The nascent Concord Maritime aframax pool has built its fleet to nine ships with the addition of its first vessel from Maersk Tankers.
Concord has added the 109,600-dwt Maersk Penguin (built 2007) to the Dakota Tankers pool led by Ben Ognibene, the former Heidmar chief executive.
Ognibene told TradeWinds that the Maersk Penguin will deliver later this month in the Atlantic Basin. He said the tanker had been time chartered for about 30 months in partnership with an oil merchant.
“We are looking forward to working with Maersk Tankers due to its reputation for operational excellence and blue-chip quality,” Ognibene said.
Pooling arrangements
Stamford-based Concord is one of two Connecticut pooling operations set up by former Heidmar chief executives.
Ognibene resigned from Heidmar in September 2017 and formed Concord in April 2018.
The other venture is Penfield Tankers, headed by former Heidmar CEO Tim Brennan. It has focused on panamax tonnage and currently has 29 tankers of that class within the pool.
Concord launched Dakota last December with an initial fleet of seven vessels. Original members included Atlas Maritime of Greece and Emarat Maritime of Dubai. Both had been founding members of Heidmar’s Sigma Tankers pool, which Ognibene had originated with current Concord partner Jim Hurley.
Ognibene has said Concord’s goal is to build Dakota Tankers to between 20 and 25 vessels, with the possibility it will then add a focus on suezmax and VLCC tonnage.
Upcoming challenges
The competition from its former executives is just one of the challenges facing Heidmar, which has headquarters in nearby Norwalk.
Newly appointed chief executive Pankaj Khanna acknowledged in an interview with TradeWinds last month that a focus on reversing Heidmar’s declining overall pool numbers is an immediate priority after taking the reins from the departed James Pippard.
Khanna stepped in after Greek shipowner George Economou’s public company, DryShips, assumed 100% control of Heidmar, buying the stake held by financial giant Morgan Stanley.
Vessel defections
Pippard had introduced new businesses in bunkering and freight forward agreements but had failed to stem vessel defections, which had seen Heidmar sink from about 100 tankers at the time Ognibene left to 66 at present.
Nonetheless, Heidmar’s flagship pool remains Sigma Tankers, which currently lists 34 aframax units committed by 14 different partners. It also operates pools in the suezmax and VLCC sectors.
Concord is backed by American Working Capital, a Chicago-based provider of private funding that is making its debut in the shipping sector.
