In June 2023, Marubeni Corporation and Klaveness Dry Bulk entered the next phase of their partnership, with Marubeni investing a 25% stake in the business. 2024 sees us welcome our new part-owner with an aim to build on continuous strong results for the operator business, strategically expand MaruKlav (the ‘earning management vehicle’) and leverage digital tools on the Market Manager platform to consistently support a strong base margin model.

A year of strong results and strategic developments

Reflecting on 2023, Head of Dry Bulk Michael Jørgensen comments: “Our efforts to deliver consistency and strong results over time through the timing of freight decisions, smart vessel selection, and active meaningful differentiation towards our cargo clients is clearly paying off. 2023 saw extreme market volatility, but  disciplined position management paired with consistency in our commercial and operational performance continues to bring us forward.”

Digital tools at the helm

Market Manager, the data-driven freight decision-making tool developed by Klaveness Dry Bulk, has established itself as a robust sparring partner in delivering solutions to the everyday pain points experienced by the team. The platform equips them to ‘play ball’ and challenge one another, an approach that has yielded useful new tools with Pre-Vetting, Port Predictor and Freight Optimizer now commercialized into product offerings and gaining traction in the external market.

Marubeni integrates Market Manager

Since becoming 25% owners in Klaveness Dry Bulk, Marubeni have now taken Market Manager into their own shipping department. Taku Nakamoto (General Manager, Ship Department) adds: “The collaboration around Baumarine by MaruKlav has provided us a strong sense of mutual trust, the overall strategy [of Klaveness Dry Bulk] to consistently deliver results by leveraging best-in-class digital tools for freight decisions, while always putting the client first, is firmly in line with our values and strategy. We are implementing the commercial tools in Market Manager into our workflow, and target to improve the timing and deep understanding of decision-making for both Marubeni and our clients.”

Expanding horizons in 2024

With Marubeni onboard as a key strategic partner, Klaveness Dry Bulk is now eyeing further expansion in 2024. Jørgensen adds: “Our goal is to broaden our partnership base exploring new avenues in earnings management, vessel investment and change management initiatives through tools like Market Manager.”