The Vafias family controlled Brave Maritime Corp has been approached by bankers to manage ships that are either taken over by banks or that the banks believe can be managed better by Brave than their existing managers.

It would seem that the company has the necessary expertise after Brave, which has sold off all its bulkers except one, employs together with the other Vafias controlled owner Stealth Maritime Corp, more than 100 experienced office staff with expertise in bulkers, crude and clean tankers, gas vessels and chemical ships.

Meanwhile, Stealth Maritime has named two 114,000dwt newbuilding aframaxes in the New Times shipyard in China. The first was named Stealth Haralambos after the father of Nicholas Vafias and its godfather was Ian Beckman of WestLB bank. She starts a five year charter to a US-based operator.

The second vessel was named Stealth Chios after the island that the Vafias family hails from. According to Stealth boss Harry Vafias (pictured), its godfather was Thomas Zymnis a relative of the Vafias family. She is due to be completed in May when she will also start a five year charter to the same US based operator.

To view the conference brochure click here

If you would like to receive more information please click here

The marine insurance industry is facing one of the most crucial periods it has ever met, and underwriters, given the devastating fall in volumes and values in global trade, will have to “run hard to stay in place” over the next 18 to 24 months.

This was the blunt message from the International Union of Marine Insurance when its executive committee met in London yesterday and today for the annual winter meeting.

IUMI president Deirdre Littlefield (Starr Marine, New York) said that slowing demand, collapsing freight rates and a surge of new ship deliveries, despite ongoing newbuild cancellations and deferments, meant that shipowners and charterers were scrambling to reduce costs and increase efficiencies. Marine insurers could not expect to escape the consequences of this maritime maelstrom as owners strove desperately to cut operational costs wherever possible.

“Unfortunately, this pressure on pricing and conditions comes when underwriters are making equally desperate efforts to stabilise premium rates, and raise prices where the claims record justifies it, to compensate for the relentless increase in hull and cargo claims over the last few years. It has been a period, too, when owners benefited from soft premium rates,” she said.

“There is no doubt that the all-time historic profits made by owners during the halcyon period marked by the last five years were helped in no small measure by driving ships and crews as hard as possible.

“Inevitably, such a strategy impacts heavily on claims, and we expect that many ship repairs and onboard unit replacements, which have been deferred or ignored during the skyhigh profit years, will start to surface, along with the results of skimped maintenance, leading to a further escalation of claims. And adding to the financial pressure on insurers, we will see spiralling requests for return of premiums applying to ships going into ‘cold’ or long-term lay-up.

“However, there are some positives in this deteriorating situation. We should see a sharp increase in the number of older vessels going to the breakers, thus greatly reducing the curse of substandard tonnage which should not be afloat.

“Also, with far fewer ships in service as the downturn bites deeper, it should ease the problem of finding sufficient numbers of trained and experienced seafarers, although recruitment going forward remains a huge problem when seen against the threats of piracy and the criminalisation of mariners.”

Ms Littlefield said it was clear that insurance and reinsurance companies’ senior management would look to underwriting, not investments, as the key to profitability in the future, and would allocate scarce capital to those lines that promised above average returns. To attract corporate capital, insurers would need to be focused, highly selective and disciplined in their underwriting and pricing of business this year and next.

She also urged underwriters in facing the current turmoil to build a strong working relationship with their major clients. The more underwriters knew about their clients’ business and the challenges and opportunities ahead, the better equipped they would be to design products and services to meet the changing and emerging needs.

On a more encouraging note, she said that IUMI was firmly focused on the education initiatives it was pursuing and ways to attract the next generation of marine underwriters.

She said: “The current global economic situation offers the insurance industry a unique chance to attract the best and brightest people. Financial institutions are no longer the undisputed employers of choice and so the insurance business, for the first time in nearly two decades, has an excellent opportunity to showcase the exciting and rewarding career prospects available to young people.

“This is an excellent time to bring new talent into insurance and reinsurance,” she added.

Today, executive committee members were joined by the chairmen of IUMI’s seven technical committees to help plan the themes and programmes for the spring meeting in March in Miami and the important annual conference in September in Bruges (13th-16th).

K Line has announced a significant deficit in its operating income of almost 62% on last year, and is cutting off its final dividend to avoid a further crash, it said in its fiscal year 2008 report, as it proves itself as the latest victim to fall to the credit crunch blow.

“Due to a sharp decline in dry bulk freight rates, a decrease in container cargo movements, rising fuel costs and the stronger yen,” the leading ship operator has made a worrying loss and has raised concern over its future outlook.

With a “severe situation” anticipated ahead, K Line is drastically reassessing its operations, and the company has “continued to reduce its supply capacity by reducing, suspending, temporarily or integrating services, as well as reviewing service schedules on the major service routes,” it revealed.

Collapsing markets, currencies and freight rates have swallowed up yet another of the industry’s major players; and with little optimism for the coming months, the company has given in to accept that “business environments will deteriorate further due to the global recession.”

As a result of the negative impacts from a seriously worsening global economy, K Line reported that it “intends to put off payment of the year-end dividend” in the attempt to regain some stability in its financial structure for the even tougher period it faces.

Leading tanker operator Stolt-Nielsen S.A has been hit by the global financial downturn with operating profit losses amounting to $33.1m, and has raised deep concern for the “extremely challenging” years ahead, it reported in its fourth quarter and 2008 full year results.

Suffering under declining market conditions, a steep drop in bunker surcharges and the impact of hurricanes in the US Gulf, Stolt-Nielsen is anticipating a rough ride ahead as the fourth quarter slump foreshadows even greater financial strain for the company.

Commenting on the Company’s results, Mr. Niels Stolt-Nielsen, Chief Executive Officer of SNSA, said: “The effects of softening demand and the steep decline in global economic activity have now begun to have a tangible impact on our operations, as business conditions continued to deteriorate in December.

“Given the current global economic environment, we see little cause for optimism. We became concerned about the outlook well over a year ago and as a result took a number of actions, including securing financing of our newbuildings, the accelerated recycling of five ships, and the sale of one ship. We expect 2009 and 2010 to be extremely challenging years in our industry, and we are planning accordingly,” he added.

The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) has spread its wings into the Middle Eastern markets with a new office in Singapore, in a bid to implement a greater influence of navigational training, products and data in the major maritime trading region.

Based in the British High Commission, the new initiative is backed by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore in a move that hopes to bring the UKHO’s prominence and expertise to the Far East maritime community, given its important role in the globally interconnected nature of marine navigation.

UKHO Chief Executive, Mike Robinson, said: “We already have a member of staff stationed in Washington and this has brought us much closer collaboration with the United States, so we know the model works.

“Extending our reach to the Far East will help to build relationships in this area and help us to improve the service we provide to our international marine and defence customers. Ultimately mariners stand to benefit through improved availability of data and therefore safer, more frequently updated product,” he added.

V.Ships has stepped up the benchmark for global officer training with full swing adoption of Intertanko’s Tanker Officer Training Standards (TOTS) initiative, in a bid to underline the importance of crew competency and set new industry standards for the tanker sector.

The world’s largest shipmanagement company initiated the scheme a number of months ago, and now at full throttle with its seafarer training development, has implemented hard copies of the training record books on its ships.

With the aim to “fill a gap in the onboard education of tanker officers”, Martin Burley, V.Ships Group Training Director, is confident of its successful and rewarding performance in the training and professional development of officers onboard its tankers.

“The concept of TOTS is fundamental to ensuring that seafarers gain valuable experience, enabling and encouraging professional ability and career development. Up until now the industry has been more or less a case of ‘learning by chance’ and by experiences which are thrust upon them, but this new initiative is far more structured and is a way of ensuring that any experiences or learning gaps are sufficiently filled,” he said.

With the intention to “embed a learning culture within the industry,” the scheme began with informing seafarers about TOTS alongside crew seminars and workshops, but now it is fully implemented onboard V.Ships vessels, the practical and competent application of tanker handling will be pushed forward.

“TOTS training record books have filled a gap in the industry and the way that it has done that is in itself quite a dramatic improvement in what we have at V.Ships at the moment. We put in a lot of effort into the development of TOTS with Intertanko, and hope that V.Ships will set the way forward for such industry standards,” Mr Burley added.

The International Bargaining Forum (IBF) has enforced a new lane-system for vessels sailing through the ‘High Risk Area’ of the Gulf of Aden in light of concern over the increased number of warships patrolling the region, effective from 1st February 2009.

Newly designated East and West bound transit lanes are hoped to prevent potential collisions along the traffic-crowded Gulf, and with the continued intervention of armed naval forces in the region also heavily advocated by the Committee, the two-lane system is a logical and well-backed operation.

Seafarers on ships covered by IBF Agreements will also continue to receive a bonus equal to 100% of their basic wage while the vessel is in transit, and rates for death and disability compensation for seafarers will also continue to be doubled during this period, under full agreement between the Parties.

Giles Heimann, Deputy Secretary General of the International Maritime Employer’s Committee (IMEC) said of the agreement: “We are pleased that continuing attention is being given to the very serious problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, and hope that with the increase in number of warships in the region and the introduction of the new transit lanes, vessels will be more protected from aggression, however we will continue to monitor the situation very closely.

“We will likewise continue to respond to any further developments as they arise and have already agreed to a review of the “High Risk Area” at the end of February by which time the effectiveness of the new channels will be much clearer,” she added.

The IBF Committee agreed in addition that seafarers on ships using the appointed transit corridors should be expected to continue serving on the vessels during transit, however, when on ships that avoided using the specified lanes, the seafarers would have the right to refuse serving in transit and must be repatriated at the owner’s expense.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines has teamed up with the Gulf LPG of Qatar to form a new very large gas carrier (VLGC) pool that will trade under the name LPG Global Transport. The pool will begin operations immediately.

Both MOL and Gulf LPG have jointly incorporated LPG Global Transport Management Inc. to manage the pool’s business operations. Both companies are bullish about the future expansion of global LPG seaborne trade, especially from Qatar. LPG Global Transport will be able to offer enhanced services to LPG charterers and create efficiencies by optimising voyage costs through efficient deployment of the combined fleet.

To serve its worldwide customers in the most flexible, economical, and reliable manner, LPG Global Transport will build and expand its fleet. Gulf LPG will add one new building in March 2009 while MOL will add seven new buildings to be delivered during the second half of 2009 and the first half of 2010 to LPG Global Transport.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has chosen the Port of Gothenburg as the transit port for cars and other vehicles destined for the Russian market. A new route has commenced between Gothenburg and the ports in St Petersburg and Kotka.

“This is extremely positive for the Port of Gothenburg and reinforces our position as the gateway to Russia and other Baltic countries,” said Magnus Kårestedt, Port of Gothenburg chief executive (pictured).

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) is a global logistics company and one of the leading shipping companies in the world for the transport of vehicles and other rolling loads. WWL will now reload cars, trucks, agricultural machinery and construction equipment in the Port of Gothenburg. These vehicles will be shipped from the USA and Asia to Gothenburg on WWL’s large vessels, which can carry up to 8,000 cars.

Transhipment, which previously took place in Germany and Belgium, will now be handled in Gothenburg. WWL has established a new route between Gothenburg and the ports in St Petersburg in Russia and Kotka in Finland. The route is plied once a week by the ice-classed vessel Vinnie, which has a capacity of 1,400 cars.

“WWL has used the services of the Port of Gothenburg since 1912 and it is heartening to see that one of our most loyal customers is continuing to invest in Gothenburg,” said Magnus Kårestedt.