And so the US opening begins.

After three months of working remotely, staff began to ease back into the Stamford headquarters of Eagle Bulk Shipping this week amid strict social-distancing precautions.

The first stage of the return sees about 20% of staff including senior management and the chartering team return, but only for three days a week.

“It is definitely different, with people now seated at every other desk to have greater distance and wearing masks or face shields,” said Eagle chief executive officer Gary Vogel.

“We also put in place plexiglass across meeting room tables. But, all of this becomes somewhat normal fairly quickly and you just disregard it and get on with the business at hand. Overall, I think people are very happy to get back to the office environment.”

Move from the Big Apple

New York-listed Eagle moved from Manhattan to Stamford in 2015 as Vogel took the helm from previous CEO Sophocles Zoullas and with its Fairfield County location is probably a little ahead of some of shipping’s remaining New York-based firms.

Eagle owns and operates 50 bulkers in the ultramax and supramax classes.

Eagle also has an office in Copenhagen and they were the first back, returning to their desks in April. Its Singapore staff is still most working remotely.

“I have been very pleased and frankly somewhat surprised at the high level at which we have been able to operate over the past few months while working remotely,” Vogel said.

Information flow

Vogel said he considered this a testament to Eagle’s staff as well as to systems and technology available today.

“That being said, I believe there is no substitute for working together under one roof. it allows for fluid information flow and fosters interaction and collaboration both within, and between, our various teams.”

Eagle staffers are seen wearing masks within the office environment. The return is under protocols put in place by the owner’s human resources department in accordance with Connecticut guidelines as the state enters the second phase of its reopening.

“With a partial return to the office this past week, we are very happy to have taken this first step back towards normalcy, and look forward to scaling this up further, as and when appropriate,” Vogel said.