The Baumarine by MaruKlav bulk carrier pool says it outstripped Baltic Exchange benchmark earnings for most of 2021.
The joint venture between Norway's Torvald Klaveness and Marubeni Corp of Japan said it managed to end the year on a strong note.
Second-half vessel earnings came in at $29,473 per day on a net basis, or $31,024 per day gross.
Pool earnings for the standard kamsarmaxes in operation were $8.9m net, or $9.4m gross, which is at Baltic Exchange P5TC benchmark index levels, the pool said.
The P5TC index is based on five panamax time-charter routes.
The pool outperformed this benchmark in nine out of 12 months in 2021, Baumarine said.
Flexible on contracts
In March, the pool gave owners the option to convert spot earnings to fixed earnings during peaks in the forward freight agreement (FFA) market.
There were 34 such deals made in 2021, involving 1,915 vessel days.
Baumarine also carried out 51 crew changes on ships, with minimum deviations suffered, allowing owners to minimise off-hire time.
Ignacio Nacho Pizarro, global head of partner relations for the pool company, said: "It remains crucial to keep a daily close dialogue with our members for a proper planning, quick reaction to unforeseen events, and swift conversion from spot to fixed earnings."
He said its "earnings manager" strategy has proven to be a success, allowing shipowners to take back full control of timing on key decisions.
More ships coming?
"We are very much looking forward to a promising 2022 of fleet expansion in the pool, delivering worldwide trade, coverage and earnings, protecting members against unbalanced geographical markets," the executive added.
Klaveness head of dry bulk Michael Jorgensen said the results were achieved through strong collaboration.
"We have already, in December, started to build for successful results and opportunities as well for 2022," he added.
"We seek to consistently provide each member with sharing opportunities around the supply and demand factors in this volatile market, as well as direction and initiatives around the decarbonisation in shipping, together setting the direction for the year to come, ensuring that we are set up for success," Jorgensen said.
The joint venture was agreed at the end of January 2020 and now runs more than 30 panamaxes.
Taiwan's First Steamship joined a year ago, adding its 82,000-dwt bulker Ever Best (built 2013) to the operation.
Other shipowners to join include AM Nomikos, U-Ming Marine Transport, S'hail Shipping, Shoei Kisen Kaisha and MSPL.
