Navigator Gas said it has taken its fifth gasship to in-house management almost a year after starting the initiative to move off external technical management.
The New York Stock Exchange-listed company said it has taken over management of the semi-refrigerated, 20,500-cbm Navigator Virgo (built 2009) from Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement,while the vessel was at port in Amuay, Venezuela.
In addition to Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, Navigator has used Northern Marine Management and Thome Ship Management.
The programme to switch Navigator's fleet off of third-party technical management began under the aegis of Paul Flaherty, director of fleet operations and formerly of JPMorgan and BP Shipping, who joined the company in 2015.
When the programme was initiated last April with the 22,500-cbm Navigator Galaxy (built 2011), Flaherty told TradeWinds at the time that the shipowner was reaching sufficient scale that it made economic sense to take management activities in-house.
The key challenge was the vetting from oil companies and trading firms, who want to see experienced technical management in place before chartering a ship.
The Wilbur Ross-backed shipowner's fleet is expected to reach 38 vessels by the end of this year.
