Broking group Affinity (Shipping) has a new presence in Vancouver, Canada, with the hire of dry-cargo broker Thor Emil Brandrud.
Brandrud joins from rival shipbroker Simpson Spence Young (SSY), where he has worked since 2008. He has been managing director of the firm’s Vancouver office for the past four and a half years.
Affinity has been aiming to build a presence in the north Pacific region, according to Hans Bredrup, head of the broker’s dry cargo business in the Americas.
“But, as always in shipping and in life in general, you have to find the right people,” he told TradeWinds.
“It’s interesting to have [Brandrud] on board because his speciality is biomass and renewables — wood chips, wood pellets, biomass, et cetera, which is what we are doing quite a lot of in South America and also in New Zealand and Australia.”
Affinity will look to grow its dry-cargo business in the Americas within other trades from the US West Coast, such as concentrates and Canadian exports like potash and logs, he added.
Brandrud told TradeWinds he enjoyed his career with SSY but left because “it was time for a change and a new challenge”.
“I have known some of the people within Affinity for years, and when they heard I decided to leave, they reached out and asked if we could do something together,” he said.
“We decided after some talks to set up Affinity Shipbroker (Canada) Ltd together. Affinity’s dry cargo brokering business and what I have done in the past have many similarities and we think this is a good fit for building new business for our past and new clients going forward.”
And there is plenty going on in the Canadian city.
“Vancouver has a growing shipping community where we see several established owner/operators have established new offices here and I think there is good potential for growth for Affinity here not only in dry bulk, but also other sectors which Affinity is involved in,” Brandrud said.
“We hope to be able to attract new and established talent to help our growth.”
Brandrud will work alone at first, but Affinity will potentially hire more staff, if it comes across the right candidates.
SSY told TradeWinds that Brandrud’s departure will not affect its presence in the Canadian city, where it employs four staff.
“SSY remains committed to our Vancouver office and maintaining a presence in this strategically important location,” a spokesperson said. “SSY Vancouver has been in operation since 1973 and is one of our longest-running offices. We wish Emil all the best in his new role with Affinity.”
Bredrup, who is based in Uruguay, sees potential for more consolidation of the shipbroking sector across the Americas.
“I think in South America and perhaps also North America, it’s a lot of smaller shops and I think the clients are growing bigger. So I think it’d be good to consolidate a little bit on some of these shops. Let’s see,” he said.
This story has been edited since its original publication.
