Last year was challenging for ship managers but they can see light at the end of the tunnel amid the ways the business is changing.

Wilhelmsen Ship Management president and chief executive Carl Schou said the pipeline of new customers tapered out in the middle of 2020 as the normally lengthy sales process of getting to know clients was stymied.

“Getting new business is difficult because we can’t meet and greet new customers,” he said.

But Wilhelmsen did complete the acquisition of Ahrenkiel Ship Management in 2020 and has started its integration, which Schou said was a major undertaking in the middle of a pandemic.

Anglo-Eastern chief executive Bjorn Hojgaard said the year demonstrated how managers can equip shipowners with the information to deal more productively with charterers.

“Ship managers are moving away from a transactional [approach of] managing assets to a much more partnership role,” he said.

Columbia Shipmanagement chief executive Mark O'Neil told TradeWinds: “I didn’t want 2020 to be defined by Covid-19 because we had a lot of projects and joint ventures in process.”

The group managed to set up Saudi and Greek offices and concluded an Italian set up with Premuda during the pandemic.

Thome Group chief executive Olav Nortun said he is not yet sure managers are ready to take on all the lessons, but more new approaches should be expected.

“Ship management is a logistics exercise. We bring people, stores, spares on board a platform that moves. Are we going to allow so many people aboard? Is there anything we haven’t thought about?”