There will soon be a new operator in the Atlantic market for geared bulkers, hopefully as soon as next month.
Belgian shipping and transportation group Lalemant has taken on three members of staff from Swire Bulk, which closed its office in the English capital earlier this year.
Jamie Miller has joined as chartering director, David Hicks has become head of operations and Joseph Ackland has been appointed as chartering manager. Recruitment of additional staff is underway too.
It is hoped that trading will kick off next month from the new office in Grosvenor Gardens, Victoria, with an initial focus on supramaxes and ultramaxes.
The London office will be all about becoming more involved in classic Atlantic trades, beginning with Lalemant’s existing clients and then aiming to bring in new customers.
“We want to boost our handy and supra departments with this new office in London with all the knowledge they have from their previous experience. It will be, of course, a big jump for us,” Dag De Bondt, manager at Lalemant Chartering in Ghent, told TradeWinds.
The new desk will look to establish itself as a bulker operator in the Atlantic, focusing on geared vessels — from handysize up to ultramax in size — and minor bulks like grains, cement, clinker, scrap and so on.
“Before [the London desk begins trading], 80% of what we did, of what we do, is coastal between the Baltic, the Mediterranean and West Africa,” De Bondt said. “We will keep on doing this mainly from our Ghent office.
“We had our, let’s say, occasional handy and supra[max] operations — mainly — between the Baltic, northern continent and the Mediterranean, and some Atlantic business as well.”
Miller, who is heading up the desk, said the new team will not get overambitious too quickly.
“We’re starting small and we just need to prove to the shareholders that we can run a business,” he told TradeWinds. “The most important part is to show them that we can make it work.
“It’s very difficult to say that there’s a right or wrong time to start an operating company because if the market’s too high, there’s a lot of risk you’re carrying; if the market’s low, there’s less risk but the market’s bad.”
But the more complex regulatory environment that will begin next year, with the incoming EU Emissions Trading System, means that the new desk can support Lalemant’s existing clients in meeting the requirements.
“I think that will be key, and then potentially new customers as well, in terms of how to navigate that because it’s going to be tricky. It’s very murky,” Miller said.
Given that the new desk will be staffed with three people who left Swire Bulk earlier this year, will they be taking clients with them?
“We’re going to be speaking to customers that anybody can speak to in the market, not necessarily any that would be specific to Swire Bulk, no,” Miller said.
The new London presence follows a change in ownership and management at Lalemant last year, when Arthur Seynaeve and Christophe Webb acquired a controlling stake in the group and became co-chief executives.
The two are now on a mission to expand the group’s overall business to and from the UK in shipping, barging and trucking. Lalemant itself dates back to 1885.
London-based Seynaeve is a member of the well-known industrial family of the same name that founded and owns Belgian textile manufacturer Seyntex and BMT Group, the holding company for several high-precision machining firms.
But Seynaeve found his passion in port operations and logistics while working for terminal operator SEA-lnvest for five years.
In 2021, he became a partner in barging company Bargepoint, which was founded four years earlier by Webb, who had previously worked for carrier Hapag-Lloyd and logistics firms Contargo and Portconnect.
Miller said Seynaeve had the idea to scoop up the team in London and establish a fresh Lalemant shipping presence in the city after seeing a TradeWinds article about Swire Bulk closing its office there.
Lalemant is currently recruiting a chartering manager for the office and the team could even grow further, if the right people come forward.
“If someone suddenly becomes available that can add value on day one, sure,” Miller said.
“It’s an unusual opportunity — to come in and shape a desk, drive a desk, flat structure and get in at an early stage — it is quite unique, so it might attract somebody that was getting out of a bigger corporate or someone who’s just not happy.”
