Stelmar Shipping Rides the Crest in a Topsy-Turvy Industry

PETER GOODFELLOW President and CEO of Stelmar Shipping

In the international commercial shipping industry, where businesses rise and fall like the tide, it is heartening for investors to find a company like the Greek-based Stelmar Shipping. Buoyed by its seventh straight year of strong profits, Stelmar achieved one of its major goals last year when it began trading successfully on the New York Stock Exchange. Since then, the company has shown no signs of floundering in the financial storms that sink most commercial shippers.

There are few countries that can compete in the international shipping arena with Greece, which holds claim to some 20% of the world’s tonnage. “This is an exciting time for Greece. If you are in commercial shipping, this is the place to be,” notes Peter Goodfellow, president of Stelmar Shipping, which this year is to increase its fleet by four for a total of 31 ships.
After a stellar career at sea with Shell Tankers and Esso Petroleum, Mr. Goodfellow said it was in 1992 that he and Easy Group founder and CEO Stelios Haji-Ioannou “sat down and designed a company that we felt was a right sized vehicle for a modern ship managing company" that evolved into Stelmar Shipping.

STELMAR SHIPPING LTD. WILL be celebrating its anniversary in september 2002

“I brought some consumer expertise to the table and Stelios brought in expertise and money. There was a clear objective even from that early stage to become a publicly listed entity,” Mr. Goodfellow recalls.
Other objectives included new quality ships and good modern management methods, with special emphasis on quality. It wasn’t long before Stelmar was awarded ISO 9002 and ISM code certificates for quality.

“It was no accident that the principle officers in the company had oil company backgrounds,” Mr. Goodfellow says. “Having at least an understanding of where our customer comes from and building a customer base that is still going to be there when you grow is essential for any business.”

In 2001, the company’s net income grew by 202.7% from the previous year to U.S.$34 million, all the while maintaining outstanding safety and environmental records.
“We already have more than 78% (of the fleet) chartered out, we have roughly U.S.$130 million of revenue secured for this year and probably more than U.S.$87 million secured for 2003. So Stelmar is delivering what it said it would do and providing visibility at the same time.” Mr. Goodfellow points out.

Stelmar’s success can also be traced to its huge fleet of Handymax ships. “We decided that we would start off with product tankers rather than spend all our money on big ships,” Mr. Goodfellow explains.
But he knew that if Stelmar wanted to be a public company, it would have to differentiate itself from the rest of the pack.
“What Stelmar has done is demonstrate to investors and would-be investors that you get very visible and consistent earnings from investing in the company. Stelmar does not want to be valued as a normal cyclical asset-based company, which is generally how shipping companies are valued by the public market. At Stelmar we want to separate ourselves from that so that we can demonstrate to our investors that we are worth more added value.”