- The years of Covid were “some of the worst years of all time” for shipping, according to Ed Buttery, CEO of the £285.7m Taylor Maritime trust.
- Buttery explained that the challenges were primarily due to some ports closing down.
- However, the impact on shipping companies varied depending on what they transported.
- While coal and iron ore “went basically to zero” the trust, whose ships carry mainly food, merely saw its trading patterns change.
A recent news article published in the Investment Week states that ‘Handysize’ ships are key to navigating maritime Covid-19 waves.
Biggest issue was getting visas for the crew
“We carry food [and] the trade of food does not go away, because people still need to eat, it simply changes,” Buttery said. “What we saw, for example, was instead of soybean meal being transported from the US Gulf to China it now goes from Brazil to China and Brazil has managed to take over as the largest exporter of soybean meal products in the world.”
However, that is not to say the trust, which has a portfolio of 25 vessels, was without its challenges during the Covid-19 period. Buttery said the biggest issue was getting visas for the crew, which he described as an “absolute nightmare.
“I would say my technical management service providers spend half of their day figuring out how to change crew on board the ships,” the CEO said.
Some mild inflation in Chinese wages
On top of this there has been some mild inflation in Chinese wages for container ships.
The trust, which listed on the London Stock Exchange in May this year is trading on a 12.8% premium. Its peer Tufton Oceanic Assets listed in December 2017 and is trading on a 2.3% discount.
Tufton “paved the way” for the new shipping trust
Buttery said that while Tufton “paved the way” for the new shipping trust and the closed-ended vehicles are structured similarly, Tufton has a wider range of ships.
“They are well diversified across different segments, we currently tend to have a much bigger focus on the ‘handysize’ segment, which is a segment we know very well,” he said.
A total of 23 of the trust’s 25 vessels are ‘handysize’ ships, which are smaller than tankers and so can carry less, but also can access ports of all sizes.
handysize’ will be an opportunity
When asked if the trust would look to diversify into different vessels Buttery said ‘handysize’ will be “an opportunity for several years to come”.
However, he added the parent company, Taylor Maritime, also has experience in tankers and containers.
“I do not think you will see us buying crude oil tankers, which do not fit in with our investment profile, but we do look at all opportunities and when the timing is right we will talk to our investors.”
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Source: Investment Week
