Ravjvanshy has been with Fleet since day one when it was founded in November 1994 and he is not the only one to have stayed the course of the 20-year voyage. “Looking back, what I am most heartened by is that my initial team, which was recruited in the first five years of the company’s existence, still works alongside me today. That cohesiveness has allowed Fleet to pull ahead in one direction,” Rajvanshy tells Seatrade Global.
Starting a new business is never an easy task and speaking at the company’s 20th anniversary celebrations in Hong Kong on 5 December he told guests: “After establishing the company, the first year was very difficult. My colleagues and I had to build the business from the ground up; systems had to be set up, and procedures put in place, while at the same time the services had to be marketed internationally.”
The first year of operation brought modest success with eight ships under management. In 1996 Fleet saw its important first breakthrough into the European market with vessels from Vroon and Spar Shipping. “Then in 1997 when the Japanese market first opened its doors to us – we then knew that as an international ship management company to reckon with, we had arrived. In the years since then we built our trust base in India, China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, UAE and USA,” he explains to Seatrade Global.
Today Fleet operates in from seven technical/liaison offices and 12 manning centers across nine countries. According to Rajvanshy many of these offices were set up at the behest of existing customers it has grown with. “There was never a big strategy that we worked with. It was our focus on the basics and the hard work of my team that was paying itself off.”
The company today manages a fleet of 350 vessels including some 60 newbuildings under supervision, which has been a key area of the business for Fleet with its own director managing the division full time.
“We are at present supervising some 60 ships through 13 projects – most of which are in China with a couple of high specification projects in Korea and Japan,” Rajvanshy explains.
“In fact we just delivered the first ever Bulk carrier fitted with MALS (Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System) technology from Oshima Shipyard on account of ADM (Archer Daniels Midland). We excel in this space as the operational experience from the 290 odd ships that we technical manage serves us well in adding features that make the ships we supervise more desirable to operators. Conversely, our involvement in newbuilding supervision allows us to keep a constant tab on new technologies that we can then implement on our ships in water.”
One change in recent years has been ownership from Noble Group to new Hong Kong shipping and resources powerhouse Caravel Group founded by former Noble vice chairman Harry Banga and his sons Angad and Guneet a transition, which has proved to be a seamless one. “There have been no notable differences. And we continue to work as close with Caravel as we did with Noble.”
As to what the future will hold for Fleet Rajvanshy quips: “Umpteen challenges and as many opportunities!”
Tim Huxley, ceo, Wah Kwong; Kishore Rajvanshy, managing director, Fleet Management; Harry Banga, chairman and ceo, Caravel Group; Angad Banga, executive director, Caravel Group; Harry Hirst, partner, Ince & Co.
Seiji Ikeda, senior managing director, Shoei Kisen Kaisha; William G. Swigart, director, Santana Shipping Services; Ajay Chaudhry, director, Fleet Ship Management, Singapore,Kazutomi Uchida, president, MMSL Pte Ltd; Harry Banga, chairman and ceo, Caravel Group; Kishore Rajvanshy, managing irector, Fleet Management
Geir Holberg, vp consulting, FramMarine; Sunil Kapoor, director and general manager, FML Ship Management Limited, Cyprus; Halvor Boe, director, Nordic Shipping; Kjetil Bruun-Olsen, managing director, Fram Marine
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