Schoeller-owned Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM) has continued its recent expansion by agreeing a strategic partnership with Norwegian shipowner and operator Seatrans.
The joint venture company has been named Stodig Ship Management and has started to operate out of the Seatrans base in Bergen.
Stodig means "steady" in Norwegian. All Seatrans staff have been retained.
Seatrans is a chemical tanker specialist but also wants to offer its technical management and crewing services to ro-ro tonnage, offshore support vessels, bulkers and product tankers.
The Seatrans owned fleet numbers 14 chemical tankers and ro-ros, according to UK shipbroker Clarksons. None of them were built after 2007.
CSM chief executive Mark O’Neil said: "In Columbia Shipmanagement we recognise the particular expertise and skill sets associated with managing ships in the hard chemical trades and other special tonnage markets.
"Stodig Ship Management has that expertise which we can build upon with existing and new client opportunities," he added.
Foot in the Scandinavian door
O'Neil believes the move opens the door to Scandinavian and North European offshore and energy sectors crying out for alternative quality management service providers.
The new entity will be able to bring in levels of "digital optimisation, scalability and a variety of platform services", he added.
The aim is for Stodig to also provide a centre of excellence for CSM's environmental, green technology and decarbonisation efforts.
Economies of scale
Seatrans' Gisle Rong will continue in his existing role as managing director of Stodig.
He said: "In Columbia we have a partner who not only recognises and respects the Scandinavian market and culture, but also enables us to achieve economies of scale, digitalisation, [and] investment in support services which we could not previously have considered."
Rong said the company's latest projects include fitting rotor sails and working with its chemical tanker division on port efficiency and new types of cargo.
Norman Schmiedl, director of crewing at CSM, added that Seatrans brings a crewing network in Romania, Bulgaria and Poland to the tie-up.
In 2018, CSM joined forces with Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) in the ship supply sector.
The vessel managers formed GP General Procurement Company, also GenPro, as an independent procurement company using their combined buying power.
