“A lot of people laughed when they heard we wanted to buy 15-year-old VLCCs. It’s hard for some people to look at deals that people chuckle at.”

Bob Burke says ridicule is nothing to be scared of in the tanker market.

“Believe me, I’m the guy who’s always looking at what can go wrong. But we have half our cost basis out. It is going well, and hopefully we take our victory lap in a couple years.”

Rob Flowers of Atalaya Capital Management will certainly be smiling if Burke's move pays off.

Burke’s many happy returns

“On the face of it, you’d say ‘yes’. But there are potentially serious risks involved. When container prices now begin to rise, those that have been booked in at a lower price may be shunted down the pecking order in favour of those that have agreed the new, higher rates."

Xeneta’s Patrik Berglund ponders the question of whether shippers should lock in low rates now.

Xeneta: boxships staging small recovery

“Highly speculative and with no real substance.”

Nordea CEO Casper von Koskull is unimpressed by a Swedish report claiming the bank could need huge amounts of new capital. These words have never been applied to TradeWinds, by anyone, ever.

Nordea denies it needs $9.7bn of new capital

“All brokers have lost 30% of their income in the past two years, especially in dry bulk, but with very few ships contracted over recent years, we hope the market will recover. There is no mystery in that it is a struggle for everybody. Nobody is spared.”

Laurent Lerbret sums up the dry bulk slump. There is no escape – yet.

France holds its own as a ‘serious place for shipping’

“I don’t see this as being a game changer right now.”

George Los of Charles R Weber is feeling ‘meh’ about the expanded Panama Canal.

New locks unlikely to be ‘game changer’ for tankers

“While a number of potential synergies and benefits were identified during the process of due diligence, no agreement could be reached on acceptable terms, and the discussions have now been terminated.”

The Britannia and UK P&I clubs call off their engagement.

Mergers remain on agenda as superclub deal unravels

“I enjoy sitting on these boards. I try to add value and contribute. I don’t want to just collect money and lend my name.”

Esben Poulsson is a busy man, but he likes to give good value.

Veteran Poulsson determined to tell ‘great’ story of shipping

“The hours spent, in my opinion, at the time and now, in useless meetings was just comical. I realised I just wanted to knuckle down and get involved with the day-to-day broking. I’m a broker after all. I like to roll my sleeves up and get busy.”

Alibra’s Giuseppe Rosano gets back to basics at his own company.

A ‘Rocky’ road to achievement for broker Alibra