The arrival of Island View Shipping's IVS Kingfisher in Durban on her maiden voyage last week (Thursday 11 April) was accompanied by the usual greeting of tugs spraying jets of water in welcome. But of even greater interest was the news that the IVS handysize bulker fleet is likely to be increased from 10 ships to 20, which will permit IVS to match Danish shipping line pool partner Lauritzen Bulkers.
On top of that there are another six bulkers already employed by IVS on long-term charter work for the coal and other larger sized bulk trades and managed from the company's Cape Town office. IVS and the other Grindrod companies have clearly set their marks on becoming not only South Africa's leading shipping group but a leading player in world bulk trades.
According to Ivan Clark, Grindrod's managing director, the pool with Lauritzen formed last year has been good for both IVS and Grindrod and has contributed significantly to the group's earnings. He explained that IVS intended approaching the Grindrod Board to charter in another ten Handysize bulkers that would enable the IVS fleet to equalise with the Danish partner at 20 ships each.
He said the long-term objective was to grow the pool to 50 ships through the acquisition of additional modern well-run handysize tonnage (25 000-40 000 dwt). This was aimed at servicing the increasing demands from charterers, which could best be achieved by having a pool offering a global coverage of the world markets.
The pool is operated out of Lauritzen Bulkers head office in Copenhagen but is supported by strategically placed overseas offices in Durban, New York and Melbourne.
Island View plans to double bulker fleet
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