Norway's Torvald Klaveness has withdrawn from chartering activities in China.
The company said its Shanghai office, which was opened 16 years ago, will now focus on operations only.
There will be no chartering staff there from 1 September.
The bulker and boxship owner's CEO Lasse Kristoffersen told TradeWinds: "We have reviewed our office structure and concluded that we commercially can support the Chinese market from our Singapore office – supported by our local network. We will maintain our presence for operations and for our site team."
Jobs to go
He added: "Unfortunately this implies that we have some redundancy.
"Three people will leave Klaveness, whereof one is retained as a closely affiliated broker. In addition, one person is moving to a new location with Klaveness and the rest are retained."
The group's presence in China will continue with an operations manager/port captain and the site team at shipbuilder Yangzijiang, which is building a series of seven Cleanbu combination carriers for spin-off Klaveness Combination Carriers (KCC).
Klaveness said it is still strongly committed to the Chinese market and the Singapore office will become responsible for all clients in China.
It has also agreed a deal with Xiaobin Huang to act as a closely associated broker for the company.
The new recruit will be involved in following up existing clients and in seeking new business.
Kristoffersen said in a statement earlier: “Klaveness is fully committed to the Chinese shipping market.
"We have a significant new building program, we will continue our operations presence and will continue to actively serve our Chinese customers from our Singapore office and through our Chinese affiliates.”
The company has been contacted for further information.
