Fjeld Shipping, previously known as Sterling Shipping, is moving back to Norway with a new-look fleet, after selling one of its kamsarmax bulk carriers and shedding a shareholder.
The sale leaves Fjeld Shipping with three kamsarmaxes, which are currently fixed to major charterers Cobelfret and agri-business company Olam.
Fjeld Shipping’s corporate entity will be redomiciled from Malta to Norway, with a notable change in its shareholding following the exit of a troubled Swedish real-estate group.
Kvalitena, a privately owned real-estate investment firm founded by Swedish billionaire Mikael Andersson, owned around 25% of Fjeld Shipping’s Malta entity via its Kvalitena Industrier Aktiebolag subsidiary.
The rest was owned by the shipowner’s CEO and founder Christopher Fjeld, according to business registry documents.
He confirmed to TradeWinds that the Oslo entity will be wholly owned by his Switzerland-based investment company, Snecma.
Kvalitena’s fortunes have suffered during the Swedish real-estate crisis, which caused the value of its property portfolio to fall by 23% last year.
Its bondholders filed a petition in February for the real-estate company to file for bankruptcy, which the Swedish firm has rejected.
Bondholders in January cancelled a loan of SEK 800m ($78.37m), including interest, which is due for immediate repayment.
Kvalitena has been selling off assets to free up capital to repay its outstanding bonds and other debt.
Smaller shareholdings
Its latest financial reports state the group sold off “shareholdings in some smaller companies” during the second quarter of this year, which appears to have included its investment in Fjeld Shipping.
CEO Fjeld has a financial background and worked for Andersson in real estate for about seven years.
The pair built a friendship and Fjeld ultimately convinced his former boss to come on board as an investor at what was then known as Sterling Shipping.
Andersson has experience in making successful countercyclical investments in other industries and so could see the potential in entering the bulk carrier space at a time when the market was low, Fjeld told TradeWinds in 2022.
Shipping banker James Lightbourn joined Fjeld late last year as partner and chief financial officer, however, the appointment appears not to have stuck.
Fjeld said the appointment did not work out. The company’s CFO is Sissel Grefsrud, who works alongside Fjeld and two others at the Oslo office.
Lightbourn, who was previously senior vice president of corporate finance at Arctic Securities, does not list the shipowner as a former employer on his LinkedIn profile.
Profitable ship sold
Fjeld has shown itself to be a canny seller of vessels, following impeccably timed acquisitions made during the depressed freight markets of early 2020 — just ahead of a market boom.
Brokers reported in March that the shipowner had sold the 79,400-dwt Sterling Tora (built 2010) to undisclosed buyers at a price between $14m and $14.5m.
Fjeld Shipping confirmed the ship went for “approximately $15m” and was delivered to its new owners in early September.
“We acquired the former Golden Ocean vessel in 2021 for approximately $16m and have sold it in 2024 for approximately $15m,” said Fjeld.
“During this period, the vessel generated net earnings of $12m, a solid performance over the approximately 1,080 days we held her.”
The Jinhai-built ship, which was previously on a period charter with grain house Viterra, has been installed with a ballast water treatment system.
New flag
The shipowner intends to reflag its vessels to the Marshall Islands from Malta.
Fjeld, a Norwegian national, said the decision “reflects a natural evolution” as the company has gradually built up a base in Oslo.
“This transition feels more like a homecoming than a move,” he said.
Sterling officially changed its name to Fjeld Shipping in February, according to documents filed with the Malta business registry.
It appears that its vessel names will be changed too. The 82,908-dwt Sterling Saga (built 2013) has already been renamed Fjeld Saga and all three ships have Fjeld monikers on the owner’s website.
At the start of September, the 80,333-dwt Sterling Freia (built 2011) was fixed to Olam for 12 to 15 months at an unreported rate.
The Fjeld Shipping fleet was previously managed commercially by Copenhagen Commercial Platform, but the shipowner is understood to have taken its chartering in-house last year.
