Beluga Shipping
Encyclopedia
Beluga Shipping is the name of a German project and heavy-lift
shipping company in the Hanseatic city of Bremen
.
, initially as a mere cargo
operator. In 1998 the first own vessel of the company was acquired, the multipurpose heavy-lift carrier
MV Beluga Obsession. In 1999 the first own newbuilding of the company, MV Werder Bremen, complemented the fleet.
Beluga Shipping grew significantly during the following years. Meanwhile (May 2010), 69 multipurpose heavy-lift carriers
are in service for the company. Crane capacities reach 1400 tons in tandem usage (P-series). The fleet is planned to be increased to 70 units by end of 2010.
Since 2001, Beluga Shipping expands its global network. Today (March 2009), the company runs twelve branch offices on five continents: Rotterdam
, The Netherlands
; London
, United Kingdom
; Stavanger
, Norway
; Moscow
, Russia
; Mumbai
, India
; Shanghai
and Beijing
, China
; Tokyo
, Japan
; Singapore
; Sydney
, Australia
; São Paulo
, Brazil
and Houston, USA. On the so-called Teerhof close to the Weser River
in Bremen
the new headquarters of the company was inaugurated in June 2009.
Since 28th February 2011 verdichten sich die Hinweise, dass die US-amerikanische Investmentgesellschaft Oaktree Capital Management
die Beluga-Group übernehmen wird. Das Bundeskartellamt
bestätigte eine entsprechende Anmeldung.
At 3rd Mach of 2011 Niels Stolberg's retirement as CEO was published. Roger Iliffe follows on his chair. The investor Oaktree Capital Management
, shareholder with 49,5%, told, he wants some major management changes. With Stolberg few other leading mangers have been replaced.
The company offers trade lane management but concentrates on tramp shipping meaning each transport is organised individually according to the requirements of the cargo and the port of loading and destination, respectively.
cargo. The group is judicially divided into three companies. Beluga Shipping GmbH forms a holding company and is responsible for the strategic planning, finance, marketing, human resources etc. Beluga Chartering GmbH provides for the affreightment of the Beluga fleet with cargo. The Beluga Fleet Management GmbH & Co. KG is responsible for the seagoing personnel, the nautical and technical management of the vessels as well as the newbuilding of vessels.
On 1st June 2011 the Local Court of Bremen in Germany has opened insolvency proceedings against Beluga Chartering GmbH..
and innovation
department. Furthermore, Beluga Shipping is initiator of the public private partnership project Maritime Campus Elsfleth of which the Maritime Research Centre Elsfleth forms a part. The Maritime Campus Elsfleth aims for the promotion of science
, economy
, education
and research
in the maritime
sector.
Beluga Shipping operates the world’s first vessel newbuilding co-powered by wind using a towing kite system. The goal of MV is to reduce fuel consumption and at the same time emissions.
The company was recognized by Hermann Simon
as a role model for other small to medium sized business in his book Hidden Champions
.
including the accommodation for the cadet
s, a class room and a maritime library. In addition, Beluga Shipping finances several professor
ships at the University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg/Ostfriesland/Wilhelmshaven and the University of Applied Sciences Bremen. The international study course Shipping & Chartering (ISSC) was developed in cooperation with Beluga Shipping and the University of Applied Sciences Bremen.
Social responsibility
is a substantial part of the corporate philosophy. As a reaction to the misery and destruction caused by the Tsunami catastrophe in 2004, Beluga Shipping built up the "Beluga School for Life
", a village for orphans and other juvenile victims of the catastrophe in Thailand. The aim of the project is not only to provide shelter for the girls and boys in family-like accommodations but to give them a profound education which intends to break the vicious circle of poverty.
- Rickmers Reederei GmbH & Cie. KG
- BBC Chartering & Logistic GmbH & Co. KG
- Harren & Partner Ship Management GmbH & Co. KG
Heavy lift
- Definition :The transportation, handling and installation of heavy items which are indivisible, and of weights generally accepted to be in the range of 1 ton to over 1000 tons and of widths/heights of more than 100 meters that are too large to fit into normal containers or onto conventional...
shipping company in the Hanseatic city of Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
.
History
Beluga Shipping was founded in December 1995 in BremenBremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
, initially as a mere cargo
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
operator. In 1998 the first own vessel of the company was acquired, the multipurpose heavy-lift carrier
Heavy lift ship
A heavy lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be handled by normally equipped ships. They are of two types: semi-submerging capable of lifting another ship out of the water and transporting it; and vessels that augment unloading facilities at inadequately equipped...
MV Beluga Obsession. In 1999 the first own newbuilding of the company, MV Werder Bremen, complemented the fleet.
Beluga Shipping grew significantly during the following years. Meanwhile (May 2010), 69 multipurpose heavy-lift carriers
Heavy lift ship
A heavy lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be handled by normally equipped ships. They are of two types: semi-submerging capable of lifting another ship out of the water and transporting it; and vessels that augment unloading facilities at inadequately equipped...
are in service for the company. Crane capacities reach 1400 tons in tandem usage (P-series). The fleet is planned to be increased to 70 units by end of 2010.
Since 2001, Beluga Shipping expands its global network. Today (March 2009), the company runs twelve branch offices on five continents: Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
, The Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
; London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
; Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
; Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
; Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
; Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
and Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
; Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
; Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
; Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
; São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Houston, USA. On the so-called Teerhof close to the Weser River
Weser River
The Weser is a river in north-western Germany. Formed at Hann. Münden by the Fulda and Werra, it flows through Lower Saxony, then reaching the historic port city of Bremen before emptying into the North Sea 50 km further north at Bremerhaven, which is also a seaport...
in Bremen
Bremen
The City Municipality of Bremen is a Hanseatic city in northwestern Germany. A commercial and industrial city with a major port on the river Weser, Bremen is part of the Bremen-Oldenburg metropolitan area . Bremen is the second most populous city in North Germany and tenth in Germany.Bremen is...
the new headquarters of the company was inaugurated in June 2009.
Since 28th February 2011 verdichten sich die Hinweise, dass die US-amerikanische Investmentgesellschaft Oaktree Capital Management
Oaktree Capital Management
Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. is a global investment management corporation with about US$82.4 billion of assets under management. Oaktree's mission is to provide management with a primary emphasis on risk control in a limited number of sophisticated investment specialties...
die Beluga-Group übernehmen wird. Das Bundeskartellamt
Bundeskartellamt
The Federal Cartel Office is Germany's national competition regulator. It was first established in 1958 and comes under the authority of the Federal Ministry of the Economy and Technology. Its headquarters are in the former West German capital, Bonn and its President is Andreas Mundt, who has a...
bestätigte eine entsprechende Anmeldung.
At 3rd Mach of 2011 Niels Stolberg's retirement as CEO was published. Roger Iliffe follows on his chair. The investor Oaktree Capital Management
Oaktree Capital Management
Oaktree Capital Management, L.P. is a global investment management corporation with about US$82.4 billion of assets under management. Oaktree's mission is to provide management with a primary emphasis on risk control in a limited number of sophisticated investment specialties...
, shareholder with 49,5%, told, he wants some major management changes. With Stolberg few other leading mangers have been replaced.
The company offers trade lane management but concentrates on tramp shipping meaning each transport is organised individually according to the requirements of the cargo and the port of loading and destination, respectively.
Business segments
Core competence of Beluga Shipping is the sea transport of project and heavy-liftHeavy lift
- Definition :The transportation, handling and installation of heavy items which are indivisible, and of weights generally accepted to be in the range of 1 ton to over 1000 tons and of widths/heights of more than 100 meters that are too large to fit into normal containers or onto conventional...
cargo. The group is judicially divided into three companies. Beluga Shipping GmbH forms a holding company and is responsible for the strategic planning, finance, marketing, human resources etc. Beluga Chartering GmbH provides for the affreightment of the Beluga fleet with cargo. The Beluga Fleet Management GmbH & Co. KG is responsible for the seagoing personnel, the nautical and technical management of the vessels as well as the newbuilding of vessels.
On 1st June 2011 the Local Court of Bremen in Germany has opened insolvency proceedings against Beluga Chartering GmbH..
Research & Innovation
As one of few companies in this sector, Beluga Shipping runs an own researchResearch
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
and innovation
Innovation
Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
department. Furthermore, Beluga Shipping is initiator of the public private partnership project Maritime Campus Elsfleth of which the Maritime Research Centre Elsfleth forms a part. The Maritime Campus Elsfleth aims for the promotion of science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
in the maritime
Ocean
An ocean is a major body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
sector.
Beluga Shipping operates the world’s first vessel newbuilding co-powered by wind using a towing kite system. The goal of MV is to reduce fuel consumption and at the same time emissions.
The company was recognized by Hermann Simon
Hermann Simon
Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hermann Simon is a German author and business leader. He is chairman of Simon-Kucher & Partners, Strategy & Marketing Consultants. Simon is an expert in strategy, marketing and pricing. An ongoing online survey vote him the most influential management thinker after the late...
as a role model for other small to medium sized business in his book Hidden Champions
Hidden Champions
Smaller but highly successful companies, concealed behind a curtain of inconspicuousness, invisibility and sometimes secrecy are called Hidden Champions. The name Hidden Champion was coined by Theodore Levitt, who used it first in a discussion with Hermann Simon. Simon later on was the first to use...
.
Social Responsibility
The educational concept of Beluga Shipping is unique in the maritime business. On six training vessels and additional units of the Beluga fleet, the Sea Academy of Beluga Shipping offers up to 160 cadets a year the necessary training facilities. The training vessels are equipped with an additional deckDeck (ship)
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface...
including the accommodation for the cadet
Cadet
A cadet is a trainee to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. The term comes from the term "cadet" for younger sons of a noble family.- Military context :...
s, a class room and a maritime library. In addition, Beluga Shipping finances several professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
ships at the University of Applied Sciences Oldenburg/Ostfriesland/Wilhelmshaven and the University of Applied Sciences Bremen. The international study course Shipping & Chartering (ISSC) was developed in cooperation with Beluga Shipping and the University of Applied Sciences Bremen.
Social responsibility
Social responsibility
Social responsibility is an ethical ideology or theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit society at large. Social responsibility is a duty every individual or organization has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the...
is a substantial part of the corporate philosophy. As a reaction to the misery and destruction caused by the Tsunami catastrophe in 2004, Beluga Shipping built up the "Beluga School for Life
Beluga School for Life
The Hanseatic School for Life is a large non-profit organization in Thailand that cares for children and adolescents in need. The Hanseatic School for Life pursues an educational concept on the basis of the "situational approach", which UNESCO classified as a ".....
", a village for orphans and other juvenile victims of the catastrophe in Thailand. The aim of the project is not only to provide shelter for the girls and boys in family-like accommodations but to give them a profound education which intends to break the vicious circle of poverty.
Competitors in Germany
- Schifffahrtskontor Altes Land GmbH & Co. KG- Rickmers Reederei GmbH & Cie. KG
- BBC Chartering & Logistic GmbH & Co. KG
- Harren & Partner Ship Management GmbH & Co. KG