Atlas Shipping (concentrating on Handysize and Handymax) and Atlas Bulk Shipping (concentrating on Panamax tonnage) domiciled and registered in Copenhagen has traditionally been a charterer of bulk carriers and it still is. The Atlas-managed fleet comprises some 23 Handysize and 13 Panamax carriers. The traditional timecharter business has been supplemented by shipowning through its sister company, Atlas Rederi, which up to recently owned two Handysize bulk carriers, the 35,000 dwt M/V Atlas Sky and the 30,000 dwt M/V Atlas Star. However, as a part of a fleet renewal process these vessels have now been sold.

“Many new vessels are coming on the market over the next year and you should not be at all surprised to see Atlas purchasing some of these or secondhand bulkers,” says Erik Svanberg, a senior partner of Atlas Bulk Shipping, adding that the company’s strategy is to become “substantially larger” over the next few years.
“Atlas Shipping mainly operate the handysize/handymax fleet in the Atlantic basin and the activity level is fairly high,” says Bo Kristensen, a senior partner of Atlas Shipping. “Atlas Bulk Shipping runs the Panamax fleet fairly evenly spread between Atlantic and Pacific” says Erik Svanberg. “With an excellent staff of only 15, we run a small overhead for the entire operation” says Bo Kristensen. Atlas’s headquarters are located in a modernised warehouse right in the port of Copenhagen with an excellent view of all the vessels entering and leaving.
“Our operations started some 10 years ago and we’ve been in the business ever since, drawing on the expertise and shipping cluster here in Copenhagen. There are many people here who have a good knowledge of bulk carriers, and the entire shipping environment is very dynamic. The politicians and the shipping industry has worked together to create a good platform for Danish shipping companies. As you can see for yourself, this has been successful based on the size and growth of every segment of the Danish-based shipping industry and fleet,” says Kristensen. “Denmark is responsible for ten per cent of global shipping and shipping is the
second-largest industry in Denmark, only second to general land-based industry.”
When asked about whether Atlas has considered ordering a newbuilding, Kristensen answers that this will be considered if preferably a long-term contract can be signed. “The market has been quite extreme over the past few years and we are now entering a period when it is being normalised.

Date: 07 February 2008