Asia/Pacific News
Collapsed Bulk Market Still Offers Opportunities For Clipper Group
Clipper Group partner and chairman Frank G. Jensen told ShippingWatch this week that although his company has been hit by a poor bulk market, it's in a good position to take advantage of business opportunities.
"We've trimmed and optimized our business in the years since the protracted crisis following the Lehman-collapse in 2008," he explained.
"We've chosen not to take major risks, which means we're not holding a significant newbuilding program."
Because Clipper has a lot of ships on long-term charter with purchasing options or contracts set to expire fairly soon, the company is "somewhat consolidated" in dry bulk, according to Jensen.
Jensen added that opportunities exist "because of the fact that so many players, due to the situation in the dry bulk market, are virtually paralyzed right now. Which we're not at Clipper."
The chairman went onto describe possible opportunities, including becoming "a fairly big owner, should we want to."
This is due to the fact that Clipper's profits in dollars are now stronger compared to the Japanese Yen - and that the company can draw on a purchasing option in Yen three to five years after its contracts for chartering ships are signed.
Jensen said, "It would generally take an improved freight market for us to consider this, but we do have some opportunities in the current market."
In March Clipper Group announced it was converting heavy fuel oil tanks aboard some of its bulkers into marine gas oil tanks in order to comply with new Emission control Area (ECA) regulations that came into force at the beginning of 2015.
