Apeejay Shipping Expands fleet

Apeejay Shipping Limited, an Apeejay Surrendra Group company, today announced the acquisition of a 76,602 MT DWT Gearless Panamax, Japanese build. The ship has been renamed ‘APJ Kabir Anand’. The expansion schedule of Apeejay Shipping has seen the company acquire 3 Gearless Panamax vessels since September of last year and increase its fleet capacity by 2,27,311 MT DWT. This takes the fleet size to 9 with a DWT of 5, 94, 558.

“This is a good time to own quality assets. A positive movement in the freight market due to general increase in demand as a result of growth in world economy and a drop in the supply, freight market is expected to be favourable for the industry in the coming years. 2018 is being projected to end as a strong year for dry-bulk shipping and 2019 is expected to follow suit. We are well poised to take immediate advantage of the positive trend in the dry-bulk market with judicious addition to the fleet with second hand tonnage at good prices. We are keeping our focus on expansion and growth and are on the look out to purchase right vessels at the right time” said Karan Paul, Chairman of Apeejay Shipping.

Apeejay Shipping, one of the leading players in the country today, is constantly augmenting and upgrading its fleet to meet the requirements of global trade.

Specializing in dry bulk cargo the fleet comprises a mix of panamax and supramax vessels. Even while expanding fleet, attention has been on maintaining its robustness and trading capacity with average age of vessels within 13.5 years. Currently in operation are APJ Angad 2- 76,602 DWT, APJ Uma Kismat 74,107 DWT, APJ Mahadeva 74,677 DWT, APJ Mahakali 70,296 DWT, APJ Shirin 56,556 DWT, APJ Jai 56,594 DWT, APJ Kais 56725 DWT, APJ Jad 52,461 DWT. The newly acquired panamax, APJ Uma Kismat, for instance, has traded internationally for 16 years; APJ Angad 2 has traded internationally for 13 years and the latest acquisition APJ Kabir Anand has traded internationally for a similar over 13 years and all of these are strategic buys for the Group in the current scenario.

Working towards enhancing value by improving operational efficiencies to reduce turnaround time, Apeejay Shipping has adopted an integrated management system comprising of ISO 9001, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001 standards for Quality, Environment, Occupational Health & Safety and ISO 50001 standard for Energy management. It is one of the select few Indian shipping companies to do so.