Dubai-based Transworld Group promoted by Indian born businessman Ramesh Ramakrishnan and Fleet Management Ltd (FLEET), one of the world’s largest, independent third-party ship management companies, have formed a new ship management joint venture – Transworld Fleet Management.
The new ship management company will provide dedicated technical management services to Transworld Group’s diversified fleet which includes container vessels, bulk carriers, and tankers, besides Transworld associated and affiliated vessels, the two companies announced on Friday.
The new venture would also support and provide value-added ship management services to other shipowners in the region.
Transworld Group Chairman Ramesh Ramakrishnan said the joint venture ship management company would enable it to focus on the ship ownership aspect of business, while utilizing FLEET’s technical ship management expertise on a broader scale.
“FLEET has managed a number of our vessels over the past year, and this joint venture is a natural progression in our working relationship as we continue to add to our ship ownership portfolio, particularly in tankers,” Ramakrishnan said.
“We are anticipating significant support from FLEET’s technical, operational and quality, health, safety and environment teams to ensure efficient management, including ongoing adherence to regulatory requirements and the utilization of a broad range of digital capabilities,” he added.
Harry Banga, Chairman and CEO of FLEET’s parent company, The Caravel Group based in Hong Kong SAR, said he was confident in the success of the joint venture partnership due to aligned corporate values and backgrounds as family-run businesses.
“We share a similar philosophy in striving to manage our businesses in ways that create positive change – meaningfully contributing to the opportunities ahead for us all,” Banga said.
“Our FLEET team is committed to supporting Transworld Group as they ramp up their ship ownership and continue to expand in this space.”
The joint venture structure will involve Transworld Group and FLEET employees working closely together in India, Hong Kong SAR, Dubai, and Singapore.
Fleet Management (FLEET), manages more than 650 vessels with over 27,000 seafarers and 1,000 plus onshore maritime professionals, serving more than 130 shipowners. FLEET manages a range of vessels, including bulk carriers, containers, car carriers, oil tankers, gas carriers and chemical tankers from 600 to 320,000 DWT in size – with many being young and energy-efficient with an age profile below the industry average.
Transworld Group runs container ships, bulk carriers, and tankers, provides supply chain management services, warehousing, road transportation, air freight, freight forwarding, feeder services, liner, and shipping agencies (container, bulk, tankers, break bulk and project cargo).
In 2021, the Transworld Group sold 100 per cent of its stake in Avana Logistek Ltd (including its subsidiary Avana Global FZCO) and Transworld Feeders Pvt Ltd (the containerised Indian coastal and EXIM feeder shipping operations of Mumbai-listed Shreyas Shipping & Logistics Ltd, excluding its container vessels and bulk ship operations) to global port operator DP World Ltd’s majority-owned subsidiary Unifeeder ISC FZCO.
In May this year, Transworld Holdings Ltd said it will delist the shares of Indian subsidiary, Shreyas Shipping & Logistics Ltd, which owns and operates container feeder ships.
The delisting will help secure full ownership of Shreyas Shipping & Logistics, which in turn provide enhanced operational flexibility, Transworld Group said.
