Steve Laino joined Arthur Allen and Stuart Peerless on the tanker desk of Connecticut chemical carrier owner Chembulk in 2018 with a mission to rebuild its trading platform.
Although that mission did not last as long as they might have expected, the three have put the band back together for a run at their own commercial management and brokerage platform.
They launched Sage Tanker Partners (STP) this week in the sail-happy Rowayton section of Norwalk, Connecticut, and invited TradeWinds to share the first day in their new office.
The chemicals veterans have linked up with Texas energy broker Sage Energy Partners (SEP) to run the new venture from offices in Rowayton, Houston and Singapore, where Peerless is based.
“We came together at Chembulk in a short period of time and feel we turned around the organisation, improved the utilisation and earnings of the fleet and really gelled the company, putting it in a good position for the investors to do with it what they wanted to do,” Laino said.
“We knuckled down and retooled the platform. It proved our thesis and now we’re ready to take it to the next step.”
The trio’s tenure at Chembulk ultimately ended with a change in leadership and approach at the end of 2019.
Chembulk’s financial backers decided this year to place the entire fleet under the commercial operations of Womar Tanker Pools. It was one of the transactions aimed at commercial consolidation within the chemicals trade.
But STP believes it has opportunities to win clients in a few cases in which consolidation has made pools too big and unwieldy.
“We both agree that the market needed consolidation, but the fact is that some of these consolidated pools are getting too big,” Allen said.
“Ultimately they’re not able to really capture optimal earnings. When you’re managing 150 ships, are you really able to squeeze out the best returns?”
Laino said the issue especially affects small to midsize owners: “If you own three to seven ships, you risk falling into the ‘small fish in a big pond’ category. We’re looking to serve that niche in the market and provide a more transparent, engaged experience.”
All three men have more than 20 years’ experience in chemicals and tanker markets.
Besides serving as chief commercial officer at Chembulk, Laino was chief operating officer at Chemical Transportation Group, Peter Georgiopoulos’ asset play on chemical newbuildings.
Allen and Peerless were colleagues during their 15 years at Connecticut’s Fairfield Chemical Carriers, where Allen was chartering manager and Peerless was a managing director.
Peerless has been posted in Singapore for about 30 years overall.
The partners have been negotiating the first entries to the commercial management platform over the past few months and expect to be able to announce details soon.
The outfit is targeting chemical and product tankers built to IMO type 2 chemical handling standards and ranging between 25,000 dwt and 52,000 dwt in capacity. Laino said those could include vessels controlled by financial and strategic owners.
STP is prepared to charter in tonnage to place skin in the game beside third-party entrants, but whether the operation initially takes the form of a pool will depend on the first clients.
The alliance with SEP provides synergies, the partners said.
STP gains visibility into US-orientated commodities movements within the Texas company’s network, while SEP is able to learn from the shipping outfit’s activity in international trades, especially tapping into Peerless’ long experience in Asia.
Any company launching today faces challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the partners said small steps to normalcy are evident in some markets.
Back to normal
“From a start-up perspective, we’d like to be more visible, to be able to get out and see clients more,” Laino said. “That’s difficult to do right now.
“Locally, there is some activity, some getting back to normal. And people have become very accustomed to Zoom meetings and we’ve dealt with some international clients that way.”
For now, STP is moving forward with its core three partners, with plans to expand organically as business dictates.
“There are a lot of fat companies out there — we’re very conscious of being right-sized,” Laino said.
