This is down to owning principals demanding more solutions to the problems created by over-ordering, according to Braemar Group Asia president, Denis Petropoulos.
Speaking during Singapore Maritime Week, Petropoulos said this need for in-depth industry knowledge and experience in understanding how to deal with market downturns means that shipping service clusters like Singapore would find themselves in a strong position when the times start to improve.
“Owners and charterers rely on these services more when the markets are poor but being able to anticipate when and how the markets will change and being able to avoid the mistakes of the past is becoming ever more important.
“It is not so much what lessons have been learned, but understanding what will be needed for the industry to emerge from a crisis. Costs savings are available and the industry has been saving costs for years but compromising quality is not an option.
“We may start to see more levels of consolidation emerge where operators consolidate their services and cut away their own excess so they are in a stronger position to survive and flourish when the markets improve,” he said.
Another Braemar group company, Cory Brothers, has expanded its agency services in the region to Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, as customers increase distribution of petroleum products.
Peter Ryan, head of consultancy for Braemar SA, pointed to the importance of being well-positioned in the Far East providing marine and engineering consultancy to the hull insurance, P&I, legal, asset investment and shipping markets. “Having well-structured, well-positioned and market-understanding business units in the Far East, manned with technically and commercially-minded people who understand their business well, is a quality in demand in the market,” he said.