What will a successful shipping company look like at the end of the 2020s?

That was the simple but powerful question asked by Tufton Oceanic’s Andy Hampson to the panellists on his end-of-the-day session at arecent Marine Money London conference.

Societe Generale's Paul Taylor spoke of the need for a strong culture, clear strategy and transparency. Braemar Naves’ Richard Jansen said the environmental, social and governance (ESG) agenda would help bring strategy and operations together in a holistic manner.

While Transport Capital’s Oliver Faak stressed with the ESG agenda that “the big challenge is with the S and the G”.

But it fell to banker and shipping executive Morten Arntzen to grab the audience’s attention with a flamboyant take on the question.

The chairman of Team Tankers and senior shipping advisor to Australia’s Macquarie Bank likes living up to his reputation as a doyen of the industry, riffling through his Rolodex of perspectives gathered over the last four decades.

For Arntzen, the key to success in the next decade is about looking at who are today’s star performers and learning from them.

Monstrous performer

So, who would contribute to Arntzen’s monstrous Frankenstein Shipping Inc?

All shipping companies start with the ships, and that nod goes to product tanker giant Scorpio Tankers. Emanuele Lauro’s New York-listed company owns 124 ships — at last count — all built in the last decade, and all in large series to modern designs.

Although the company nearly sank the market by building at such scale, they are the first of the much-vaunted eco-ships, so relatively efficient and easy to trade and operate.

More than a decade since the global banking crisis, there should be no one in shipping who is not aware of the need for owners to have a strong capital structure.

It does not matter how good your ships are, if you have too much debt then problems lie ahead — as Lauro and sidekick Robert Bugbee know all too well.

Nordic American Tankers’ is Arntzen’s pick for its balance sheet. That may surprise some as the company has struggled at times over the last few years.

But it is not today’s balance sheet, but that of 10 years ago, when Herbjorn Hansson could still take to CNBC’s Squawk Box finance talk show with gusto.

Safety and reliability

For technical management, safety and reliability, GasLog gets the thumbs up. The Peter Livanos-chaired gas carrier giant has made a virtue of championing operational standards.

For long-term customer relationships, few can match Pangaea Logistics Solutions, the modest US bulker company that has bucked the market by making money in each of the last five years.

Meanwhile, Stolt-Nielsen gets his vote for its importance to customers. The major chemical carrier company’s services are intrinsic to the complex cargo trading activities of its shippers.

Closer to home, Arntzen believes International Seaways has nailed both corporate governance and the alignment of management and shareholders.

The company was one of those that rose from the ashes of Overseas Shipholding Group, the US-listed tanker giant that crashed into Chapter XI bankruptcy while Arntzen was at the helm.

International Seaways chief executive Lois Zabrocky has won plaudits for her leadership, recently chalking up a first in "green" finance for a tanker company.

Thunberg generation

And where can you turn for a dash of vision, some Scandinavian flair for the maritime world of the future which could appeal to the Greta Thunberg generation?

Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s championing of new designs, technologies and processes is an easy pick for its track record and skill.

I’d put all that together and get John Angelicoussis to be my chairman. I would put my money in that company today

Morten Arntzen

All that is needed to stitch it all together would be strong management.

“I’d put all that together and get John Angelicoussis to be my chairman,” Arntzen said with a flourish, before adding without a hint of irony: “I would put my money in that company today.”

Perhaps the only surprise is that Arntzen could not find room for any of his own ventures, or even Team Tankers.

But then again, with that company battling losses with a fleet clear-out, a strategic review and a share-buyback programme to prop up its shares, maybe it could learn something from Frankenstein Shipping.