TOP STORY
Laurent Cadji has opened up on Union Maritime’s drive into the LR2 tanker market and how it fits the company’s $1bn plus energy transition push.
It came as the shipowner booked three newbuildings at two yards in Asia to extend a targeted expansion into the LR2 niche.
Cadji told TradeWinds the LR2s would form a key part of the Union Maritime fleet, with dual-fuel engines just one aspect of the broader picture to reduce emissions.
IN THE NEWS:
Union was not the only shipowner making headlines with its newbuilding investments. Maersk Tankers exited the gas carrier business but has returned with a bang in the past few months.
It has now amassed an orderbook of eight VLACs in South Korea after a $466m deal to double its bet in the space this week.
In the dry cargo market, John Fredriksen has also made a significant move. Continuing a busy start to the year for the billionaire’s private business Seatankers, it has placed its first newcastlemax contract in more than half a decade, with a four-ship swoop in China.
This week was far from boring in Copenhagen as multiple executives upped and left high-profile positions.
Christian Vinther Christensen’s exit from Norden was the most eye-catching, given his influence and pivotal role in transforming Norden into a modern, global, data-driven company. He is the latest in a line of exits from Norden of late, and boss Jan Rindbo was keen to calm talk of an exodus.
Over at Union Bulk, co-founder Anders Svarrer is also on his way out after exiting as the commercial head of the bulker operator. TradeWinds understands that Svarrer did not leave to join a new company.
In a slightly less dramatic departure, Niels Josefsen is retiring after more than five years as Lauritzen Bulkers’ chief executive.
Some of the staff leaving Norden this year have been recruited by George Economou. The Greek shipowner this week continued his activist investor stance at Genco, trying to take its chairman’s head in a proxy fight.
Economou, whose GK Investor is a 5.4% shareholder, issued a scathing review of the company’s management in a securities filing on Monday. Economou is asking shareholders to withhold their votes for Genco chairman James Dolphin, an executive with Connecticut-based AMA Capital Partners.
There has also been cause for celebration for shipping on Wall Street in the past week. Consolidator-in-chief Petros Pappas and his Star Bulk closed the book on a takeover of Eagle Bulk in a deal that sees some notable executives and directors swap camps.
Mikael Skov and Hafnia shared the spotlight as the tanker owner took residence on the New York Stock Exchange. Hafnia’s arrival creates a $10bn club of product tanker owners on Wall Street and sees Skov reunited with Scorpio Tankers president Robert Bugbee, with whom he has an interesting shared history in the space.
LONG READ:
With Singapore Maritime Week set to kick off in a few days, Asia Bureau chief Jonathan Boonzaier has put the Lion City’s maritime community in the spotlight. He writes that the city-state has become a transformative force for maritime by investing in ‘invisible returns’.
