2021 CTM Figures
2021 was an unprecedented year for the dry bulk market with rates reaching around 12-year highs. For Owners, this was a great time to have vessels on the spot market in order to fully take advantage of these very strong rates.
“2021 was a great year for the markets despite the Covid-19 pandemic. Over the past 20 years, we have laid the groundwork and continue to do so creating a lean and streamlined operation tailored to our clients who are now reaping the rewards. The biggest winners from the market and our performance last year are our clients as we continue to put them first. Over the years we have forged strong partnerships and those have been what we have built our success on, working together in the pursuit of excellence, constantly searching to provide ever-improving outcomes for our clients.” – John Michael Radziwill, CTM CEO.
CTM’s Activities
During 2021, our team managed around 160 vessels, and close to 270 vessels if we include vessels co-managed with Capesize Chartering Limited (CCL), in a fleet made up of ships from Handymax (34,000 dwt) up to Newcastlemax (208,000 dwt) size. These vessels were fixed for over 40,000 days worldwide and carried approximately 70 million tonnes (not including CCL). In 2021, we concluded over 620 fixtures demonstrating our expertise and strong presence in the spot market and fixed with around 230 separate counterparties, all within the framework of our stringent Risk Management Department’s vetting procedures. Ships in our commercially managed fleet visited over 95 different countries and called at over 2,100 ports for loading, discharging and bunkering operations. The majority of these vessels were traded on the spot market in our shipping pools that yet again delivered outstanding results in 2021. For those Owners that chose to fix out their vessels on period, the CTM network was also able to add value by providing guidance and pick the best timing and counterparties for these.
Spot Performance
Being on the spot market was the best decision any Owner made in 2021 with pool membership proving to have a large commercial advantage benefitting from economies of scale and income derived from worldwide trading operations. Pooling with CTM also provides Owners with more flexibility than an index-linked charter considering the ease of entry and exits. Our three pools managed to track their respective indices and return the market to Owners despite the stellar rise of the Baltic Dry Index (the Baltic Dry Index rose 311% between 1 January 2021 and 7 October 2021 before declining). During Q4, the Supramax RSA’s monthly average outperformance was 15% and the Capesize RSA’s was 8% with the Panamax RSA being comparable to the index.
Sale and Purchase
Our Sale and Purchase department concluded many successful transactions over the course of 2021 on behalf of clients, drawing on in-house commercial and market expertise in order to optimise timing and maximise sales income.
Forward Freight Agreements (FFA)
CTM covers all three dry cargo segments for FFA trading – Capesize, Panamax and Supramax – both for hedging and directional trading positions. In 2021, we traded close to 5,000 lots on behalf of CTM clients.
CTM Clients
CTM is a third-party manager and our meticulously vetted clients include: traditional A1 shipowners, end-users, family offices, publicly listed companies, commodity traders & financial investment platforms. Over 2021 we had a total of 35 different clients on behalf of whom we managed shipping interests for.
Taking Care of Our Crews
In the past two years since the Covid-19 pandemic turned the world upside down, it’s the seafarers that have been hit hard. They are still not globally recognised as being an essential part of the workforce. Despite the difficulties and roadblocks that we have faced, we have managed to take care of our crews getting them home and getting their replacements to their ships in a safe and timely manner. In 2021 we managed to get over 950 crew members to embark/disembark from our vessels all over the world in locations including the Philippines, Ukraine, South Korea, Turkey, Egypt, and Brazil. We also make sure all our crews comply with the Australian Port Authority requirements which have the most rigorous conditions for entry. We now provide our crews with 3 gigabytes of free data each month allowing them to communicate with their friends and family no matter where they are in the world. Taking care of our crews in this way is just part of the reason why we have a 95% crew retention rate.
We look forward to seeing how we can improve on these numbers this year whilst still providing our leading services to our clients. For more insights into the world of shipping go check out our blog on Medium and find out more about our pools by clicking here.
