Newport Shipping Group announced today that it has opened new offices in New York City, Shanghai, and Athens as part of the company’s “near customer, near market” efforts, expanding its presence in key shipowning and ship repair communities around the world.
The London-headquartered company has existing offices in Istanbul and Singapore.
Speaking during Posidonia Athens 2018, Chief Executive Officer Erol Sarikaya said: “The shipping industry requires global capabilities and is dependent on personal relationships. Having offices in key maritime locations means we have local people, with local knowledge on the ground in daily contact with shipowners and shipyards. We have excellent teams in place in each market we serve.”
The Athens, Istanbul, Shanghai, and Singapore offices are focused on customers’ ship repair and technical needs while New York and the London headquarters manage Newport’s corporate and international operations.
Commenting on the ship repair market, Sarikaya said: “The industry is undergoing tremendous change. The introduction of mandatory requirements to reduce shipping’s impact on the environment, in particular, will have a significant material impact on most shipowners.
“While the larger players are likely to have capital in place for retrofitting ballast water treatment systems, scrubbers and other compliant systems, or to invest in newbuilds, the reality is that shipowners with smaller, older fleets – those that make up the majority of the world fleet – will benefit greatly by minimizing working capital costs in an already capital-intensive industry.
“We can support these small to medium-sized operators by financing their retrofits, while they benefit further from the opportunities presented through our cooperation shipyards within the lower cost regions of the Pacific/Atlantic trading zones.”
Sarikaya added: “With offices in strategic shipping locations around the world, together with ship repair facilities in China, Turkey, Indonesia and Singapore, all shipowners, big or small, now have comprehensive servicing and financing options available to them for their drydocking and equipment retrofits. We cooperate with highly-skilled and cost-competitive shipyards that can serve owners globally.”
Newport Shipping plans to open offices in other locations and announce new cooperation agreements in coming months.
