Longstanding pool operator Heidmar will cease to exist after June and staff at its offices around the world will be made redundant, TradeWinds has learned.

Staff have begun receiving the first lay-off notices in what will be a months-long winding up of the operation, sources told TradeWinds.

The cuts follow Heidmar's announcement on Monday that it had signed a deal with the Martinos family's Signal Maritime Services to manage its dwindling tanker pools, including the 18-ship Sigma aframax pool.

The outfit will use its artificial intelligence approach to handle the US pools company's vessels, in a move that could signal a wider shift towards digitisation in the sector.

Employees in Heidmar offices in Singapore, London and its traditional headquarters in Norwalk, Connecticut, received the bad news from Pankaj Khanna, who was installed by shareholder George Economou as chief executive last year.

Some staffers were let go with immediate effect while others will stay on up to a 30 June target date for shuttering the outfit, the sources said.

One key manager, longtime London office head Matt Snedker, has joined up with the UK office of Athenian Tankers, sources said.

Snedker was an an 18-year Heidmar veteran and the most senior commercial manager.

Early departure

Industry stalwarts Keith Denholm and Trygve Dyrlie were let go from their jobs at Heidmar in Singapore after less than six months in their respective roles, TradeWinds has learned.

Denholm and Dyrlie were both laid off on Christmas Eve, two weeks ahead of the news that Heidmar intended to wind down its operations worldwide with mass redundancies.

Dyrlie was hired in October as director of Heidmar's gas pool at its base in Singapore.

As TradeWinds reported at the time, Heidmar had been hoping to create a pool of multigas vessels.

Dyrlie was previously managing director of Norgas Carriers and headed the Norgas-Skaugen pool of gas ships.

Denholm was hired in July as Heidmar's head of non-tanker projects.

Platforms for both gas and dry bulk projects are said to have been put in place just before the pair were made redundant.

At the time of hiring Denholm, Heidmar chief executive Pankaj Khanna told TradeWinds he would be tasked with building new businesses and marketing the company’s tanker pools in specific Asian markets, such as Japan.

Denholm declined to comment on the Heidmar matter when contacted by TradeWinds. Dyrlie could not be contacted.

New tie-up

As TradeWinds reported earlier, Ioannis Martinos-run Signal will use its artificial intelligence approach to handle the US pools company's vessels.

The two sides said they aim to deliver high-performance commercial management to the global tanker market.

They described the deal as a "milestone partnership" that will also see Signal working with the Heidmar team to manage the LR2 vessels in its Sigma Pool; the suezmaxes in the Bluefin Pool and the VLCCs in the Seawolf Pool.

However, the new Signal alliance was said to have come as a surprise to at least some current pool members, who are viewed as unlikely to remain within Heidmar.

Heidmar said it now has a fleet of about 50 ships, which also includes panamax tankers, owned by 20 clients. Three years ago that number was more than 100 across the VLCC, suezmax and aframax pools.

Other ships have left in recent months.

Significant staff reductions or closures had been a fear since Economou assumed 100% control of Heidmar from former 49% partner Morgan Stanley last June.

At that time, the newly appointed Khanna told TradeWinds that the US offices would survive the ownership transition, with the Houston outpost to be the centre of US-based chartering efforts going forward.

A message to Khanna was not immediately returned.