Harren Group, a versatile German shipping player and project logistics provider, has been quietly developing yet another leg to stand on.
The diversified owner of bulkers, tankers, heavylift ships and multipurpose vessels is now openly marketing itself as a third-party ship manager.
“We have been doing this for a very long time, but we’ve never really talked much about it,” group managing director Nils Aden told TradeWinds.
That changed with the establishment of Harren Ship Management, a new brand within the group with Aden at its head.
One unidentified tanker owner has already agreed to entrust assets with Harren and talks are underway with more possible clients.
“There’s a lot of ongoing conversations with people all over the world,” Aden said.
Not every kind of potential customer will do: “If someone is just looking for a very basic, purely technical service, then that’s probably not a perfect fit.”
Moving with the market
This follows the bird’s-eye view approach that Harren prides itself on taking as a shipping player for more than 30 years.
“As owners, we know what it means to own ships, both in good and bad times,” Aden said.
Harren Group expects its wide-ranging experience as an owner, manager, charterer and operator to feed into its third-party ship management acumen.
“There’s a positive spillover effect of know-how,” Aden told TradeWinds, pointing to the group’s in-house background in chartering, crewing, vetting and fuel consumption management.
“We are looking at a ship in a very holistic way and this is why we also decided to have this as a service offering to the market.”
Third-party ship management will also probably provide an outlet for the company’s tanker activities — a segment in which Harren has been shrinking its footprint as an owner in recent months, as it takes advantage of rising values for its ageing vessels.
TradeWinds has already reported how the company has raised more than $100m over the past year by selling one LR1 tanker and seven small clean ones.
Aden declined to discuss any details of these sales but described them as a “very normal asset strategy” and was adamant that his company is here to stay in the tanker market.
“What is important to stress here is that this does not coincide with any decision to exit the segment as such,” he said.
Shaking out an LR1 tanker in an asset play — as well as the clean tankers, which it had ordered itself and managed for nearly 20 years — is just part of a natural renewal strategy, he explained.
“There is a need for modern vessels going forward in the northern European markets. This is triggered by regulation but also cargo clients’ expectations,” said Aden, whose firm has been carrying cargo in the region for charterers such as Shell, Neste and P66.
Sanctions against Russia may have changed the shape and the size of the tanker business but not its main parameters, according to Aden.
“Geopolitical developments divide and reduce the accessible market. While the geopolitical landscape is changing the market as such, it isn’t really changing things in view of the age structure and its implications,” he said.
Harren’s overall fleet consists of about 70 vessels, including bulkers, tankers, heavylift, MPPs and deck carriers on the water.
Five more heavylift ships under construction are due for delivery in the autumn.
A prolific dealmaker controlled by the Harren family, the company acquired German peer SAL Heavy Lift in 2017. Four years later, it teamed up with Netherlands-based Jumbo Shipping in a joint venture that was beefed up and renamed JSI Alliance in February.
In 2022, Harren acquired Houston-based breakbulk and project cargo operator Intermarine, which this month took over the commercial management of the group’s bulkers.
In the same year, Harren launched a new entity called Atheleon to offer offshore services with a focus on the renewables sector.
