Western Bulk News

Oslo-headquartered dry bulk shipping company Golden Ocean Group announced its board has appointed Lars-Christian Svensen as CEO, effective January 1, 2024.Svensen had been serving as interim CEO following the resignation of the company's previous CEO, Ulrik Andersen, in June 2023.Svensen joined Golden Ocean as chief commercial officer in December 2020 and was previously senior vice president in Norway and president of U.S. trading activities in Seattle for Western Bulk. Before that, he was a downstream analyst for Petredec and a tanker broker for Cmarine Services PTE Ltd. in Singapore.

For the second half of 2022, Oslo-headquartered dry bulk shipping company Western Bulk generated a record net profit after tax of $28.6 million, reaching a full-year net profit after tax of $66 million from $1.6 billion in gross revenues. That is the second-best full year result in the company’s history, only outperformed by last year’s net profit after tax of $81 million for the full-year of 2021.Entering the second half of 2022, Supramax market rates were at about $25,200/day and declined more or less continuously over the six-month period…

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…

The floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) company  Höegh LNG Holdings announced that Håvard Furu is appointed as new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Höegh LNG AS effective 1 March 2019.The interim CFO, Steffen Føreid, will step down effective 1 March 2019 and will from then continue in his role as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Höegh LNG Partners LP.Håvard Furu comes from the position as CFO of law firm Wikborg Rein. Before that he was CFO in Western Bulk in the period 2009 to 2017 and was formerly employed by BW Gas as Assistant Director Strategy and Finance.From 1997 until 2005 he held various positions within auditing with PriceWaterhouse Coopers. Mr.

Norway's dry bulk shipping company Western Bulk made a profit in 2017, due especially to a strong finish to the year. This means that the carrier is again profitable after a double-digit deficit in 2016. The Group expects continued strong performance in 2018. After neutral performance for the first half of the year, the Company gained substantial momentum in the second half with the Group posting a profit after tax of USD 6.4 million. The full year profit after tax ended at USD 4.3 million, a significant improvement from the realised loss of USD -20.1 million in 2016. In 2017 the Group generated USD 6.8 million in cash flow from operations in addition to USD 17.9 million in increased cash from the equity issue completed in March 2017.

Dampskibsselskabet NORDEN A/S has hired Christian Vinther Christensen as new head of the Dry Cargo Department.   Christian Vinther Christensen takes up his new position January 1, 2017 and becomes part of Senior Management reporting to CEO Jan Rindbo.   He brings with him 16 years of experience from the dry cargo operator Western Bulk. He is shipping educated at Maersk, where he, prior to his employment at Western Bulk, for 10 years held a number of positions in the group including management positions in Maersk Broker.

Off the coast of a nearly deserted island below the southern tip of Hong Kong, at least 10 massive ships that normally carry hundreds of thousands of tons of coal or iron ore lie idle near one of the world's busiest sea routes. These empty vessels paint a grim picture for the dry bulk shipping business that veterans of the industry say is grappling with an unprecedented crisis of too many ships and not enough cargoes. The hollow boats underscore the global economic doldrums that policymakers are struggling to overcome. "This is the worst we have seen in recent times. We have been hit by a perfect storm - huge order books, China slowdown…

Veson Nautical, a  provider of commercial maritime software and services, has announced that despite challenging times in the shipping industry, the company has added 42 new clients from around the globe over the past 18 months. Twenty of the new clients are from the wet and gas segments, including shipping notables such as BW Maritime Pte Ltd, Dorian LPG (USA) LLC, ENGIE (formerly GDF Suez Energy Management Trading), Hoegh LNG, and PetroChina International (Singapore) Pte Ltd. Nineteen new clients include well-known dry bulk companies such as Nova Marine Carriers SA, South32 Marketing Pte Ltd and Western Bulk ASA. Trafigura Pte Ltd is one of three new clients that manage a mix of dry and wet business.

Dry bulk shipping faces more earnings pain as a slowdown in commodities demand and a glut of ships are expected to pile on the pressure well into 2016, ship industry players said on Wednesday. The dry cargo shipping industry has been hit hard this year by the global commodities meltdown with average earnings for large capesize ships - which haul iron ore and coal - barely covering operating costs this year and overall dry bulk rates falling to their lowest levels in decades. "Our…

A potential El Nino weather phenomenon, which could wreak havoc on global crops, is set to disrupt shipping patterns and raise freight costs, leaving suppliers and importers to cover their food needs from longer-haul destinations. El Nino, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, can trigger floods and drought in different regions, hitting production of key foods such as rice, wheat and sugar. Weather forecasters are increasingly predicting it will return in 2014 for the first time in five years.

Tradewinds’ Fifth Oslo Shipping Forum, scheduled for Wednesday, June 10, gathers industry leaders to focus on Norwegian shipping and the new financial landscape. In an uncertain market characterized by falling freight rates, tonnage oversupply and fierce competition, the Norwegian shipping industry faces significant challenges. The Fifth Oslo Shipping Forum, organised by Nor-Shipping 2009 Conference Partner Tradewinds, has assembled leading industry voices to focus on how the Norwegian shipping industry can succeed in the current tumultuous markets. Organised into four sessions, presentations at the day-long event will focus on a board range of topics…

The Shipping Index at the Oslo Stock Exchange performed well in the quite summer month of July, rising 2.7 percent, and thus again lifting the maritime sector of shipping, offshore and cruise shares above the levels of year-end 1999. Within the sector, 29 shares rose during the month, while only 12 decreased in market value. Among the offshore stocks, Nortrans Offshore (NOL) were again strong, as in May, after a 10 percent fall in June. With a rise of 23 percent it ended as the month's winner. Also Havila Supply (HAV) rebounded strongly from a rather poor June performance, while Northern Offshore (NOF) only continued its upward trend.

A British firm is offering shipping companies the services of up to 300 ex-British Army Gurkhas to combat piracy, particularly in Asia. Anglo Marine Overseas Services Ltd. has sent letters to international shipping companies offering "anti-piracy embarkation teams" of four to eight Gurkhas. The letter, one received by Australia's Western Bulk Carriers, states the primary mission of the Gurkhas is to deter piracy, but a "secondary mission is to manage the event should deterrence fail against a determined boarding party". "These men are available at reasonable rates of pay and average 16 years British military experience," said the letter.