Fleet Management rounded off a series of 25th anniversary events this year with a two-day celebration at its home base of Hong Kong.
Some three dozen of its shipowner clients turned out for the festivities at the Four Seasons Hotel in central Hong Kong and at Aberdeen Marina, near the company's new headquarters on the south side of the island.
Fleet started out with a single Noble Group-owned panamax, and was to be its in-house service provider until Noble decided against owning ships.
Now under the umbrella of ex-Noble trader Harry Banga's Caravel Group, Fleet ranks itself third among third-party managers in number of vessels under full technical management.
Managing director Kishore Rajvanshy is proud of the company's growth, which has been achieved without mergers or acquisitions.
Organic growth
“From one to 500-plus ships across diverse ship types, our journey has been completely organic and driven by the passion of hundreds of shore colleagues and thousands of seafarers, and trust of our clients," Rajvanshy told his guests.
"We have learnt from each other, grabbed every opportunity we could, and molded our 25-year success story, step by step.”
Rajvanshy and Fleet's executive team along with Caravel Corp chairman Harry Banga and chief operating officer Angad Banga were on hand for Fleet's fourth such event this year, after celebrations in Cyprus, Singapore and Tokyo.
Among the guests were two groups who were Fleet's original focus, Japanese and Scandinavian shipowners.
Fleet's first Japanese client, Kowa Kaiun Co, was represented by shipowner Takayuki Hanada and its first Scandinavian client, Bergen-based Spar Shipping, by managing director Jarle Ellefsen and operations manager Thomas Knudsen, grandson of founder Helge Eide Knudsen.
“At a time when tensions over trade have never been more acute, the importance of relationships based on trust and mutual benefit has never been greater," Harry Banga said.
Rajvanshy has led Fleet from the start. Noble recruited him from the former Univan in 1994. In 2011, Harry Banga took over Fleet as part of a management buyout from Noble with Rajvanshy holding a minority stake.
