Vega Bulk Carriers will launch in Oslo next month and will focus on the commercial management of panamax, supramax and handymax bulkers in the Atlantic market.
Niklas Sindum has resigned from his position as Western Bulk's senior vice president of the South Atlantic region and will join Vega at its new office in central Oslo next month.
The new venture will handle business west of Suez, particularly in the Atlantic and Baltic regions, while Vega's existing dry cargo operation in Dubai will operate bulkers in the East.
Vega is owned and controlled by Kenneth Fjeld, who told TradeWinds that the business already has strong relationships with cargo owners, including steel mills and mine operators in countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, East Africa and Malaysia.
Vega, he said, will tailor its shipping offering to meet the needs of the cargoes it already has in place.
"We're trying to do it a little bit differently to spot chartering," he told TradeWinds.
"We have strong support from UAE funds and lenders that are supporting it together with shareholders," he said of his backers.
For the past 10 years, Fjeld has focused on Vega Offshore, which operates offshore support vessels but is now "on hold", he said, due to the dire market.
Vega Offshore still has a couple of newbuildings on order, but Fjeld said it is "way too early" to take on further exposure in the sector.
Expanding the dry cargo business into the Atlantic represents a diversification for the Vega brand, he said.
Vessel buys
Meanwhile, Vega Bulk Carriers is in negotiations to buy a fleet of six bulk carriers from an unnamed German bank in a distressed asset deal, Fjeld said.
The company is talking to a German lender about purchasing the fleet, which consists of supramax and handymax bulkers that are over 10 years old.
Vega already operates two panamax bulkers and a pair of supramaxes for third parties.
Once the acquisition is completed, Fjeld hopes that Vega will have its 10-ship fleet in operation by the second quarter of 2021.
By this time, the Oslo desk should also have a staff of up to seven employees, including two chartering managers, he said.
Fjeld said the company is aiming to recruit staff from established dry cargo players and said the firm is already in "active discussions" with commercial and operations staff in Dubai, Oslo and Mumbai.
He is even incentivising new recruits by offering equity stakes in the operating company.
Sindum, the incoming head of Vega's Oslo desk, has considerable experience in the Atlantic market.
Before resigning, Sindum had worked for Western Bulk since 2008 and since May has headed up its South Atlantic business unit, which focuses on trades from east coast South America and west coast Africa.
It was in this position that Sindum replaced Lars Christian Svensen, who resigned from Western Bulk earlier this year, as TradeWinds reported.
Svensen had been senior vice president of the firm's South Atlantic and US Gulf business, which was split into separate units after his departure.
Svensen is still on "gardening leave", according to his LinkedIn profile.
