August 20, 2007

Shreyas eyes fleet expansion potential
Lloyds List Publication - By Marcus Hand in Singapore

Shreyas World Navigation is eyeing more newbuilding and secondhand tonnage as it starts to take delivery of its first new vessels.

In June, Indian ship owner Shreyas took delivery of the 1,030 teu OEL Singapore, the first in a series of four vessels built by ST Marine at a cost of S$41.5M ($27.2M) each.

According to Shreyas managing director Mahesh S Iyer it took the plunge on ordering its first newbuilding in 2005 due to the very tight chartering market.

The company was able to find slots at Singapore’s ST Marine which was making its first move back into building commercial ships after concentrating on Singapore naval contracts for seven years.

The first new ship brings Shreyas’ owned fleet to 18 vessels with another 18 on charter. The remaining three new buildings will be delivered by June 2008.

The line which focuses on the feeder trades between India and Singapore and the Middle East is enjoying good growth expects to handle 225,000 teu through Singapore this year, compared to 175,000 teu last year.

To support this growth Shreyas continues to look for fleet expansion opportunities and Mr. Mahesh said that it was looking at the possibility of more newbuilding although it was difficult to find delivery berths before 2010 or 2011.

He confirmed they were talking to ST Marine but gave no details. The company also continues to look at secondhand possibilities.

An increased fleet may not see a significant upsizing of vessels though as many of the ports the company serves are restricted in terms of draught and infrastructure. The largest vessel it operates at the moment has a capacity of 1400 teu.