Hartford Business Journal

16 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | JULY 8, 2024 A vessel, called Stamford Eagle, was operated by Stamford-based Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc., which recently merged into the much larger Greece-based global shipping company Star Bulk Carriers Corp. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS Logistics Hub Quietly, Stamford has been a top international maritime shipping management center; but it's an industry in flux In May of this year, hybrid marine fuels firm Dan-Bunkering announced it was moving its headquarters from Stamford across the Sound to King's Point, New York, citing it as a more affordable and diverse environment for the firm's employees. Meanwhile, Stamford-based Eagle Bulk Shipping, a dry bulk commodi- ties specialist that owns more than 50 supermax and ultramax ships, closed a deal in April to merge with the much larger Star Bulk Carriers. The resulting company is headquar- tered in Athens, Greece. "There are relatively few people in the shipping industry in the United States, and those people who are in the shipping industry in the U.S. tend to either be in Houston, Texas or Connecticut," according to Hamish Norton, president of Star Bulk. "There were certain aspects of combining information technology with commercial opera- tions that the people in Stamford did better, and we're trying to roll that out to our organization," he said. For that reason, the company will keep a Stamford footprint, even though the local headcount will shrink slightly. At the end of 2023, Eagle Bulk Ship- ping, which also had offices in Singa- pore and Copenhagen, said it had 105 shore-based employees, not including 1,025 officers and crew members who worked on its owned fleet. "The Stamford operation will change inevitably because it's no longer the headquarters location for a public company," Norton said. "But most of the functions that were being performed still need to By Harriet Jones Hartford Business Journal Contributor S tamford has only a modest waterfront in comparison to the busy commercial port of New Haven just down Long Island Sound. It has no shipyard to rival Groton's Electric Boat. But the city is never- theless vital to Connecticut's — and indeed the global — maritime industry in less visible ways. For decades, Stamford and lower Fairfield County have been one of the world's top international shipping management centers, with storied companies in global maritime trans- port headquartered or with regional offices in the county. "Shipping is one of several indus- tries where we do have what I would call a cluster," said Stamford's Economic Development Director Leah Kagan. "I think this reinforces that Stamford is an international hub for businesses that are essential in the global supply chain." The origin story for this cluster was the move of Stolt-Nielsen and Skaarup Shipping from New York to Connecticut in the early 1980s to take advantage of the state's prox- imity to the port of New York, without the expense of a Manhattan address. "When you have two major, innovative principals moving to Connecticut, all of a sudden all of the brokers, the cargo interests followed," said Jim Lawrence, the chairman of Marine Money, a ship finance network headquartered in Stam- ford. "Connecticut is still the largest home of the mind and management for international shipping in the United States." For 40 years, the Connecticut Mari- time Association (CMA) has run North America's premier shipping industry event in Stamford each March. "It's not just Connecticut compa- nies, it's throughout the U.S. and actually throughout the world, people are members of the CMA," said Lorraine Parsons, chair of the asso- ciation's education foundation. "So the trade show, the conference is a very international place. It transcends Connecticut in a big, big way." The region is not unchallenged in its dominance, though. Stolt-Nielsen, one of the first shipping giants to move to Connecticut 40 years ago, in 2014 relocated most of its work- force to Houston — the busiest port in the U.S. International shipping company Clipper Group closed its Stamford office in 2017, and consoli- dated its North American operations to Houston. A capesize bulk carrier that is part of Star Bulk Carriers' fleet. Jim Lawrence Hamish Norton

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