Associated Shipbroking, a broking house led by James McLoughlin and Julian Owen out of Monaco for more than 30 years, is setting up in Greece.
The company’s new Athens branch is expected to formally launch operations soon, out of premises in the seaside suburb of Alimos — halfway between the shipping hubs of Piraeus and Glyfada.
The move is not linked to any personnel changes or to parallel efforts to poach stuff from rival broking houses.
The purpose of the new dependency is rather to connect Associated Shipbroking’s Monaco headquarters with the company’s office in Shanghai.
Athens is an apt place to meet, considering that Greek clients account for the bulk of Associated Shipbroking’s newbuilding and secondhand business.
The Shanghai office has played a key part in the company’s development, having concluded a substantial number of newbuilding contracts of all ship types since it was established in 2002 with local partners Shan Li and James Liu.
New Times Shipbuilding has been a frequent customer, as have major ship owners such as Frontline, Dynacom, Enesel, Avin and the TMS Group.
Associated Shipbrokers, which also has offices in London and Seoul, was the first sale-and-purchase brokerage in Monaco when McLoughlin and Owen set up shop in the Mediterranean principate in 1993.
Both had been with Axis Shipbrokers before.
Associated Shipbrokers today employs about 25 brokers who are also covering dry cargo chartering, offshore, as well as valuations and finance consultancy.
