Singapore-based offshore consultancy and brokerage M3 Marine Group has hired industry veteran Mark Colbridge to head up its shipbroking division.
Mike Mead, M3 Marine’s chief executive, described Colbridge’s arrival as a “joining of forces” ahead of the next market supercycle.
M3 Marine, Meade said, is positioning itself to take advantage of this market recovery.
“We can see the characteristics of this being the next supercycle,” said Meade, who indicated that the biggest boon for offshore sector brokers will be in the sales and purchase sector.
“It is different from the last super-cycle, where there was a huge rush to order new tonnage. This time the pressure is on the secondhand market,” he explained.
What is driving this pressure, according to Meade, is the lack of capital investment in the offshore oil and gas sector.
“Oil and gas has come back but the main impediment is that capital is going into renewables,” Meade said.
“The reality is that the world still relies heavily on oil and gas, and will continue to do so until the question of future fuels and renewables is sorted out,” he added.
That question — what the future fuels of the shipping industry will look like — is also discouraging ordering newbuildings in the offshore sector, said Meade.
The rush by oil majors to secure offshore vessel capacity has led to the mass revival of the offshore fleet, with many ships that had been languishing in mothballs for years being hauled out of layup and put back in service.
“The excess capacity in the market has all but been absorbed back into the active fleet, and there is a very strong demand for tonnage, especially in the Middle East, which is causing some supply pressure in Asia,” said Meade.
This has led to a dramatic rise in asset values, and an increasingly brisk sales and purchase market.
“The value of a 15-year-old ship increased by 200% during 2022,” Meade said.
Although there are no immediate signs of any significant resumption of newbuilding activities, Meade believes this will eventually happen.
“Old ships do wear out,” he said.
Growth and succession
The ongoing market recovery has led to growing demand across M3 Marine’s three main business segments — consultancy, evaluations and shipbroking.
“Our broking volumes have increased to the point where we need to add people,” said Meade.
Meade has been actively involved in M3 Marine’s shipbroking activities, but said that with Colbridge now on board, he can “take more of a helicopter view”.
Colbridge brings with him 25 years of offshore sector experience, many of which were spent in senior executive roles. Prior to starting his own consultancy firm, C4 Energy in July 2021, Colbridge spent nearly three years as the commercial head of Swire Pacific Offshore and Swire Seabed.
Prior to that, Colbridge spent nearly seven years at DOF Subsea as its business acquisition manager. Other companies listed on his curriculum vitae include Acteon, TS Marine, and OilExco.
“I have known, admired and respected Mark’s work and contribution to the offshore industry over many years and witnessed the immediate impact Mark had in the market when he set up C4 after leaving Swire two years ago,” Meade said.
A brief press release announcing the recruitment of Colbridge that was issued by M3 Marine on Monday stressed that his appointment was more than just the hiring of a new employee. It was also described as the beginning of a “strong collaborative relationship”.
Meade told TradeWinds that along with building up capacity on the broking side, the privately owned company was also beginning to address the question of succession.
“I am 63 and I am not getting any younger. Mark is a generation below me,” said Meade said.
However, the M3 Marine founder stressed that he had no plans to retire just yet.
“Let me be clear, I am not heading for the beach in the immediate future,” he said.
Meade, who spent 14 years at Swire Pacific Offshore, where he rose from vessel master to general manager, and eight years as general manager of Seacor, branched out on his own in 2005 to launch M3 Marine together with his brother John, who would exit the business in 2013.
The company is widely regarded as one of the Asian offshore sector’s most prominent offshore consultancy companies.
