New Grieg Shipbrokers boss Morten Muller is on the hunt for more hungry young brokers as he eyes growth in promising markets.

The 38-year-old broker was confirmed as the Norwegian shop's managing director earlier in July, after a period as interim chief following the departure of Finn Engelsen in January.

So what took the board so long to confirm him in the role?

"I'm very much involved in day-to-day operations and doing transactions," Muller told TradeWinds.

He said the board were concerned about management responsibilities taking away from his deal-making ability.

"I think they wanted to see that those roles were compatible, but they've seen that this is possible to combine," the broker said.

This kind of dual role has been seen most prominently with Andi Case at Clarksons and James Gundy at Braemar Shipping Services.

More changes coming

"It seems to be a change and a trend for many shipbrokers," Muller said.

The broker told TradeWinds that his permanent appointment should now make it easier to pursue more strategic changes.

"We've already made some changes and we'll see how those pan out," he said.

The new boss added: "We've already streamlined the company and that focused on a few core segments, which is more the chartering of supramaxes and handysizes, LPG, chemical and offshore."

Muller believes those are the areas ripe for further expansion and where Grieg Shipbrokers has the best chance of competing.

The broker laughs when asked if the company has enough people to cope with booming markets in some sectors.

"We would like more," he said. "We're certainly working on that.

"We're looking for good people to join us. It's pretty good in the markets at the moment, and we think it's a good time to grow in a number of those sectors actually.

More hires planned

Finn Engelsen quit as Grieg Shipbrokers boss in January. Photo: Fredrik Ekren

"What's important for us is just finding the right people, whether they are complementary to the respective teams and the company as a whole."

The shop has hired two new people in sale-and-purchase since April and is looking to "be across" chemical tankers.

The company is also due to advertise in TradeWinds shortly for new staff in offshore.

Expansion could include wind and renewables, but Muller explains that Grieg has been very successful in the aquaculture market, placing newbuildings and arranging time charters.

"It's an area where we feel we have a competitive advantage for the time being," he said. "It's obviously very local but it's certainly a good market to follow."

More offshore ships being sold

As for the more traditional offshore ship types such as platform supply vessels and anchor-handling tug supply ships, Muller said the company has sold many of these this year.

"I see activity on the desk is picking up really," Muller said. "So the values are obviously not great, but I can see the activity level and the amount of work the guys are putting in, so that's quite encouraging."

The company sold its Asian dry bulk chartering business in Shanghai and Singapore to Affinity (Shipping) earlier this year.

This expansion was a pet project of Engelsen, who staffed the offices in part with former colleagues from his old shop, Lorentzen & Stemoco.

Sources with knowledge of the company have indicated that Engelsen's departure was over a lack of support from parent Grieg Group for the global strategy.

Open to all suggestions

Asked if global expansion is therefore off the menu, Muller said: "I think we're open for suggestions. It's just a matter of deciding which sectors we want to be and where and whether that's going to be in one of the three offices, or another office.

"That's up for discussion, but it's just about finding the right people."

Muller first joined Grieg Shipbrokers in 2006 and, apart from a short stint at ACM, which was later bought by Braemar, he has been there ever since.

"I came straight from school to be honest," he said.

Grieg Shipbrokers has 45 brokers and advisors at offices in Oslo and London.

At 38 years of age, Muller is a relatively young boss and the rest of the team is also young.

The broker said he is "quite excited" about this.

"We have a lot of space to grow," he said. "So I think we're just looking at a new journey for the company and we are having our best start to the first half that I can remember, so I hope we carry on."