Steve Wansell has joined BlueVoir International (BVI), the cash buying arm of the Ayan Group, which controls nine recycling yards in Pakistan.
Wansell spent more than a decade working for Indian cash buyer Mideast Shipping & Trading, headed by Shabbir Baig. Before that he worked in arranging finance for ship recycling deals.
The move comes as the Ayan Group seeks to expand its cash buying activities and mirror a business model that has been successfully developed by some Indian recyclers.
Other recyclers with a dedicated cash-buying business include the Shree Rham Group, which controls cash buyer NKD Maritime, and the Priya Blue Industries, which controls Best Oasis.
Wansell told TradeWinds: “That is the way the recycling business is developing.”
BVI will act as cash buyer for its own yards and ship breakers in India, Bangladesh and Turkey in the shipping and offshore sectors.
Wansell said that the recent departure of a number of cash buyers means there is a gap in the market for BVI. He said shipowners will require more cash buyer services when recycling activities recover.
He added that having a parent company with extensive recycling facilities could act as a safety net under recycling transactions.
BVI founder and chief executive Atlaf Adam is aiming to improve the environmental and safety practices of the recycling facilities by seeking a certificate of compliance with the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships.
So far only one Pakistani recycling yard has a Hong Kong Convention statement of compliance.
