UAE-based Sharaf Shipping Agency and Singapore’s Ben Line Agency have combined to create a new global agency that will focus on the wet and dry bulk shipping and commodity markets.
The company is to be known as ‘Waterfront Maritime Services’ and will become operational from April 1 2017. The company is equally owned by Sharaf and Ben Line, but will operate as an independent entity. Waterfront Maritime Services will be headquartered in Abu Dhabi, with additional office in Singapore and Miami, as well as operational hubs in the UAE and Jakarta.
Speaking at the launch in London on February 7, 2017, Waterfront Maritime Services CEO Terry Gidlow said “This is a bold move by two of the industry's most respected regional port agencies and will set a new standard in port agency.
“Built on solid financial, technical and historical foundations, we are offering a tailored, holistic approach to global supply chains that will set us apart from the competition.”
“Clients have been calling out for a port agency that can provide the best of both worlds: an agency that has real in-depth regional expertise but a single global approach”.
The agency is set to boast 299 propriety offices across 49 countries and will be supported by a network of global third-party agents. Waterfront Maritime Services will focus on ship owners and operators, charterers, managers and traders involved in the movement of coal, grains, iron ore, minor bulks and project cargo as well as crude oil, clean and dirty products, chemicals and gas.
