Greece could become a favoured option for raising fleet expansion capital following reports that the Hellenic Stock Exchange is about to implement a series of guidelines aimed at making it easier for ocean going shipping companies to list their shares on the market.

In a move that has long been awaited by the market, the Hellenic Stock Exchange’s rules of operation will be revised to abolish, among other things, the special requirement that makes it difficult for shipping companies (apart from companies operating ro-ro vessels) to publicly trade their shares.

According to the plan, all ocean going shipping companies will be able to benefit from the new regulations. Of course the stock authorities will include criteria to evaluate each ship owning company’s suitability to list its shares. This criteria will either remain the same as today (i.e. based on the number of ships, in combination with their value and total capacity, the kind of insurance cover provided, the outstanding loans and the registry), or will be modified, but this hasn’t been defined yet.

Changes could also be made relating to the information obligations of the ocean going shipping companies. For instance, if the shipmanagement company is not directly affiliated or in any way related to the ship owning company (issuer), the latter is obligated to provide efficient information on the ship manager, its founders, principal shareholders and the terms of relationship that are in place between the two companies (ship manager and ship owner).

Apart from this, all shipmanagement companies must operate under the international treaties and have sufficient experience and level of expertise to provide the services required by ship owning companies.

Once implemented, the changes could encourage many small and medium-sized Hellenic shipping companies to raise capital in Greece rather than in the US, according to market sources. The stock market’s delay in securing the necessary framework has been the main reason why the largest shipowning nation of the world hasn’t a single shipping company listed in the country’s stock exchange. Instead approximately 30 Hellenic shipowning companies are listed on the Nasdaq and AIM markets.

Evangelos Pistiolis-led Top Ships has privately placed 7.3 million common unregistered shares worth $51 million with various investors.

The 7.3 m shares were sold for $7 per share, representing a discount of 15.5% based on the closing share price of $8.28 on April 23, 2008.

Of the shares placed, 2.9 m shares were placed with Sphinx Investment Corp., a company privately controlled by George Economou.

The Company expects to issue the privately placed shares in multiple transactions between April 30 and May 7, 2008. The Company expects to use the proceeds for acquisitions and general corporate purposes.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has awarded $9.8 million in grants to 19 small shipyards in the US.

The grants are part of the new Assistance to Small Shipyards program, set up under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006.

“Small shipyards are vitally important for the health of the maritime industry, and for the economy of the Nation,” said Maritime Administrator Sean T. Connaughton.

The purpose of the grants is to make capital and infrastructure improvements that facilitate the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and quality of domestic ship construction, conversion or repair for commercial and federal government use. The grants cover a maximum of 75% of the estimated cost of improvements. The companies are responsible for the remainder.

Lloyd’s Register CEO Richard Sadler has called on the shipping industry to make preparations for the global drive towards biofuels and argues that if second and third generation technologies are successful then current projections of demand would see the world fleet unable to cope with the logistic demands.
Speaking at IMarEST’s annual Stanley Gray lecture, Richard Sadler concluded that the increase in demand for biocargoes would require an additional fleet size of 400 Handysize equivalents by 2030. Moreover, with additional environmental pressures, these vessel requirements may well increase. The International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Outlook projections for biofuel demand may well be inflated by political pressures to find alternative bio energy in shortening timescales.
The implications for the shipping industry are significant. Whether first or third generation, whether biodiesel or bioethanol, shipping will be at the heart of the supply chain and anticipatory investment will have to be made by the industry. Contradictory information makes the risk in that investment uncertain and therefore it is vital to look at ways to hedge the future – through flexible initial oil tanker design for vessels to be constructed now and converted in the future to take advantage of growing biotrade.
The biofuels industry is in the early stages of low carbon impact second and third generation biofuel development. Companies investing time and money in developing technology into economically viable and socially acceptable solutions are naturally keeping quiet about the technology or products being developed. Whether as a cargo or for use in the engine room, these new solutions will have to be incorporated into marine systems. Current ship designs are constrained by current legislation, creating poor designs if biofuel becomes a large scale global energy source. New standards may be required to meet essential safety and environmental needs and an early start is essential to meet these challenges.

Olav Eek Thorstensen, Thome Group President and Chief Executive Officer, talks to SMI about management fees

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Intertanko’s Council has expressed concern at the attack on NYK’s VLCC Takayama off Aden.  The Japanese VLCC was hit by a rocket proelled grenade launched from a small boat some 270 miles off the Aden coast. No injuries were reported and rthere was no fire or explosion.

A fuel leak was temporarily patched by the crew and the vessel is said to have continued her ballast voyage from South Korea to the Saudi Arabian Red Sea.

Peter Swift, Intertanko Managing Director (pic), said: “Such attacks are always a concern. We do not know the source and will not speculate on the cause but it occured in an area where we had the Linberg attack a few years ago and that was a terrorist attack rather than a piracy attack.

“Piracy in its own right is a major issue but if it’s terrorism, depending on the circumstances, then it may be an even more important issue for us. So we trust that the authorities will manage to find out a litrtle bit more,” he said.

The International Association of Classifications Societies (IACS) has picked up the Poseidon Challenge award for its work on Common Structural Rules.

Presenting the award to Tor Svensen, Chairman of IACS, Willem de Ruiter (pic left), Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), said the Poseidon Challenge initiative was “fresh and ambitious and very timely. It is about being proactive and about voluntary initiatives which have to come from shipping itself.

“You cannot expect regulators to be proactive, we need your input,” he told delegates attending the Intertanko Poseidon Challenge conference in Istanbul. “It is generally accepted now that there is no conflict between profit making in shipping and running a quality operation. I believe there is a general feeling in the industry that the two must be together, that is the only way forward,” he said.

Addressing delegates, Tor Svensen said: “To develop Common Structural Rules for the industry has been a tremendous effort, combining the technical skills of class and the whole industry. It has been a diplomatic exercise because regulations are not just about writing down a new set of rules. It is about finding consensus between regulators and all the stakeholders.”

Managing vessels in house rather than by third party can create better efficiencies and higher vessel performance especially if you have one crew nationality onboard, according to Mohammad Souri, Chairman of NITC.

Addessing the Intertanko Poseidon Challenge conference in Istanbul, the NITC Chairman said mixed crews can be successful onboard ship, “but in my opinion you should not have any more than two or three different nationalities. If you are going to have a combination of all different nationalities it could be messy unless you have a different system. Through experience, one two or a maximum of three nationalities is more than sufficient to have onboard,” he told delegates.

“We are trying our best to have our own Iranian staff onboard our ships. I believe that one nationality onboard always delivers a better performance because you don’t have different mentalities.

“Through years of experience we have learned that if we manage the vessels ourselves, we generate better efficiencies and performance. The reason is firstly because of the benefits of having one nationality as crew; secondly is drawing on the work of permanent staff and thirdly is that our own national people consider the ships they work on as a national asset so they give greater priority to the vessels,” he added.

“Our ships have had zero detentions in the last 15 years, hardly any pollution that has been reported and hardly any accidents. You cannot ignore accidents and you cannot ignore pollution but you can reduce them and what we have worked on over the last few years has helped us to succeed in reducing these as much as possible,” delegates were told.

Major Chinese ship repairer COSCO Shipyard Group has completed the first conversion of a VLCC into a very large ore carrier (VLOC).

Work on the 322m long Hebei Success  took seven months to complete with steel structural portions and piping accounting for the bulk of the work.

Remodeling work was undertaken at the Dalian works and completed on April 19 at a cost believed to be around $25 million. A Dalian yard official is quoted as saying, “We prioritised safety, quality and delivery date” in this first conversion work of VLCC into VLOC.

As the industry moves topwards the phasing out of single hulled tankers in 2010, demand for converting VLCCs into large-size ore carriers, bulk carriers and heavy lifters has been growing. COSCO Shipyard alone has received orders for converting nearly 30 large tankers into bulkers and ore carriers.

SIBA Ships has appointed Laura Pinasco as master of the world’s largest livestock carrier, MV Stella Deneb. It is Captain Pinasco’s first voyage as master and also the first time a female master has been appointed to a livestock carrier of this size and trade.

Mauro Balzarini, chairman of Siba Ships, said of the move: “Captain Pinasco is one of our experienced officers and we are pleased to promote her to master. She is a great example of how hard-working people can build a successful career at sea.”

Laura Pinasco was born and raised in Genoa, Italy and went to sea in 1997 with a local ro-ro fleet. Her career has included service as a deck officer on ro-ros, gas carriers and livestock vessels. She qualified as a Master Mariner in 2003 and joined SIBA as a Chief Officer in 2006.

Siba Ships is the Italian shipowning arm of the Balzarini group which specialises in the trading and transportation of livestock. For more than 40 years the company has transported livestock, mainly from Australia to the Middle East, South East Asia and South America. Siba Ships also operates a fleet of bulk carriers, a product tanker and a mining resources fund, and is expanding into other areas of shipping. In 2008 Siba will take delivery of two highly advanced livestock carriers providing standards of carriage and safety which set new highs for the industry and which rival or exceed passengership requirements.