Univan Reports Steady Growth in 2003

Following on from a successful 2002, the first half of 2003, under the watchful eye of Capt Vanderperre, Chairman of Univan (and the father of Asia's ship management industry) has Univan Ship Management's fleet grow to in excess of 80 ships under full technical management. The growth has come from bulk carriers and 2 VLCCs (belonging to Fred Cheng/Shinyo International) and container ships, where Univan is well known for its unique expertise and dedicated technical and crewing pool. At June 30th, Univan's fleet stood at 78 (up 5 from end 2002) and by end August a further 5 ships will have been delivered to Univan, taking the fleet well into the 80s range. "Univan's dedication to technical expertise and its policy of having dedicated teams .. from management to crews .. for different class vessels .. is clearly the way to grow in the future," according to Univan's Chairman, Capt Vanderperre. "It is especially pleasing to have added two more VLCCs to the fleet and the support of an experienced tanker operator such as Fred Cheng's Shinyo Group bodes well for the company's future," he continued. In the tanker sector, the company now has 4 VLCCs, 2 Aframax, 6 product and 2 chemical tankers under full technical management, 45 container vessels, 4 car carriers ... all of which require a high degree of specialist technical expertise; and some 20 bulk carriers and multi-purpose cargo ships. On behalf of the Shinyo Group, Univan has also taken on the newbuilding supervision for 3 Panamax vessels, at the Oshima Shipyard in Japan. According to Capt Vanderperre, "with the ever growing focus on regulations, on different parts of the world enacting legislation requiring varying degrees of additional documentation and certification all taking their toll on owners trying to run their own vessels, the ship management industry is in good shape. "We expect the industry to continue to grow as economic conditions dictate a growing trend towards ship owners focusing on their core expertise and outsourcing services such as ship management more and more." Capt Vanderperre concluded. Photo Caption: The "Shinyo Guardian", a 1993 blt 260,000 dwt VLCC, is the lastest addition to the Univan fleet from Fred Cheng's Shinyo Group in Tokyo.