Dry Bulk Operator News

With the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s financial muscle is beyond question. Howev-er, at a corporate level, the country’s capital markets offer a range of benefits to overseas companies seeking equity, debt … or both. Øivind Amundsen is CEO of Oslo Børs and, as you would expect, a strong advocate of the Norwegian capital as a place to raise money for marine-related projects. The diverse nature of the companies which are listed on the Børs, part of Europe’s largest stock exchange group…

Dry bulk shipping company Golden Ocean Group Limited announced Wednesday that it has appointed Lars-Christian Svensen as Chief Commercial Officer of Golden Ocean Management AS effective December 1. Svensen, who is based in Oslo, most recently worked for Western Bulk, an asset-light dry bulk operator, where he was responsible for South Atlantic and U.S. Gulf chartering operations.Ulrik Andersen, Chief Executive Officer of Golden Ocean Management AS, said, "We are extremely pleased to welcome Lars-Christian to our team. His proven experience managing a chartering environment that leveraged digitalization, analytics and risk management aligns with Golden Ocean’s approach and will help to further our high-quality chartering operations.”Svensen said…

Seatankers, the powerful holding company of Norwegian-born billionaire John Fredriksen, said on Thursday it had hired a veteran fund manager to broaden the group’s portfolio and bring in outside capital in a new unit.Vegard Soeraunet, until recently an investment director at Norway’s ODIN Fund Management, will be in charge of “long-term and active ownership” outside of Seatankers’s shipping and offshore oil services industries, the company said.“Getting the opportunity to take this to the next level with a new structure under Seatankers, is a great opportunity,” Soeraunet said in a statement.It was the second key appointment at Seatankers in recent days following the August 28 naming of a hedge fund manager as its new chief executive.While Fredriksen initially built his fortune from shippi

Dry bulk operator Clipper Bulk announced it will reduce onshore staff in an effort to narrow costs amid historically low freight markets dragged down by the coronavirus pandemic.“The dry cargo market has struggled with unsustainably low freight rates for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made matters worse and caused a steep downturn in demand and freight rates. We need to adapt to this new reality, and we are making these changes to stay ahead of the situation,” said Clipper Group CEO Peter Norborg.The company said Thursday it will cut 24 out of 91 jobs ashore by the end of April…

Norwegian dry bulk operator Torvald Klaveness and Japanese trading house Marubeni have merged their panamax pool activities into a new jointly-owned pool management company called Maruklav Management.Maruklav, claimed to be the world's biggest panamax bulker pool, will be led by Michael Jørgensen as the company MD, with Masashi Kobayashi from Marubeni as Deputy MD. The combination of existing fleets in the MG Harrison Shipping and Baumarine Pools will see the venture with a fleet of approximately 30 vessels starting operations in early April."Combining the strengths of major trading house Marubeni and long-term Owner and Operator Klaveness will not only leverage individual capabilities…

Norwegian shipping company Torvald Klaveness will scale down its dry bulk shipping activity in the Supramax segment and focus on the Panamax to Post-Panamax units.Klaveness Combination Carriers has dry bulk as one of its target markets, and Klaveness Digital, through its CargoValue platform, offer a unique solution for companies sourcing and shipping dry and wet raw materials at sea.Through Klaveness Chartering, Torvald Klaveness is a leading dry bulk operator serving charterers and owners all over the world. Klaveness Chartering has had a particular stronghold in the Panamax, Kamsarmax and Post-Panamax segments and there are significant synergies with the rest of the group in this activity.In order to grow and develop this business further…

Trafigura Group is joining forces with shipping firms Frontline and Golden Ocean to set up a company to supply shipping fuels ahead of a shake up in regulations next year which could disrupt fuel delivery and cause prices to spike.The three companies said on Tuesday that subject to agreement on final terms, the joint venture is expected to start operating in the third quarter.From Jan. 1, International Maritime Organization (IMO) rules will bar many ships from using marine fuel, also called bunker fuel, containing more than 0.5% sulphur in order to help reduce air pollution.

International dry bulk shipping company Clipper Group  has launched a comprehensive restructuring involving a large number of layoffs, especially at the company's Copenhagen headquarters.The dry bulk carrier announced a series of initiatives to strengthen its business platform amid continued weak markets.Initiatives include agreements to strengthen the company’s financial position, downsizing of organization and office network, other cost savings, changes to Senior Management as well as a more focused market approach, said a press release from the operator of Handysize and Supramax vessels.“We have been challenged by the steep, unexpected market downturn. Today, we are taking the steps required to run a viable, profitable dry bulk operation, even in depressed markets.

Monaco-based dry bulk shipping company Scorpio Bulkers has agreed to sell and leaseback six Ultramax vessels to AVIC International Leasing.The dry bulk operator said in a press note that the six vessels are SBI Antares, SBI Bravo, SBI Hydra, SBI Leo, SBI Lyra and SBI Maia.Upon completion, which is estimated to take place in the second quarter of 2019, the Company’s liquidity is expected to increase by up to $62.4 million in aggregate, comprising up to $52.6 million upon closing after the repayment of outstanding debt and an additional tranche of up to $9.8 million for installation of exhaust gas cleaning systems (scrubbers) on the six vessels.As part of the agreements, the Company will bareboat charter-in the vessels for a period of eight years.

The dry bulk operator Oldendorff Carriers has entered into an agreement with GSR Services and Korean Register (KR) for the development and certification of Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM) for their fleet for meeting tight EU - deadlines.From the end of 2020 onwards, the EU-Ship Recycling Regulation requires that all EU-visiting or EU-flagged ships have a certified IHM on board. With 30,000 to 40,000 ships being affected, IHM-Expert resources are expected to become scarce in the near future.Nils-Ole Vollmer, Junior Project Manager of the Oldendorff Carriers Fleet Projects Department said, “We have selected GSR Services and Korean Register (KR) as partners for efficient IHM-projects with a proper reputation for ensuring quality and timely compliance.

The dry bulk operator Oldendorff Carriers sold the three remaining self-unloaders still operating in the CSL Pool for US$100.5 million to Algoma Central Corporation.CSL International Pool is a partnership between Oldendorff Carriers, Marbulk Shipping Inc. and Algoma Shipping Inc.The vessels -Sophie Oldendorff (70,037 tdw built 2000), Harmen Oldendorff (66,188 tdw built 2005) & Alice Oldendorff (50,259 tdw built 2000) -  are expected to deliver to Algoma around the middle of 2019.All three vessels have been trading in the CSL Pool on the East Coast of North and South America since they were built. The CSL Pool consists of 18 self-unloading…

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) has awarded Qualship 21 status to 30 bulk carriers owned and operated by Star Bulk Carriers Corp., the largest U.S. listed dry bulk operator. The Qualship 21 program rewards high quality ships sailing under qualifying flags. In a letter to Star Bulk, Rear Admiral Paul Thomas of the USCG stated, “Less than 10 percent of all [non-U.S. flagged] ships that operate in the [U.S.] meet the eligibility requirements of this program, putting [Star Bulk's] qualified vessels in an elite class.

The dry bulk operator Paragon Shipping has reached an agreement with its creditors to liquidate its remaining fleet in order to settle one of its debt obligations. The company agrees to sell its six mortgaged vessels to unaffiliated third parties in exchange for the full and final settlement of the outstanding amount of its syndicated loan facility. "The fleet, consisting of the handysize and panamax bulkers Coral Seas, Golden Seas, Prosperous Seas, Precious Seas, Priceless Seas and Proud Seas, is to be sold to unnamed, unaffiliated third parties," Paragon said. Paragon also says it is in talks with Jiangsu Yangzijiang to extend the deliveries of its three Kamsarmax newbuilding drybulk carriers towards the end of 2016 at no extra cost to the company.

Singapore-based dry bulk operator Pioneer Marine posted a loss of $80.6m for the fourth quarter, and a yearly loss of $96.9m for 2015. Excluding the effect of the impairment loss, net loss as adjusted would have been $22.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2015 or $0.87 adjusted loss per share basic and diluted and $6.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2015 or $0.21 adjusted loss per share basic and diluted. Pankaj Khanna, Chief Executive Officer, commented, “2015 proved to be a challenging year for the drybulk industry with excess supply overwhelming anaemic demand growth, particularly in the fourth quarter. Iron ore and coal imports into China suffered the most as iron ore imports grew by just 2% compared to 2014 and coal imports declined by almost 30%.

Rotterdam-based law firm AKD says that creditors of ailing shipping groups such as STX Pan Ocean of South Korea, and TMT of Taiwan, could seek to take advantage of prevailing bankruptcy laws to enforce vessel arrests and other attachments in the Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Antwerp (ARA) region. Haco van der Houven van Oordt, a partner with the shipping and offshore team at AKD in Rotterdam, said, “The recent reports of bankruptcies and voluntary liquidation proceedings involving shipping companies have now reached levels which exceed any in recent memory. STX Pan Ocean, South Korea’s largest dry bulk operator, has reportedly obtained bankruptcy…