Singapore-based Star Asia Shipbroking is aiming to transform the way ships are sold for green recycling with the launch of a new platform in a new company.
Bid For Green (BFG), which has just gone live, is the brainchild of Star Asia founder and director Rohit Goyanka and global communications manager Sheila Hassan.
We want to enable tech to digitalise a traditional way of selling and make it more efficient
— Star Asia founder and director Rohit Goyanka
“This is going to be the platform where the owners can realise the maximum value for their end-of-life ships in an unbiased, transparent way. We want to enable tech to digitalise a traditional way of selling and make it more efficient,” Goyanka said.
He stressed that BFG is a completely separate entity to Star Asia and it is aimed at shipowners and brokers, who can use the platform to source bids for vessels from cash buyers for resale to Hong Kong Convention-certified green shipyards.
Goyanka, who has 28 years of experience as a broker in the ship recycling sector, said current ship recycling broking practices are archaic when compared to broking in other shipping sectors.
He said the process is too opaque, with sellers often not completely certain whom they are selling to, and where their ships may ultimately end up being recycled.
“A transparent bidding process always leads to strong competition,” Goyanka said.
“Chinese shipowners and brokers are using online platforms to conduct tender sales that are bringing in top-dollar prices for the ships.
“The situation is the same when courts use an open online tender process to conduct judicial auctions of ships,” he said, adding that sellers and cash buyers will benefit from the transparency BFG offers.
The platform is a “one-stop shop” that provides services beyond just selling a ship for recycling, Goyanka said.
It also provides connections to carefully vetted companies providing value-added services such as the preparation of inventories of hazardous materials (IHM), together with post-sales monitoring services.
“We arrange IHM assessments conducted by industry-leading providers and ensure that the ship is sent to a credentialed recycling yard committed to sustainable practices,” Goyanka said.
“Our value-added service also includes unbiased, third-party monitoring of the recycling process, providing comprehensive reports to ensure the vessel is recycled according to green standards according to the Hong Kong Convention guidelines,” he said, adding that stringent know-your-customer vetting procedures are an integral part of the platform.
These additional services are included in BFG’s service fee, which is determined by the size of the ship.
Goyanka also stressed that BFG is not designed to cut brokers out of deals and they will still earn commissions from their clients.
Asked to summarise what benefit a shipowner or broker would gain from using BFG rather than following traditional sales practices, Goyaka said the platform was designed to provide “a comprehensive solution for shipowners, streamlining the entire process from the moment they decide to recycle a ship to the final steps of responsible recycling”.
The goal, he added, is to allow shipowners to place their ships on the platform “with confidence, knowing that only credentialed buyers — who have passed our stringent know-your-customer process and provided financial deposits, are allowed to participate in the bidding.”
BFG is the second recently launched digital platform targeting the ship recycling sector.
In September 2023, cash buyer GMS launched the Ship Recycling Portal, a platform developed for the local Alang ship recyclers to acquire ships from cash buyers.
Goyanka said BFG’s and GMS’ platforms are positioned at opposite ends of the recycling sale process.
“The platform we have developed is for the shipowners who are focused on selling their ships for green recycling. The GMS platform was developed for cash buyers reselling ships to Alang recyclers,” he said.
