10 years of stong growth in Singapore

Extract from original article in NORDEN News Magazine.

When NORDEN opened its first office outside Denmark in 1997 in Singapore, the staff consisted of only one employee and the focus was tanker activities. Five years later, the first two dry cargo employees followed, and since then the development has really picked up speed

A three-step development

Today, the Singapore office is NORDEN’s local head office in Asia. It has a staff of 16 employees within dry cargo and tanker chartering, operations and vessel administration, and the tasks within ownership as well as vessel control are in rapid growth.

”The purpose of establishing the office back in 1997 was first of all to gain a better foothold in the Asian tanker market, which, to a large extent, is controlled from Singapore. At the same time, we would be present to our tanker customers in the region in the local time zone, and we would gain a better understanding of how the markets operate here,” says Peter Borup, who is in charge of NORDEN’s activities in Asia and managing director of the Singapore office.

”As its next move, NORDEN upgraded the office in 2002 by setting up a full-toned dry cargo department with specialists within chartering as well as operations. This would secure NORDEN a ”platform” to expand the Company’s dry cargo activities in Asia and Australia and, at the same time, create the basis to establish further offices in key markets throughout Asia such as China and India. As the third step on the ladder, NORDEN set up the company NORDHVAL Pte. Ltd. in 2003 also based in Singapore. This company was to own and control an expanding fleet of bulkcarriers and product tankers in the region. The main part of these goals has been reached during NORDEN’s first 10 years in Singapore,” he states.

Local head office

The office, which is to be found in a skyscraper with panorama view of Singapore Eastern Anchorage, has four kinds of tasks in brief:

1. Cultivate the market and work the customers in Southeast Asia (Thailand and Indonesia) and Australia.
2. Obtain regional market development which may be done through close cooperation with the offices in Mumbai and Shanghai in relation to transports to and from India and China plus through cooperation agreements in the region.
3. Be the local head office, which implies the handling of all fi¬nancial records and administration of the two other NORDEN offices in Asia.
4. Support NORDHVAL Ltd. Pte. in building and controlling an attractive and active fleet.

Knowledge is crucial

The team in Singapore is very international: The office has employees from Singapore, Japan, Indonesia as well as Denmark, each with their own special qualifications. Most of the employees do a lot of field work and visit the customers and partners. As Peter Borup puts it: ”It is easy to sit at the office and abolish the law of gravitation at a port. You need to go and see the conditions in order to understand the actual circumstances at the ports and the other links in the transport and service chain. A lot of money is at stake when a vessel can cost USD 30,000 per day. The competition in relation to the customers is tough. Price is the first important parameter, while knowledge is the second. Our finger print on all the projects we handle should be: Quality, service, flexibility – and knowledge. Only in this way will we be able to build customer loyalty.” 

Coal, salt and oil

The most important transports which the Singapore office accounts for are the transport of coal from Indonesia to Thailand, India and the Mediterranean as well as the transport of salt and minerals from Australia. Particularly within the transport of coal, NORDEN is known in the region for its great competences.

NORDEN has just conducted a large seminar in Indonesia on coal transportation educating both port captains, agents and the companies’ buyers. NORDEN’s services are also in great demand when it comes to tanker activities. The Tanker Department in Singapore has nearly doubled its number of customers within the last year. Due to this an operations department was recently set up in order to handle Norient Product Pool’s operations in the local time zone.

Large fleet

In recent years, NORDEN has developed a constantly expanding fleet owned and controlled from Singapore – and under Singapore colours. Currently (spring 2007), NORDEN is controlling 25 vessels through NORDHVAL Pte. Ltd and its subsidiaries.

”This is why I spend a significant part of my time being on the move,” says Peter Borup, who has become a familiar face on Singapore Airlines due to his tasks for NORDHVAL and frequent visits to NORDEN’s offices in Mumbai and Shanghai.

Great potential

In addition to the tasks of securing cargoes plus here-and-now customer care, the office also has a number of important assignments in relation to the development of NORDEN’s activities in Asia long-term.

”The economies in Asia are experiencing rapid change, and especially China and India represent such large markets that even the smallest changes in the import and export patterns can have great influence on the international shipping industry – and therefore also on NORDEN’s opportunities in the region. China, for instance, spends 2.4 billion ton coal every year and currently imports 35 million ton. If this last figure was to double, it would employ an additional 70 Handymax bulkcarriers on an annual basis which is a development that would have huge consequences on the demand for tonnage – and on the freight rates. Therefore, it is also an important task for us at the Singapore office to keep close track of the development and to assess which specific steps NORDEN should take next. There is a great potential in Asia,” according to Peter Borup.

Read the original article in NORDEN News Magazine. In Danish