Page 6 - Next Generation 2015 - Digtial Issue

Next Generation Introduction

THEY’RE SO FUTURISTIC

Maritime executives stepping into the corner office
must succeed in a troubled industry. Luckily, they have

better tools than ever before, writes Tom Leander

SOME years ago — never mind how buy too many ships did it again, and TREATMENT PLAN
long precisely — having little or no with a vengeance.
money in their purse, a generation How will a new generation of shipping
decided to make its living from the sea. Over-ordering, shipping’s Achilles leaders administer an industry in this
The generation entered the profession heel, is in fact so commonplace that it condition? A triage unit assessing
at a time of global growth, with Asia on is easy to overlook how extraordinary it incoming patients would set priorities.
the rise. Times were good, yet oil prices is as a status quo — yet it appears to be. Dry bulk, currently on the critical list,
were volatile. New capital washed into “I do not understand my own actions,” admitted first; container shipping,
the industry. Their fathers ordered wrote the apostle Paul in a letter to the in a delusional effort to outsize the
ships. The fleet grew larger. Romans, “I do not do what I want, but I competition, sees doctors next; and
do the very thing I hate.” tankers, comparatively robust but
Then political shocks, including with complaints here and there, has
war in the Middle East, led to changes Paul was onto something. At to wait.
in demand. Excess capacity weighed countless conferences, shipowners,
down rates. Ship prices collapsed. ship financiers and managers of Away from the distractions of
Over time, demand came to the rescue. shipping companies condemn the the hospital, the industry is changing
But the old world died away, with current capacity build up. Some do permanently. A revaluing of assets is
consolidation absorbing some of the so as if the whole thing happened already under way in the market of
loss, and bankruptcies, too. on another planet; others, less potential ships, i.e. ships that are merely
disingenuous, admit their mistake contracts in yards. Ship prices are likely
Readers will have guessed that with a grin of engaging British public to stay low for a long time. The three
era in question is the 1980s. Yet the school self-deprecation that implies, pillars that landed the industry in its
scenario has a familiar ring. The “Heavens, what was I thinking?” But current recession — private equity,
generation that witnessed their fathers the trend has endured. export credit financing, and asset

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