A man who has brought a load of change to New York-listed bulker owner Eagle Bulk in his first year in charge appealed to an industry audience today to forge their own positive changes.
One of the timeliest reforms mentioned by Eagle chief executive officer Gary Vogel came on the corporate governance front, on a day when two public companies in the Scorpio group eliminated vessel sale-and-purchase commissions paid to a private insider affiliate.
“On the one hand, I think it is great we are finally having the conversation — on the other, it shows that the industry has an issue which it needs to address,” Vogel told delegates at the Association of Ship Brokers and Agents (ASBA) annual cargo conference in Miami Beach.
Vogel lamented a Wells Fargo “scorecard” last year that showed many owners with weak governance structures.
“It is somewhat discouraging to see that there are many companies in shipping with weak corporate governnace structures,” he said.
“However, I am encouraged and believe it will change over time because the market will ultimately demand and drive this.”
Vogel argued that aligning interests of shareholders with management is not only the right thing, but good business practice: an academic study showed companies with strong governance outperformed weak ones by 8.5%.
“In what is a very competitive world, if we as an industry want to attract capital, especially in mature and sophisticated markets like New York, we need to play by the same rules other industries do, or we will be left out and left behind.”
