only one string to Mehrotra’s bow. Just over a decade ago he branched out into offshore drilling and today operates six jack-up rigs, all of which are currently employed on medium-term charters, by India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, enjoying an award-winning efficiency of 99.7% uptime.

The cyclical nature of the shipping and oil drilling businesses mean Foresight is currently valued at around $1.5bn, somewhat less than a few years ago. Its operational activities are now based in the UAE - where Mehrotra has an apartment maritime ceo

COVER STORY

on the 80th floor of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The group itself is now registered in Mauritius, as opposed to London where Mehrotra owns a building in the City just a stone’s throw from the Thames.

“The issue is that taxation is not suitable for shipping companies in the UK,” Mehrotra reckons, “and unless the government changes that, why should anyone have a British flag? There’s also personal taxation… so I’ve converted London into a marketing office.”

In addition, Foresight runs a non-profit maritime and offshore training school in India, in the family home that belonged to his parents, both noted educationalists, intended to give not-so-well-off youngsters the chance to aspire to a career at sea.

Then there is a farm outside Delhi that produces a medicinal fruit much revered in Indian medicine, plus the footwear manufacturer and retailer Pavers UK, which Mehrotra’s sonin-law Utsav Seth, first brought to Foresight.

Formerly there was also an Indian/Chinese restaurant chain based on a culinary Silk Road concept but that was brought to a close by the pandemic. The hospitality legacy carries on, however, in the form of the annual winter BBQ that Mehrotra and his wife have hosted in a special marquee erected in the garden of their London home in Putney, which regularly attracts a crowd of some 500 of the ‘great and the good’ of shipping, and latterly a fair few UK government ministers as well.

In all the above, beneath Mehrotra’s natural showmanship lies a sharp eye for a future trend (as in ‘foresight’) combined with an almost Tolstoy-like interest in improving the welfare of his fellow countrymen, whih are both at the heart of his interest in taking over SCI. “With a population of 1.34bn, India is currently the world’s second largest importer of oil after China, to the tune of 5.4m barrels per day,” he notes. “But they are also signatory to various climate agreements and can’t keep on burning coal and fossil fuel.”

ISSUE TWO 2021

“

Taxation is not suitable for shipping companies in the UK

Mehrotra therefore feels the country will be obliged to go down the LNG route at least for the next 25 years.

Mehrotra’s vision for SCI would be for it to become owner of a large part of the 100-odd 149,000 cu m size vessels that he says the country would need - currently it has merely a 25% stake in four majority Japaneseowned LNG carriers. Indeed, that is why Exmar was invited to join the consortium bidding for control of SCI, because of its “good experience in LNG regasification,” he explains, while GMS was chosen for its experience in dealing with India officialdom in its ship recycling activities.

Foresight already has an ambitious plan to develop the silted-up port of Bhavnagar on India’s west coast into an LPG import hub, importing the gas in compressed

”

form from the UAE in a novel concept that Mehrotra describes as a floating gas pipeline. Some four years away from becoming operational, the plan represents an estimated investment of $500m and is another example of Mehrotra’s blue sky thinking for the betterment of his fellow countrymen.

At the same time, he realises that his family-run business model may not be the blueprint for shipping going forward - despite his belief that it is only the small- to medium-sized shipowners that inject the “vibrancy” and “romance” into shipping and drive innovation, since they alone are prepared to take risks and bet on future market upturns in the way the bean-counters of larger corporations never will. “I’m happy that in my lifetime at least,” the mercurial entrepreneur concludes, “private shipowners will survive.” ●

27

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IN PROFILE

‘We are entering a new commodity supercycle’ Stamatis Tsantanis on positioning Seanergy’s cape fleet for growth

S

eanergy Maritime Holdings has emerged from the pandemic crisis much stronger, Stamatis Tsantanis, the company’s chairman and CEO tells Maritime CEO, emphasising the “solid balance sheet” and the increase of the fleet by 50%.

For the time being, Seanergy consists of 16 capesize vessels with an average age of 11.8 years and aggregate cargo carrying capacity of above 2,800,000 dwt.

Tsantanis explains: “From a commercial point, we have developed a critical mass of a high quality capesize fleet and have established significant partnerships with prominent international conglomerates.

From a technical point, owning a homogeneous fleet provides a significant operating advantage for Seanergy.”

Tsantanis appears to be extremely bullish on the capesize market, pointing out:“ We are entering a new commodity and shipping supercycle. We strongly believe that the capesize segment will outperform the other sectors of dry bulk.”

Describing the chartering strategy of Seanergy, Tsantanis says the majority of the fleet is on

Spot on

Seanergy New York-listed Greek bulker player with 17 capes to its name.

ISSUE TWO 2021

period employment at a variable rate associated with the Baltic Capesize Index giving Seanergy a strong exposure in the spot market, which is now proving successful. At the same time, many of the company’s indexlinked agreements have the option to convert from floating to fixed for periods ranging between three and 12 months based on the FFA curve.

“There is still a big variance between spot and the period rates.

However, as the market is normalising, we intend to have a balanced chartering strategy with 50:50 allocation of time chartered and spot ships,” Tsantanis says.

Seanergy has been aggressive in the secondhand market, acquiring many ships recently with plans for plenty more.

“We are constantly evaluating investment opportunities and we intend to further grow our fleet with qualitative acquisitions. As with all our recent vessel purchases, we intend to proceed with accretive transactions that will generate significant value for our shareholders,” the Greek says.

Nevertheless, Tsantanis seems

reluctant to invest in new tonnage.

“Newbuilding capesize prices have a $20m premium as compared to a quality five to seven-year-old vessel, which effectively earns the same day rate. In addition, due to the upcoming environmental regulations, a conventional newbuilding ordered today may become technologically obsolete in a few years. Unless there is some certainty in the vessel of tomorrow that makes strong financial sense, our expansion strategy will remain the same with high quality secondhand tonnage,” Tsantanis says.

Seanergy is a public-listed company and its stock price has increased substantially from multi-year lows during the past months.

Tsantanis argues: “As we begin a period of sustainable profitability, I expect we’ll see increased institutional interest back in shipping.”

He also sees a renewed interest from lending sources to fund the right companies and the right projects in the shipping industry.

“Seanergy always had access to prominent quality bank debt. Over the years, we have established a diverse group of prominent lending sources in order to fund our growth,” Tsantanis notes.

Regarding Seanergy’s green strategy for the future, Tsantanis says his company is working with major charterers to develop solutions which reduce fuel consumption, as well as the CO2 emissions of the existing fleet by at least 10-15%.

“We have installed energy saving devices on some vessels and we will expand this investment on other ships as well,” Tsantanis says. ●

29

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IN PROFILE

Education is key Mastermind’s Eugen Adami tells Maritime CEO about the importance of engaging with the public

C

yprus-based Mastermind Shipmanagement (MSM) was set up by German national Captain Eugen-Henning Adami in 2010, and today owns 14 of the 26 vessels it manages, all multipurpose bulk carriers from handysize down to 4,000 dwt.

Adami himself is well known on the international stage having served as president of the influential Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC) from 2009 to 2015. Before that he headed up the German shipping group Hartmann’s Cyprus-based operation, Intership, where he was instrumental in designing several classes of bulk carrier that have since proved highly successful for the Chinese and Japanese yards involved. These include 13 of MSM’s owned vessels, all built between 2004 and 2012.

“Our vessels’ main characteristics are that they are fuel and cargo efficient,” explains Adami, which was achieved by using CFD design and extensive tank testing of hull models, subsequently modified to minimise friction. “We were ahead of the EEXI rule, with which all our vessels already comply,” he adds, “and that’s enormously helpful in helping us survive in difficult shipping markets.”

But it’s not just environmental

Spot on

Mastermind Cyprus-based Mastermind Shipmanagement owns 14 of the 26 vessels it manages, all multipurpose bulk carriers.

ISSUE TWO 2021

“

We need to completely redo our STCW training

ship designs for which Adami is well known. A former tallship sail-training instructor after retiring as a master of merchant vessels, he retains a keen sense of the importance of providing maritime education for seafarers and those aspiring to the profession.

Adami it was, while still a board member of the CSC, who came up with the idea of the ‘Adopt-A-Ship’ campaign pioneered in Cypriot schools and since copied by several other countries, including most recently Greece. Here schools engage with an individual vessel for a year, put a world map on the wall with key ports and commodity trades, and have a weekly conversation with the ship where they would hear about loading and unloading operations, crew changes, weather reports and so forth.

Today about 70 ships belonging to CSC members are tracked each year by local schools, and Cypriot interests have started an even

”

larger sister programme run in the Philippines.

Adami also devised an ‘Understanding Shipping’ course for Intership employees that has since been modified and is taught by the CSC, while he himself teaches maritime subjects for several hours a week at Frederick University in Limassol.

Finally, MSM has started its own educational portal for seafarers, MarLearn, comprising some 90 different online courses. Initially aimed at the company’s own roster of some 1,200 crew, it is now freely available to all, Adami particularly keen for it to be embraced by seafarers in developing countries.

In fact, he believes that educating a new generation of seafarers who are tech savvy and mindful of the environment is essential for the shipping industry if it is not to run into manpower shortages in a few years’ time, as the industry begins to recover and expand again, because of the negative impact on recruitment caused by all the bad press about crews being ‘stranded at sea’ during the pandemic.

“We have to focus on new technology, on automation aboard ships, on greener processes and advocate the positioning of a seafarer as a person who is differently educated and motivated than before, give it a green badge,” he says. “We need to completely redo our STCW training, and we should do that before IMO requires it because we simply don’t have time.” ●

31

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IN PROFILE

Buy British Anglo International Shipping on the merits of being based in the UK

A

nglo International Shipping is that increasingly rare beast in today’s global shipping mix – a British shipowner that is happy to be based in the country, with offices in London and Cardiff, and proud to fly the UK flag on all its vessels.

CEO Steve Davies explains: “We have sought to build a British infrastructure around our organisation from the outset in support of the UK’s internationally recognised strengths in the maritime sector.

Anglo International is a best practice and risk managed shipowner, committed to ensuring our business activities are return-focused for our investors, supportive of the personal objectives of our team, reliable and reputable for our charterers, and of value to our supply chain.”

The company was set up in 2017 by a group of shipping and finance market professionals with the stated mission of becoming the long-term dry bulk shipowner of choice for investors and charterers. Today it owns a fleet of eight dry bulk vessels totalling 818,000 dwt – six post-panamax vessels built 2010-2012 and two 2013-built kamsarmax vessels, all from major yards in China or Japan.

Prior to joining Anglo, Davies was CEO of the global maritime

Spot on

Anglo International Four-year-old UK owner with six post-panamax bulkers and two kamsarmaxes.

ISSUE TWO 2021

a clean-sheet structure and full alignment of interests if investors, shipowners, charterers and suppliers are to work together to navigate through future shipping cycles.”

“

WCovid-19 has lifted the groundswell of ESG to a new level

services arm of the Graig Shipping Group, involved in newbuilding supervision, shipmanagement and maritime consultancy. Graig was one of the pioneer overseas shipowners to have placed major newbuilding orders in China from the mid-1990s onwards for its successful Confidence and Diamond series of bulkers.

Davies also has the suitable intellectual credentials for his current CEO role, being a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and holding both an LLM in maritime law and a BSc in Economics.

Anglo’s guiding business model is explained with unusual clarity on the company website, which bears all he hallmarks of Davies’ authorship.

“Backed by a growing private and institutional investor base with a counter-cyclical mindset, our strategy is to target attractive asset entry prices,” it says, “whilst maintaining a fortress balance sheet, manage a partnership-focused commercial employment strategy with top-tier counterparties, and maintain core shipping and finance expertise in-house.

“Anglo believes the capital landscape of dry bulk shipping has fundamentally shifted and requires

”

Davies elaborates on this in person by stressing that modern shipowners like Anglo must today embrace the environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies that are increasingly demanded by shareholders and institutional investors.

He is set to chair a panel discussion on the particular importance of the social component of ESG at the headline conference of this year’s London International Shipping Week, entitled ‘Driving Growth and Recovery in a Disrupted World’, to be held in hybrid format at the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization on Wednesday September 15.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has lifted the groundswell of ESG to a new level, because a complex combination of political, economic and social drivers have each faced significant additional disruption as a result,” explains Davies.

“If social values are seeing a significant disruption, we as business leaders should see the opportunity.

We’d better take note and drive growth accordingly because resistance is not only futile, it’s arguably immoral.

“Almost everyone along the supply chain would like to know that what they are doing is driving positive social change.” ●

33

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IN PROFILE

Achieving IMO’s 2050 goals three decades early Furetank is ahead of the curve when it comes to green goals

S

wedish shipowner Furetank celebrated this June achieving the International Maritime Organization’s 2050 climate goals 28 and a half years’ ahead of the deadline, serving as both a tremendous achievement as well as a sign that the environmental legislation in place will need to be made more ambitious.

The brand new gas-powered 17,999 dwt Fure Viten product tanker left China Merchants Jinling Shipyard in Yangzhou last month with a very low Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) score of 4.65 points, more than 50% better than the required score for this size of ship. The Fure Viten is the last in a series of eight ships that the Swedish owner has taken delivery of over the past months – four of which it owns and another four it commercially operates.

With the delivery of Fure Viten, the average carbon dioxide emissions from Furetank’s fleet has been slashed by 50% compared to 2008 levels, the baseline IMO took when making its 2050 goals.

Spot on

Furetank Sweden’s Furetank operates nine owned vessels and is a founding member of the Gothia Tanker Alliance.

ISSUE TWO 2021

“

Climate change is a reality and we believe that politicians mean what they say

”

“Climate change is a reality and we believe that politicians mean what they say. Thus, if we are to survive as a shipping company in the future, we must do our absolute best to reduce our climate and environmental impact,” says Lars Höglund, CEO of Furetank, adding: “We have developed ships since the ‘80s and used our entire experience to optimise every detail. There is not a single system that we haven’t improved. This combination of interacting, energy-saving technical solutions is unique.”

For example, batteries help reduce the use of auxiliary engines, a ducted propeller increases thrust and reduces power requirement,

an improved hull shape minimises drag, and the main engine and shaft generator use variable frequency to increase propeller efficiency and reduce fuel consumption.

The eight dual fuel vessels will be operated with liquefied biogas or LNG. “The next step will be to operate the ships completely without fossil fuels. We are in the process of securing the supply of larger quantities of biogas within a year or so, through an exclusive agreement with a supplier. My view is that in 2030 we will run these vessels largely on LBG with zero fossil emissions,” Höglund claims.

Fure Viten and preceding sister vessel Fure Vinga are the very first tankers in Europe that are fully equipped to operate the energy-demanding cargo pumps with 6.6 kV high voltage shore power.

Höglund concedes that IMO’s current 2050 targets already look outdated.

“I believe that the EU and may be also the USA and Canada will come up with local regulations as IMO has not managed to take action,” Höglund says.

Furetank, based on Donsö in the Gothenburg archipelago, is a Swedish family-owned shipping company active in tanker shipping since the early 1950s. Furetank operates nine owned vessels and is a founding member of the Gothia Tanker Alliance: a market platform for small and intermediate product tankers, operating 40 vessels in European waters. ●

35

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IN PROFILE

Crude hopes One Swedish owner is confident the tide is about to turn for the tanker sector

S

weden’s Energifonden Maritime has recently taken delivery of an LR2 aframax vessel. The vessel has been renamed Agneta Pallas.

The takeover of the 2006-built ship, previously called Dubai Horizon, took place at a shipyard in Istanbul where the vessel underwent a special survey and a ballast water treatment system was installed. The vessel has now entered into a charter with Malaysia’s AET. No price for the ship has been revealed.

Spot on

Energifonden Maritime Subsidiary of Sweden’s Energifonden Sverige and keen investor in aframax and suezmax tankers.

“I am happy and grateful that Energifonden Maritime was able to carry out this deal and according to our analysis the market will recover strongly for this type of vessel due to a very low orderbook and scrapping of older tonnage and future tougher environmental and emissions regulations together with higher

oil consumption like pre-Covid,” comments Fredrik Johansson, CEO and owner of parent Energifonden Sverige.

Earlier in the year the company sold a suezmax it owned 50:50 with Ridgebury Tankers.

Energifonden Maritime is based in Oslo and is the division within Energifonden Sverige that handles all investments in energy logistics at sea. investing in both new and established companies in the energy sector, everything from shipping operations to wind turbines and companies that research alternative fuels.

Energifonden Maritime is looking for more ships to buy especially aframaxes and suezmaxes.

“All signals are showing a very bullish crude market after summer and more people get vaccinated around the world,” says a bullish Johansson. ●

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www.splash247.com/jobs ISSUE TWO 2021

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REGULAR BOOKS WINE

One or two for the suitcase?

Holiday opportunities may be limited but you will still have time on your hands, so consider wine books old and new, writes Neville Smith

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riting about wine is a little like describing music; interesting and frustrating in equal part. Unless you have the luck to be drinking the thing the writer is describing it’s close to pointless and in its way distracting too because of confirmation bias.

But read we do, in newspapers, magazines, online and in endless books. Wine is a pastime that lends itself to the nerdy world of books and vice versa. The great vintages, the legendary chateaux; the playboys, bad boys, brokers and other shady dealers, fortunes well spent and wasted, there is plenty to enjoy.

Traditionally the business was a scholarly one: ranking and rating, classifying and recommending.

Some wine books are perfect for keeping a door open, not because they are badly written, but because wine develops while print does not.

The problem extends to styles and fashions, since a fine writer can write about emerging regions and makers but be overtaken by events and changing tastes.

Some tomes are timeless and can always be recommended.

Two (more) to try EVEN WITHOUT BEING able to pin the tail on his suspect, Benjamin Wallace’s The Billionaire’s Vinegar (widely available) still provides a glimpse of the super-rich collectors and the things they are prepared to believe in pursuit of the ultimate bottle.

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Among these are the reference works that are regularly updated and written with the necessary authority.

Chief among these are the high priest Hugh Johnson’s World Atlas of Wine and Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine. For a novice trying to get their head around countries, regions, styles and types, these are always good to have by you.

Our lady of the blessed

Wine from Another Galaxy sums up the Rotters’ approach: whatever your taste, buy properly, drink well, eat heartily, regret little and be prepared to get involved with the weird while keeping one eye on the classic. ●

maceration still writes weekly in the Financial Times and her writing is ideal if you want to keep abreast of the mainstream. Michael Broadbent’s Vintage Wine is another reference point, though as we will see, reputations are there to be tested.

This brings us to what might be called the entertainment section, books that might not be on the curriculum but should be read under the covers. Chief among these must be The Billionaire’s Vinegar, the rollicking tail of the infamous ‘Thomas Jefferson bottles’ and other drinks of dubious provenance. With both protagonists (including Broadbent) still alive, Wallace is circumspect but the whiff of a spoiled bottle is hard to dispel.

“

Wine is a pastime that lends itself to the nerdy world of books

”

I’d also recommend A Hedonist in the Cellar: Adventures in Wine by Jay McInerney, whose side-hustle as wine critic for House & Garden takes him around the high rollers and deep cellars of the Big Apple’s wine scene with aplomb.

Combining the nerd factor of the first group with the flourish of the second, kudos once again to Noble Rot, whose new tome rounds up some of the best features from its magazine plus some new bits to deliver the wine book du nos jours.

From unaffordable cult wines to obscure iconoclasts, great restaurants and even some recipes, this has it all. ● maritime ceo

GADGETS

Customisable laptops

F

or years we in the gadget cupboard have been building our own custom desktop PCs with bits from many different manufacturers in a mix and match style. There has been no equivalent in laptops until now, with Framework.

Granted, it is a halfway house, as there’s only the one board, case, display and battery manufacturer, but other than that you have free rein: bring your own SSD, memory chips, wifi and bluetooth and (for those annoyed by expensive proprietary versions) USB-C power adaptor. There are four expansion ports which are also modular, so you can choose and swap out various different ports (USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, displayport, MicroSD or extra storage).

Framework frame.work www.apple.com

Vive VR

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here are rumours aplenty about new VR offerings coming soon. HTC have something actually available: the new Vive Pro 2. Though some have criticised its lack of innovation, it does have some solid improvements going for it: 5K (4896 x 2448) visuals, larger field of view (120°) and a refresh rate of 120Hz, and it supports display stream compression, or DSC, to keep it working on lower bitstream connections like displayport 1.2. The headphones are hi-res audio certified with 3D spatial sound, but you can use your own, and the controllers can be replaced with Valve’s Index controllers. One thing they haven’t improved is the microphone, which is woeful.

HTC Vive Pro 2 www.vive.com $1,400

Mini solution

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f you recently acquired one of the new M1 Mac Minis, you may have hit the only real drawback of the Mini: the ports are few and round the back. Satechi have you covered with their Type-C stand and hub. The stand fits perfectly under the Mini, looks just like it and using a single Thunderbolt port offers three USB-A slots, a USB-C, a headphone jack and SD and Micro SD reader slots, all at the front. If that wasn’t enough, there’s also a slot for an M.2 SATA SSD to add storage to your Mac. Satechi Stand & Hub for Mac Mini with SSD Enclosure satechi.net $100

ISSUE TWO 2021

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REGULAR BOOKS

Business in a time of pandemic Paul French leafs though a number of business tomes relating to Covid-19

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usiness writers have been working hard since the start of the year when it became increasingly obvious that the virus in Wuhan was likely to spread and epidemic would become pandemic. Of course many business sectors have been hit hard by the pandemic on every continent though, arguably, logistics and shipping have taken a special hit due to the very nature of the business being moving goods, commodities and people (crews) from place to place with a myriad of different rules, regulations, safety awareness and exposure to the virus.

Geary Sikich started thinking about the economic aftershocks of viral spreads after the avian flu pandemic, estimating a pandemic could cost the US economy alone up to $675bn (in 2008). However, in Protecting Your Business in a Pandemic, Sikich reminds us that humanity has been through pandemics before and that disaster management and business continuity are areas we know quite a lot about. Sikich’s book offers readers a practical guide for assessing the threat of pandemics to their own organisations from initial

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response to practical and hands-on guidance in the form of evaluation and assessment tools, exercises, and detailed examples. Special tools include an easy-to-use roadmap for developing and maintaining a comprehensive business continuity plan.

Robert Clarke’s Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat was published more recently, in 2016, and is a primer in medical disaster management planning. Until Covid-19 it was considered the major study and guide on pandemic response. Looking at seasonal flu pandemics, zoonotic contagions such as Ebola, swine flu and avian flu as well as more Covid-like respiratory syndromes such as SARS and MERS Clarke looks at lessons learnt by business going back to the 1918-1919 Spanish flu pandemic as well as how multinational organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), large national organisations, like the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), and national governments around the world can work together and co-ordinate. Looking to the (hopefully not too far) future Clarke also has a lot to say about the provision and

delivery of vaccines and antiviral medicines to ensure cross-border business can continue to operate even if some countries are faring better than others in suppressing viruses.

Finally, the book that seems first out the gate in terms of distilling our business learnings so far from coronavirus – a collection of essays entitled The Business of Pandemics: The COVID-19 Story. From a business standpoint, there have been dramatic effects on logistics and supply chains, economic downfalls, bailouts of major industries and small businesses, and far-reaching calamities from around the world. Even though the Covid-19 story is still in its making, this book focuses on the business of pandemics as applied to Covid-19.

Subject areas include topics everyone in logistics and shipping are thinking about right now including logistics and supply chain management challenges, how to conduct global business virtually and the likely global economic impact.

Finally, there’s a long consideration of how the world will begin to seriously e-open markets and trans-national business. ●

maritime ceo

REGULAR TRAVEL

The quiet one Menorca is the least developed of the Balearic Islands, and all the better for it

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nspoilt, idyllic, glistening sand, turquoise water… just about every tourist brochure cliché is actually true when you are talking about the beaches in Menorca. Outside peak season, it is still often warm enough to sit in the sun and the temperature is ideal for strolling around the coastal paths.

The island has been quietly encouraging sustainable tourism for years, long before it became fashionable. Its gentle landscapes are ideal for activities such as walking, cycling or riding – with no scary sharp inclines for those of us who are not super fit.

Stone monuments dating back thousands of years are scattered across the countryside, providing markers for a hiking holiday, while ancient coastal pathshave been restored to link the never ending series of perfect coves.

Although the season gets going in May and winds down in October, the island is beautiful in early spring when the almond blossom is out. Outside the

ISSUE TWO 2021

hottest months of July and August, all the Balearics are good for activity holidays, whether easy or more challenging, with plenty to see if you are interested in plants or birds.

Menorca is all about getting out on the water, whether swimming, diving, kayaking, paddleboarding or sailing.

The beaches on the northern coast (such as Cala Pilar, Cala Pregonda, Cala Presili) are wild, wide and windswept.

Those in the south are sheltered, womb-like coves where the sea has a colour of almost Caribbean intensity.

Back on land, get your walking boots on hike around the coastal path or cycle through the lanes that crisscross the countryside. The Cami de Cavalls is a restored medieval bridle path which follows a coastal route for around 200 km around the island.

Whether walking, cycling or riding, the path enables you to get to hidden parts of the coast and some spectacular beaches.

Spend a morning strolling around the elegant towns of Ciutadella and Mahón at opposite ends of the island, then kick back at a harbourside table to devour a platter of shellfish. No one is ever in a rush in Menorca.

In terms of where to stay the Hotel Rural Sant Ignasi is hard to beat just outside Ciutadella. This converted lloc (Menorcan country house) was once the summer home of an aristocratic family. The house, dating from 1777, is now exquisitely restored and furnished in an Anglo-Menorcan colonial style.

The hotel’s restaurant, Es Lloc, serves the most glamorous haute cuisine on the island, courtesy of Barcelona-born chef Oscar Riera. Try the escupinyas de la isla, a Menorcan seafood speciality that is a cross between oysters and clams.

If you have the time, don’t fly into the island - take a ferry from either Valencia or Barcelona to add some extra travel days in two of Spain’s best cities. ●

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REGULAR OPINION

Scum of the earth Exasperated at the treatment of seafarers, Frank Coles suggests a twoweek global strike might be the only way to improve life at sea

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hen you chose going to sea as a career did you know you were becoming the scum of the earth?” This is the question a senior executive of a large shipmanagement company asked me as I was having a drink with him in Hong Kong. My reply was, “No, but in fact in my day we were not as badly treated as seafarers are today.” The further east in the world we have gone to look for cheap labour the worse has become the plight of the seafarer.

We have failed the youth who seek a career at sea, we have failed at human rights and have systematically abused the basic rights of the normal everyday employment of seafarers. This is not a rant, just a direct, plain statement of the facts as I see them.

Sailors cannot go ashore on shore leave, they are not able to go home at the end of contracts, they have poor living conditions and, in some cases, very poor food and not paid. All of this is much worse than five years ago and certainly than 30 years ago. Of course, this is not in every case, but the poor conditions and abuse is much more widespread than we choose to admit or address.

Covid and the endless saga of the way in which seafarers have been treated is therefore no surprise.

Much has been written and said by many in the industry, but shouting in the engine room does not reach the bridge. For all the noise the various attempts have failed to achieve a change of course from those in charge on the bridge of the various nations in the world.

We are getting some crew vaccinated, and this is a great thing, but it is not helping with the stranded

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crews both onboard or ashore seeking a job. It is not changing the many charterers and owners who refuse to change crews on time. The sad truth is that many organisations are going through the motions of seeming to care, but behind the scenes they do little to make a change.

It is clear that that the ITF and IMO are incapable of making those in government provide a cohesive maritime policy on seafarers and repatriation. It is clear that despite the noises most charterers and many owners continue to block crew changes in contract clauses.

Corporate social responsibility is practiced with painting lipstick on the proverbial pig.

A hundred years ago when workers’ rights were in their infancy unions formed and became strong and influential. Strikes were common place and eventually those who prospered on the backs of the workers were forced to improve the working conditions of the workers. Crisis situations require drastic action, and the treatment of seafarers in this past 18 months is one of dire abuse of human rights.

It is only when the leadership of those countries around the world who have continued to have their ports work, goods be delivered and economies continue are hurt in the wallet will they maybe listen to the world citizen, the seafarers. Sailors don’t vote in the countries that they visit but they deliver the goods, they deserve a voice and deserve attention. Maybe a global strike of every ship for a couple of weeks is the only way to bring this to the attention of the bridge, because shouting in the engine room of shipping is not getting it done. Brussels, Washington and London amongst others need to start taking the this modern day slavery seriously.

This is written to provoke a response, and it could have been much longer with names and incidents to support the points, but editorial control prevented that. My hope is that someone somewhere will reach into a government that actually cares about seafarers and maritime and find a social conscience to support those who keep world trade turning. Otherwise what will come next? ● maritime ceo

REGULAR OPINION

Are you ready for Zoomidonia?

Jon Chaplin from Lucion Marine is dreaming of a return to Posidonia, but how different will the ‘pose-fest’ be when it resurfaces next year?

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am writing this at the dining room table because today, the piano tuner has converted my home office space into a latter-day torture chamber, steadily wearing me down with the unmelodious and soul-draining plink plonk of his craft.

I can feel a migraine coming on.

Is it any wonder why, with lockdowns easing, thoughts are turning back to international travel, seeing friends and clients in Copenhagen just because we can? Or pulling the big case down from the attic for a week in Singapore? Or, and I say this with a sense of barely suppressed excitement, packing two-shirts-aday for the expense-able pose-fest that is Posidonia?

(Yes, I know it’s a Nor-Shipping year, but somehow I feel that event could be absorbed entirely digitally, and maybe in the future, ingested in pill form, with your brain downloading decarbonisation and flettner rotor updates automatically from the comfort of your hytte.)

Getting back to Posidonia, before you log onto BA.com and dust off your Avios points, you might want to reflect on the almost unimaginable cost savings racked up during the pandemic thanks to a huge reduction in business trips, clients receptions and general merriment that is the DNA of every big industry get together.

According to The Times: “Analysis of financial records from Banks to Big Tech shows that the giants of the corporate world have saved fortunes on travel, marketing

ISSUE TWO 2021

and other administrative expenses as employees worked from home.”

Some, it says, have saved hundreds of millions of dollars by making travel-related cuts.

With savings like that, it adds, the question now is whether splashing the cash on business trips, entertainment and physical advertising is ever going to return to pre-pandemic levels.

So I am wondering, would it really matter if there were 50% fewer partygoers packed into the Optima Shipping Service office garden? If you have ever been, you will know that would actually be a blessing.

But what would it mean for your trip if the American Club, ABS, Clarksons, the Marshall Islands, GMS et al stayed away from Posidonia in their droves? What if your prized invitation from Angeliki

never materialised? What if the Capital Party was confined to a single outside area at Island? What if your CFO hinted that your post-pandemic travel budget wouldn’t cover the cost of two tuna belly carpaccios at Ithaki.

And for those of us with a product or service to flog, should we be concerned about the prospect of a diminished Chinese, Korean and Japanese shipbuilding contingent who, through the process of trickle down, help to confer commercial relevance on the technical exhibition.

After a disappointing day of networking, would you go back to your hotel room, open the laptop and join a dreaded ‘hybrid’ Zoom social event, G&T from the minibar, your rictus smile thinly disguising an urge to end it all? No, I don’t think I’m ready for that. ●

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MARPOLL REGULAR

Marketing choices We recently sponsored the Marketing in Maritime conference during which many polls were set for delegates. Key takeaways below Today, which of the following is your highest marketing priority?

Which event type do you feel will give you the overall best return on your investments?

Grow sales by product and service

Trade exhibition 27%

promotions (grow leads) 36% Establish thought leadership 14%

Conference

(with chosen topic of focus) 27%

Increase brand awareness 21%

Online events 9%

Improve understanding of marketing

Your own event (on or offline) 36%

attribution (ROI and performance) 29%

Marketing plans often get rejected by the board of management mainly because:

The most important factor to ensure your digital content stands out from the start is:

They are not marketers; we should

The message 62%

reduce the jargon and simplify our

The branding 8%

internal pitch 35% They focus too much on ROI and do not understand the importance

The chosen asset type

(video/ graphic etc) 23% The platform 7%

of basic brand awareness or the needed approach for product/service promotion 53% They do not understand marketing and never will 12%

The market appears saturated by emerging digital event platform alternatives. How do you feel about this?

They will never replace face-to-face

For our company the best social platform for marketing is:

LinkedIn 100%

events 9%

Twitter 0%

A new balance of face-to-face and

Facebook 0%

digital will exist 66%

Instagram 0%

Digital will evolve and continue to be widely used as they are more convenient and cost effective 23% Digital engagement will jump during the pandemic, then reduce back to where it was a year ago 3%

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Photo: Geir Inge Jensen

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