Although new V.Ships Germany chief executive Nils Aden does not subscribe to the view that the shipping industry has an excessive amount of third-party managers, he sees “room for consolidation”.
“I firmly believe size is a strong argument going forward,” he says.
One reason is that investing in digital tools is beyond the financial scope of many companies.
“Size is a big advantage in keeping up with the speed of digitalisation and driving this transformation,” Aden says.
It is also important to have a global footprint, represented in different locations, and able to deliver different services.
Organic growth potential stems from the fact that a large proportion of ships are not outsourced to professional managers and Aden claims the opportunity exists to “convince owners that it makes sense”.
Advent, the private equity owner of V.Group, is said to be behind the company’s strategy and further investment in acquisitions, provided the “right partner” is found.
In Germany, Aden sees various players lacking sufficient scale to deliver services globally and at competitive rates.
The collapse of the KG (limited partnership) funding system had seen many disappearing or consolidating, while others had been left unable to “prepare for what is next”.
Aden says both V.Ships and Norddeutsche Reederei H Schuldt in Germany are “fairly lean” operations. It is intended to maintain employee numbers following the takeover as the group’s policy is to invest in people, grow, and use the knowledge and experience of those people to develop its boxship centre of excellence concept.
However, V.Ships Germany will also continue to focus on the technical management of tankers, as well as other segments.
