• New Zug office led by Giando Dormio
• Expansion of S&P desk with Lasse Gandolfi

Recent strategic hires by IFCHOR will support the global shipbroker’s continued growth, with Giandomenico (Giando) Dormio, formerly managing director of SSY Zug and Geneva, the latest addition to the team. He brings over 25 years of experience of the dry bulk markets to IFCHOR’s Handysize/Ultramax and Panamax desks.

IFCHOR’s Handysize/Ultramax activity is led by Sinan Solak, Mark Harder in Lausanne and Sabrina Qian in Singapore, who will work closely with Giando Dormio as he establishes a new IFCHOR office in Zug. These offices are also cooperating with the group’s industrial broking services which are led by IFCHOR’s US office under Manny Xidias and Matthew Brady. They are supported by other brokers with the same focus on industrial clients in Australia, Singapore and Lugano: all deal mainly with the Handy/Ultramax segment.

IFCHOR has also hired Lasse Gandolfi as Senior S&P and Project Broker, starting 1 March 2021, initially from Oslo. Lasse expands the reach of IFCHOR’s existing Project and Sale & Purchase capability, bringing a solid experience of the Scandinavian market, with a special focus on the Handy/ to Ultramax segment.

Other hires at IFCHOR include in autumn 2020 ex-Norden chartering manager Andreas Kastrup Olsen, a very driven Panamax expert, and earlier in the year Captain Anand Pandey, formerly of Merit Maritime, who strengthens relationships with Indian industrial clients from the Dubai office.

2020, despite COVID-19 related difficulties, was a strong year for the company. New offices were opened in Tokyo and Mumbai, and a digital transformation programme delivered efficiencies to IFCHOR’s pre- and post-fixture activities. IFCHOR looks at the shipping market’s fundamentals with confidence and targets further development in 2021 with new hires and ventures, while investing further in digital solutions.