Bernhard Schulte is withdrawing its ships from commercial manager Hanseatic Unity Chartering (HUC).
The move has been mutually agreed between the two sides, HUC said in a press release on Monday.
“With effect from 30 April ... the container and dry bulk chartering activities of Bernhard Schulte tonnage will be taken in-house,” the statement said, without elaborating further.
Bernhard Schulte’s departure seems to have been motivated by different views on how HUC should navigate today’s fast-changing markets.
“The current strong container market and uncertain economic outlook has led to heterogeneous risk appetites and hence chartering strategies among the shareholders,” Bernhard Schulte said in a separate statement to TradeWinds.
“In order to safeguard both Bernhard Schulte’s and Hanseatic Unity’s interests, it was mutually agreed that Bernhard Schulte will part from Hanseatic Unity,” Bernhard Schulte added.
Bernhard Schulte’s departure still leaves HUC with a fleet of more than 150 boxships from other shareholders that include Asiatic & Atlantic Lloyd, Borealis Maritime, Leonhardt & Blumberg and Reederei Nord.
“Enjoying the full support of its strong shareholder base will allow HUC to not only continue to provide a first-class service to its charterers but also allow it to continue to diversify and expand its services to new shipowners and investors," the statement said.
HUC added that prospects for such "strategic opportunities for shareholders and investors alike" are particularly auspicious amid "the current strong container market".
HUC’s current fleet consists of about 200 containerships and 13 dry bulk vessels, according to the company's website. Those figures likely do not reflect the departure of the Bernhard Schulte fleet.
Bernhard Schulte is the shipowning business of the Schulte Group. It controls about 90 fully or partly-owned vessels, including containerships, offshore vessels, bulk carriers, tankers and gas carriers.
Bernhard Schulte was a co-founding partner in HUC's predecessor O&S Chartering, which it established in 2013 in cooperation with Reederei Nord. O&S Chartering was rebranded as HUC in 2015, when Borealis Maritime joined.
In 2017, Asiatic & Atlantic Lloyd and Leonhardt & Blumberg joined and became HUC’s largest partners.
HUC describes itself on its website as the world’s “largest provider of modern eco-designed container feeders and the second-largest container tonnage provider by ship count”.
