Now in its 40th year, Germany’s Briese Schiffahrt is halfway through a massive newbuilding programme comprising more than 60 ships.
That is all part of a plan to modernise the fleet of one of the world’s largest multipurpose tonnage providers, according to its chief executive Wilke Briese.
Briese sees his role as different to that of his father Roelf, who founded the niche owner-operator in the small German town of Leer in 1984.
“I think the build-up of the fleet had already happened when I joined,” he said.
“So, my role is also now to modernise this huge fleet, and that takes a lot of effort,” he told TradeWinds at the side of the Hansa Forum in Hamburg yesterday.
One of those challenges has been funding its sizeable newbuilding drive.
Where the German KG (limited partnership) system fulfilled that role in the past, these days the money comes from a wider range of sources.
Chinese lessor ICBC Financial Leasing is involved in several of the latest deals.
“We have lost a little bit the banking cluster in Germany, so we had to become a little bit more global, with regards to the financing,” Briese said.
He added that the majority of the funding still comes from within Germany including “to a bigger extent from our own pockets”.
“Due to the healthy market in 2022, our own share is much bigger than it used to be,” Briese said.
Sixty newbuildings
The renewal of Briese multipurpose, container, bulker and project carrier fleet is slated to comprise about 63 newbuildings.
Some 37 are delivered, leaving about 26 to come. “We are halfway through,” Briese said.
The biggest chunk of its orders comprises 15 multipurpose vessels of 13,000 dwt from Taizhou Sanfu shipyard in China.
The vessels are referred to as LakerMax-class, as the type can pass through the St Lawrence Seaway and the Welland Canal to reach the American Great Lakes.
Among the other vessels on order are a pair of 40,000-dwt open hatch bulkers for delivery at Jiangman Nanyang’
Other vessels will be delivered by 2026.
These include six general cargo vessels Dayang Offshore and four minibulkers of 5,200 dwt from Jiangsu Dajin Heavy Industries, according to Clarksons Research.
Boxship growth
Briese has also grown its involvement in the container segment where it has taken with delivery a dozen container vessels.
Six Bangkokmax boxships including the 1,930-teu Borkum (built 2023) have arrived from CSSC Group’s Guangzhou Wenchong Shipyard (GWS), as well as six SDARI-designed 1,781-teu ships from Huanghai Shipyard.
Briese explained the company had previously operated a handful of ships in the container sector.
“We just wanted to renew the fleet and also grow to some extent.
“At that time, there were still quite good building slots available, so we took the chance.”
Briese’s multipurpose vessels are deployed in its commercial operating network BBC Chartering, deemed the largest operator of multipurpose vessels with more than 100 ships.
Briese describes the global multipurpose market as “quite healthy”.
“We benefit a little bit still from the closure of the Suez Canal.
“This, of course, brings a lot of extra tonne-miles into the segment.
“The European market is a bit tougher,” Briese added.
“I think the economic downturn is also hitting our multi-purpose product fleet to some extent. But still, it’s far away from the crisis level that we used to be in.”
However, he said there were no plans to expand by acquiring other companies.
“I don’t believe that we would be a consolidator in the market,” he concluded.
“I believe in our own team and our own global set-up, and we are very happy with our team as it is and we fully rely on them to develop this business.”
