Lloyds List: Hartmann Group takes heart from its solid game plan
The global downturn may be making for turbulent shipping markets but the Leer shipowner is quietly confident that its diversification strategy will deliver further growth, write Patrick Hagen and Frederike Krieger “Owners are now looking for follow-up charters and will have to get used to considerably reduced rates” “When the banks begin to trust each other, trade will flourish again”
The global downturn may be making for turbulent shipping markets but the Leer shipowner is quietly confident that its diversification strategy will deliver further growth, write Patrick Hagen and Frederike Krieger “Owners are now looking for follow-up charters and will have to get used to considerably reduced rates” “When the banks begin to trust each other, trade will flourish again”
Friederike Krieger and Patrick Hagen, Leer - Dienstag 11 November 2008
ALFRED Hartmann has not bought into the hysteria surrounding the impact of the financial crisis on shipping. “It is too early to speak about a catastrophe. Charter rates only started to become problematic four weeks ago,” he says calmly. During recent years, the shipping industry has earned a lot of money — more than enough to endure hard times like these, he says. Besides, he is optimistic that rates will rise again in 2009 and while economic growth is clearly slowing down, basic needs will stay.
As one of the world’s largest and most influential shipowners, active across a wide range of sectors, his attitude should not be dismissed as blind optimism. Capt Hartmann’s strategy of diversification appears to be his greatest defence against the current market volatility. ”We want to achieve a certain amount of market power in every shipping segment we are active in”. It is the same basic thinking that makes Capt Hartmann try to reduce dependency on the charter market. Only around 40% of his fleet is chartered out. Within the Hartmann group there are a number of independent companies, which act as cargo agents for the group’s non-containerised fleet as well as those of other shipowners. With crashing charter rates, this strategy now seems to be paying off.
An exception to this rule is Hartmann’s fleet of containerships, which is fully chartered out to big names such as Maersk Line, Hapag-Lloyd or Hamburg Süd. The strategy appears to be working so far. While other companies have already been hit by the early return of chartered vessels, Capt Hartmann’s various interests have escaped unscathed. “To date none of our charterers have handed vessels back to us ahead of schedule”.
But not all shipowners are going to be so lucky. Some could face trouble as a high number of charter contracts expire in November, December or January, says Capt Hartmann. “Owners are now looking for follow-up charters and will have to get used to considerably reduced rates.” This could be a problem, particularly for shipowners with a small equity base who bought highpriced vessels and now have to cope with the lower charter rates.
Capt Hartmann became an owner in 1981, when he bought his first secondhand 1,400 dwt vessel. During the early years, Capt Hartmann was also the master of his own vessel. A short time later, he bought his second ship. A year later, his first newbuilding was put into service. Some 27 years later, the Hartmann group owns more than 130 vessels, including containerships, bulkers, tankers, liquefied petroleum gas carriers and multipurpose ships. \\\"In the coming years, a considerable number of ships will be added to our fleet,” says Capt Hartmann. The full details of this orderbook is unknown and Capt Hartmann is not about to disclose all his secrets, but his statement should not be taken as an idle boast. Last year, Hartmann built up the largest orderbook by number of vessels of all German owners, with more than 100 vessels on order, according to information collected by German shipping funds expert Jürgen Dobert. Part of Hartmann’s orderbook is a series of 3,400 teu containerships to be built by Blohm+Voss in Hamburg.
Despite his impressive orderbook, Capt Hartmann agrees with the prevailing industry wisdom that a significant number of vessels ordered by shipowners all over the world will never be built or delivered. He believes that shipyards are facing hard times. “There are hardly any new orders at the moment and existing orders are being cancelled on a grand scale,” he says. “Asian shipyards in particular are seeing a high number of cancellations, among them big projects from German shipowners,” says Capt Hartmann, who has already been approached by a number of yards seeking someone to take on a number of ships abandoned by other owners.
A lot of Chinese shipyards will have to close down, says Capt Hartmann, but the slump will not stop there. “The crisis will not spare German shipyards,” he says, referring to Cassens Werft in nearby Emden, which has had to file for bankruptcy this year. Speaking of financing, Capt Hartmann says that not all banks have stopped ship financing projects for this year. “The banks are very selective but the books are not closed yet,” he says. Far from cancelling existing orders, Capt Hartmann is looking to break into a new sector. The shipowner has ordered 12 anchor handling tug supply vessels from Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri. The deal was financed by German bank NordLB. For the bank, the €420m ($542m) project is its biggest ever in shipping. The ships are due for delivery by mid-2010. It will make Hartmann the third largest owner of anchor handling tug supply vessels in the world.
The move is typical of Capt Hartmann’s stated strategy to own around 40 ships in every segment. “If a fleet is too small, it is not flexible, because you are always dependent on others”. With his prospective fleet of 12 AHTS, Hartmann will be able to work on large jobs independently. Despite this unusually bullish outlook, Capt Hartmann is, of course, not unaware of the downturn hitting shipping markets. He is, however, firmly of the belief that the industry is facing a banking crisis rather than one of the real economy. “When the banks begin to trust each other, trade will flourish again,” he says. He blames the bank’s current behaviour for hampering trades considerably with not accepting and issuing letters of credit. “If the buyer’s bank does not accept the seller’s bank, the deal will not take place or will have to be delayed,” Capt Hartmann says.
This situation is also negatively affecting shipowners who normally are not paid in advance and who also want to have a guarantee that they will get their money. Owners have started to delay discharging the goods until they have been paid. This is slowing down trade but Capt Hartmann also sees a positive aspect. “Cargo, which is normally shipped in 10 days, now needs 13 or 15 days, because the vessel has to wait at each port.” This trend could shorten tonnage and stop the decline of charter rates. “People will not stop eating bread, driving cars and buying a new outfit because they have less money in their pocket. They may choose to buy cheap products from Asia. That would mean more goods are being transported in the container sector,” Capt Hartmann says.
In the bulk sector, one has to differentiate. Big bulkers have mainly transported ore to the booming economies of China and India. “If Chinese imports slow down or when the imports are handled via ports near home, less transport capacity is needed,” says Capt Hartmann. Business for small bulkers up to 50,000 dwt, which carry corn, fertiliser and coal, will proceed as usual, perhaps on a slightly lower level, he says.
Hartmann Group: News
We would like to keep you informed of important activities in the business group as they develop. Here you can find up-to-date information on the Hartmann Group.
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Second Managing Director at Hartmann Shipping
As already announced, there is a second Managing Director at Hartmann Shipping since March 1st: Mr. Jan-Lars Kruse (37). He is responsible for the financial part, while Capt. Michael Ippich, Managing Director of the company since August 2011, accounts for the company’s technical matters. more (PDF)Press release, March 2012 more
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ISN at the 2012 Limassol Carnival
ISN along with with colleagues, friends, relatives and associates, took part in this years' Limassol Grand Carnival Parade on 26 Feb. 2012 with the theme “Robin Hood”. read more more
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MTL - New Captain for MTL Office
MTL welcomes Capt. Dariusz Kolinski in the Operations team... more
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Fire drill on board of MV Nordland
During a regular break on a working day at sea suddenly an alarm goes off. Each crew member gets up immediately and runs to his/her cabin to put on an overall and safety shoes. The crew comes together at the officers’ deck. A few crew members already recognize the alarm; fire alarm! Fortunately, it is just a drill. The bosun told us that the fire started in the bow room. After a quick meeting everyone gets his own task. There are standard tasks for everyone: the captain coordinates from the bridge and gives instructions to the bosun. The bosun gives instructions to the crew on deck. After putting on the safety fire suits, the second officer and I searched for the fire to fight. After this challenge we evaluated the drill. After the evaluation every crew members goes back to their daily work. They are all aware that in the future an alarm can announce a real fire. A drill makes everyone aware of the possible crisis situations. A drill clarifies the tasks and risks in a certain situation. The effects of a (big) fire on board of a vessel can not be foreseen. It is very important to fight the fire as soon as possible. Besides the fire drill there are some other important drills, such as the man overboard drill and a drill where the crew practices to safely abort the ship during a crisis situation. Feederlines is committed to perform certain drills to guarantee the safety of her manning as well as possible. Pictures fire drill Written by trainee Wietse Rijkeboer more
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MT "GASCHEM WERRA" delivered for Hartmann Shipping
East-frisian shipping company took over the 6.500 cbm Ethylene-Gastanker built in Romania end of last year. more (PDF)Press release, January 2012 more
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MTL - New colleague on board
MTL welcomes new colleague Mr. Olaf Pastoors on board of the Operations department ... more
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MTL - New Liner Services Established
From the beginning of January 2012,... more
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Annual ISN Children's Xmas Party
This year's ISN Children's Xmas Party took place at KK Playland in Limassol on Sunday, 4th December 2011. read more more
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New Hartmann brochure
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ISN Maritime Dinner
On the occasion of the Cyprus Maritime 2011 Intership Navigation Cyprus hosted a dinner on the evening of the 03rd October. read more more
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New O-Class for MTL
Effective October 1st 2011, the commercial management for the O-Class fleet was transferred to MTL-Duisburg... more
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Cyprus Maritime conference
Read an article regarding the last Cyprus Maritime conference and the ISN presense. read more more
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ISN day of fun & games
We have completed our annual summer outing last Sunday, 24th July 2011 at Platania (Troodos Mountains area). read more more
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Big boys
Towards then end of last year, Felbermayr moved two gas tanks for the transport of LPG from the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanza along the unloading point for the 820 tonnes of megacontainers. more (PDF)Press release, October 2011 more
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New fleetmanager Feederlines
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MTL - New colleagues welcomed
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New vessel for MTL fleet
Last Wednesday 24th August, during the discharge of alumina at Rotterdam,... more
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New vessel for MTL fleet
Last Wednesday 24th August, during the discharge of alumina at Rotterdam,... more
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MTL on board of MV Victoriadiep
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We are all sitting in one boat – Operational issues seminar in Groningen 18/08/11
“We are all sitting in one boat!”- Due to the importance of this message, ... more
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Familiarisation Course
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Visit on MV Veersediep
During some maintenance work at Ghent on last Tuesday 09th Aug, the MTL operator of MV Veersediep, Benjamin Sagel and his colleague... more
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Bosporusdiep rescues three shipwrecked
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Master of Araldiep @ MTL 's office
Capt. Kwiatkowski who recently signed off MV Araldiep at Sines... more
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MTL visits M/V Vechtdiep at Bayonne
At the beginning of this week, MTL Supervising Capt. Leszek Chojnacki visited... more
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New Managing Director
of Hartmann Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KGAs of August 1st, 2011 Mr. Michael Ippich will take up the post of Managing Director at Hartmann Schiffahrts GmbH & Co. KG. more (PDF)Press release, July 2011 more
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Master’s visit in Duisburg
On 22nd July, master of MV Loodiep Capt. Sikorski visited the MTL office... more
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MTL - New Faces in Duisburg
With regard to a continuously growing fleet, MTL welcomed between March and July of this year 3 new faces... more
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MR Tanker in Commercial Management
We are pleased to announce that the 45.000 tdw MR tanker M/T Hambisa has joined UPT commercial management in May 2011. more
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Maiden voyage MV UBC Ohio
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MV Borndiep sold
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Christening MV UBC Ohio
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PRESS RELEASE: LARGE BULKCARRIERS
Shipping company Feederlines welcomes a unique series of vessels within its fleet. With the completion of mv UBC Ohio in mid-April the shipping company gains access to the first of a series of six 118.000 tonners, a unique vessel size for bulk carriers under the Dutch flag. more
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Feederlines' vessels in the Swedish Media
Last week, two Feederlines’ vessels made it into the Swedish news. The subject of this news item was the extremely ice situation in the North of Europe. more
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Feederlines’ vessels makes it into the Swedish Media
Last week, two Feederlines’ vessels made it into the Swedish news. The subject of this news item was the extremely ice situation in the North of Europe. more
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Billboard Feederlines placed
Today, the company Ten Have Lichtreclame, placed a Billboard on the top of the building of Feederlines. more
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The 1000 voyages of MT "Danubegas"
700.000 miles / 3 million tons of cargoFor twelve and a half years the crew has been sailed her vessel "Danubegas" without any accidents or troubles in the liner service between Stade-Bützfleth and the Dutch Terneuzen. Lately the special carrier of the Hartmann Shipping Company, situated in the East Frisian city Leer, went for her 1000. voyage. more (PDF)Press release, February 2011 more
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Road works
Currently the local authority of Groningen is working on improving the junction 'Lewenborg', which is the exit to take when going to the Feederlines office. more
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MT "GASCHEM STADE" completes the "35,000 cbm Gastanker" series
MT "GASCHEM STADE" delivered to Hartmann Shipping, settled in LeerLEER. MT "GASCHEM STADE" - That is the name of the newest Gastanker which has been deliveredon the 10th of December 2010. more (PDF) more
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Lloyds List - Business built from scratch becomes a family legacy
HARTMANN Group’s headquarters are based in the East Frisian town of Leer, 48 miles from the sea and 148 miles from the country’s maritime hub Hamburg. From Leer, Alfred Hartmann and his staff have to drive about one and a half hours to the next international airport. And yet, despite this apparent dislocation from the typical German shipping operation, Capt Hartmann controls a widespread group with affiliates in the Netherlands, Cyprus and Singapore from his three-storey, newly-built but modest office building in a remote corner of Germany, writes Patrick Hagen. more
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Lloyds List: Hartmann Group takes heart from its solid game plan
The global downturn may be making for turbulent shipping markets but the Leer shipowner is quietly confident that its diversification strategy will deliver further growth, write Patrick Hagen and Frederike Krieger “Owners are now looking for follow-up charters and will have to get used to considerably reduced rates” “When the banks begin to trust each other, trade will flourish again” more
