'DRY BULKER OPEX & PROFIT MARGINS'

       by Mr. Anastasios Maraslis
         S.T.I.C - CEO/President.

Almost anyone can realize that he could be better, do things better, have better results - in comparison with his present condition - Almost anyone could recognize that there is always room for improvement, especially nowadays.

The betterment, of any condition, starts the very minute when someone realizes and recognizes that ‘the things’ need to get better and can get better.

And this is feasible just by assuming full responsibility and control of any condition he is in.

By defying his fears of failure and seizing to blame others, his life, his luck, his destiny, the market, his government, God, etc (in other words to seize looking for excuses for continuing to hold his present condition). This means ‘taking full responsibility’.

This way one frees himself from the old and current bonds and liberates himself, his mind, his decision power to create a better future based on full responsibility and a causative stand point of view.

When someone is open minded and decided to change and bring betterment he is focused in discovering new ideas, new alliances, new technologies, and new ways which would serve his new purpose.

One of the major problems these days one has to deal with is Opex which is decisive for a company’s viability in correlation with profitability.

High Opex affect seriously a company’s profitability, especially in a volatile highly antagonistic market, where low freight rates have tremendous impact on a company’s cash flow and profit margins and should be drastically lowered or bettered.

It is a survival matter.

Disregarding- ignoring the necessity doing something about it is an executive’s ‘out point’, it is unethical, it is an omission.

It equals to treason against ones organization and ones executive position.

‘Know how’ and ‘exact technology’ is what is usually missing and thus often decisions under duress, fail.

This is Shipowners Trust International Corp. (S.T.I.C)'s role since 1997.

That is helping and providing an ‘exact technology’ and ‘know how’ to singleton owners up to large fleet owners/managers, Internationally, to better their present condition by risk analysis, risk management, continuous monitoring by statistics, accounting, undertaking with professionalism and responsibility - on outsourcing basis or consultancy basis - what needs to change and improve in the following sectors;

a) Ship Management

b) Commercial Management

c) Ships Operations

d) Chartering

e) Marine & Claims Insurance Management.

f) Alternative Finance

g) S&P

h) Human resource capacity tests and training

i) Accounting.

Please do not hessitate to contact us for discussing, in full confidentiallity, your thoughts and interests for betterment.

Kind regards
S.T.I.C
Mr. Anastasios Andreas Maraslis
CEO/President

SHIP MANAGERS/CHARTERING /S&P / TRADING.
www.eshipownerstrust.com

Chartering@eshipownerstrust.com (Chartering Dept.)
Operations@eshipownerstrust.com (Operations Dept.)
dry@eshipownerstrust.com            (Trading Dept.)
SnP@eshipownerstrust.com            (Sale & Purchase/Demolition)
info@eshipownerstrust.com           (General/Admin.Dept.)

'TO SET THE RECORDS STRAIGHT'

                                              " TO SET THE RECORDS STRAIGHT"
                                              by Mr. Anastasios Maraslis
                                             S.T.I.C-President/Director.

I am sorry to state the obvious but, sometimes, it seems we forget the basics or we take for granted what should be always checked first;

 

-A fixture which never came through, since charts failed to lift the subjs, is not to be

 considered a fixture, at all!
 Therefore the hire/freight of such failed biz can't and shouldn't be a guidance to what

 the freight market levels are!
-(Since when a failed fixture can be a guidance for owners or brokers? Is an athlete's  

 failed try to high jump 2.50 m a guide that men jump 2.50 m?).
-There are few, (happily), charterers who have no firm biz in their hands, (L/C is not

 opened/sales contract under negos), who indicate high rates to attract/secure the vessel

 and they even start firm negos with owners but failed to lift the subjs, left vessels in spot

 position, (something we all experience in large scale recently), and instigated the false r

 ate as a guide!
- A Charter fixture is considered to have been realised ONLY when is CLEAN OF SUBJS and

  when the FREIGHT or at least the first HIRE is being PAID, cleared in owners bank a/c!
-Reported, fictitious hire or freight numbers, derriving from Freight Derivatives, 'paper'

 market, or RECORD FIXTURES - who knows how done -as source of info/guidance is not

 pragmatic/true FOR US!

-There are men who make high jumps over 2.40 meters (Javier Sotomayor /WR since

 1993) but this doesn't reflect what the average athlete can do or the average ordinary

 man!

 

Please ppose to us any firm business (L/C is in place) and preferrably, cargo at port ready for loading, and when quoting a vessel kindly check what is the physical market paying empirically and not what the 'paper' market is expecting to make or the reports/promote as a guidance.

 

Freight Rates are determined by the doctrine of supply and demand ONLY and not by feeding owners expectations with ideas based on speculation. To set ones records straight, more effort is required, in real time, in the physical market, instead parrot /quoting what is published/read. Owners and Chrts alike need useful advise/consultancy from WHAT ONE HAS PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED/TOUCHED- NOT READ!

 

Wishing successful fixtures to all!

 

Sincerely yours

Shipowners Trust International Corporation (S.T.I.C)

Anastasios Maraslis
President/Director.

www.eshipownerstrust.com

chartering@eshipownerstrust.com

SHIPOWNERS TRUST INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION                              S.T.I.C                    
Shipping & Trading
SHIP OPERATION/CHARTERING /S&P / TRADING.

'REPORTS AND MARKET JOURNALS VS HANDS ON THE BUSINESS'

Dear friends,colleagues,associates and clients,

'REPORTS AND MARKET JOURNALS VS HANDS ON THE BUSINESS
                   'by Mr. Anastasios Maraslis

                        President/Director

We all know that the majority of CP fixtures is on PNC basis.

However we do witness, very often, various 'fixture reports- journals' declaring vessels' fixtures at high hire or freight levels and  - too often -beyond the reality we experience as brokers, owners or charterers and thus most of the times we are getting confused or frustrated - especially in this soft freight market -
This is because these reports/journals are taken -by many - for granted or as being the ultimate and ONLY reliable source for brokers or shipowners or charterers to base their judgement on, for fixing their vessels or cargoes, chasing and striving to achieve the ‘ journals reported levels’.

Like most of the economic papers and journalists  writings influence investors psychology and the ‘market’ itself. However the ‘market’ it is us (brokers, owners, charterers). It has an identity, it is not something impersonal. It is you and me, all of us who fix vessels or cargoes as part of our daily routines.

We, here at S.T.I.C, receive daily various offers for our exclusive fleet or for our exclusive firm Charterers orders and we are indicated rates based on the argument of what these reports-journals reported as being the current market fixtures/rates.

S.T.I.C's general company policy is to doubt, a priori, what is written in such reports and to make our own investigation, queries, through our own channels to check what the AVERAGE markets levels are and what is pragmatic or not, usual or unusual, what is a RECORD FIXTURE or what is a below the average fixture.

But mostly we trust our everyday work and what we have in our hands every minute coming from experience and hard work and negotiations with charterers and owners alike.

Thus, we invite all our shipping colleagues, who wish to share their OWN, CONTROLLED, first hand INFORMATION, which is resulted as a product of YOUR negotiations and eventual fixtures, to ALLY WITH US for useful information exchanges, which will eventually
assist all of us in our everyday work adding CERTAINTY, CONTROL and RESPONSIBILITY to our fixtures at any time.

The above IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE JOURNALS & REPORTS will built an undisputed source of information based on reason and not on sentiment which is so volatile and fragile.

Looking forward to hearing from you with your interest to share your personal experience and information for dry bulk cargoes & vessels fixtures for HANDYMAX & SUPRAMAX size markets worldwide.

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With great deal of thanks for your support and interest.

Sincerely yours,

S.T.I.C
Anastasios Maraslis
President/Director.

SHIPOWNERS TRUST INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION

S.T.I.C

Shipping & Trading
SHIP OPERATION/CHARTERING /S&P / TRADING.

S.T.I.C BUILDING - 3, VOUDOURI STR.,- PIRAEUS 185 37 -GREECE.
+30 210 4529500 (TEL), +30 210 4529505 (FAX)
+30 6943 108283 MOBILE/Mrs. Sapfo. /
+30 6945 590744 MOBILE/Capt.Andreas/
anastchart2010@hotmail.com /MSN/
sm_chart@hotmail.com /MSN/
s.t.i.c.chartering-operations (SKYPE)
www.eshipownerstrust.com
chartering@eshipownerstrust.com        (Chartering Dept.)Operations@eshipownerstrust.com       (Operations Dept.)Dry@eshipownerstrust.com                  (S&P/TRADING Dept.)info@eshipownerstrust.com                 (General/Admin.Dept.)

                            ' BUNKERS VS CARGO'                    
            Article written by Mr. Anastasios Maraslis
                       S.T.I.C-President/Director                                     28th February 2012

We are all experiencing a Shipping crisis similar to the '70's,'80's and '90's with very poor freight rates, oversupply of tonnage and due to the banking system turmoils...limited credit lines and LAST BUT NOT LEAST : the bunker prices going off the rooftops!

In a bad freight market, economies must be made and do the outmost to maximize earnings on each voyage by cutting down expenses to the minimum.

If you agree with  the above last statement I hope that you will be benefited greatly considering the following:

Perhaps, there have been times in your shipping career that you might have been taken by surprise with the volatility of the BUNKERS COSTS.
Bunkers costs is a major cost in vessel's running expenses and something you can't ignore in a poor freight market like this.
Sometimes, you might even have witnessed, that the difference between prices available at each end of a voyage exceeds the value of the freight per ton of cargo carried!
Thus in difficult times, a good forward planning has to be made and surprisingly anyone can discover  that CARGO INTAKE SHOULD BE RESTRICTED so that maximum quantities
of bunkers can be lifted at a loading port where bunker supplies are a lot less expensive than at the intended discharging port.

==>GREAT DEAL OF MONEY CAN BE SAVED, OR LOST for the shipping company, depending on how the balance looks between cargo and bunkers! <==

A bunkers planning framework if followed or put into the computer can make you huge savings and cut back your company's running expenses .
Unplanned bunkering or, alternatively, calculated by some one on the back of a napkin can waste you lots of money!
Systematic planning by the ship operator for each voyage of a vessel, can produce very large savings of thousands of dollars protecting and maximising your company's income.

HERE ARE THE PARAMETERS FOR CONSIDERATION AND RESPOND FOR  A WELL THOUGHT BUNKERS FORWARD PLANNING:

1. What is the optimum speed and consumption for the voyage? The first calculation.
2. Steaming, time and consumption.
3. What price? Alternatives and how to choose?
4. Freight or bunkers?
5. Unusual cases to be considered and be prepared.

A DWT 40,000 bulk carrier proceeding from Rotterdam in ballast to load steel products and wood pulp in Brazil, then sailing on to Durban to discharge  and take further cargo, before sailing finally to Japan.
Where should she lift up bunkers and to what extend?  Rotterdam? Durban? Singapore? Japan?
Many alternatives to be considered and each one at each own merit on a voyage-by-voyage bunker buying basis.
Knowledge and information is power which is interpreted in MONEY SAVINGS OR PROFITS,  if you know how to appropriately apply them to your benefit.
I hereby wish to take this opportunity to thank you all for your kind support and acknowledgement contributing in our company's value.
Sincerely Yours,
Anastasios A. Maraslis
President/Director.

                                            S.T.I.C
                                Shipping & Trading
SHIP'S OPERATION / DRY CARGO CHARTERING / S&P /  TRADING
+30 210 4529500 (Tel)
+30 210 4529505 (Fax)
www.eshipownerstrust.com
chartering@eshipownerstrust.com   (for chartering)
operations@eshipownerstrust.com   (for ships operation/post fixture)
dry@eshipownerstrust.com             (for Trading/ S&P)
S.T.I.C BUILDING
3, VOUDOURI STR.,
PIRAEUS 185 37
GREECE.