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Shipmanager chases older tonnage

Shipmanager chases older tonnage

Hong Kong: One shipmanager is taking a different approach to growing its business, as outlined to SAO yesterday from Hong Kong. Accord, which used to be part of Cypriot Marlow Navigation until a management buyout this January, is targeting older tonnage while the large third party managers obsess about the huge set of newbuilds still set to deliver.

Sanjay Shesh and Ashok Srivastava took over management of Accord on behalf of charterers Nepa Projects & Investments of Hong Kong in January 2010 as a part of a company restructuring. Managing Director Shesh is based in Hong Kong and Srivastava is CEO of Accord India. Marlow, which had expanded aggressively in Asia with a Hong Kong office and the buyout of Accord, has had to retrench following the financial crisis.

Ashok Kumar  as Accord's CEO in India has 35 years experience in ship management working as CEO of Arcadia Shipping and executive director for Tolani Shipping.   Srivastava set up India's first private sector maritime training institute focusing on pre-sea training for marine engineers. Both executives worked at Fleet Management in Hong Kong.

Established in 1992, Accord has managed various types of ships including livestock, bulkers, tankers, and Ro Ro vessels.

"The big shipmanagers, because of all the newbuilds coming in 2010 and 2011, are not interested in older tonnage," said Shesh, adding, "We have been inundated with inquiries in recent weeks as reputable owners with tonnage older than fifteen to twenty years have found it difficult to secure ship management services."  Shesh is also the executive director of NEPA Project and Investments in Hong Kong.

 "Accord has a very experienced team, strategically located in Hong Kong and India and has extensive technical knowledge to manage ships irrespective of the age of the ship. We have also found that we have the flexibility to manage vessels that our larger competitors would find a challenge," said Shesh.

"Because of the lower cost base we are able to allocate more resources to vessels under our management delivering a high level of service to the shipowners. In practical terms it means that we are able to deploy one superintendent to manage two or three ships, a figure much higher in terms of focus, than to the average four or five ships that a superintendent in any other company would manage" said Srivastava. 

Accord is looking to build up a managed fleet of no more than 30 to 35 ships.  [17/03/10]