The acquisition of local supply companies has been an important part of the growth strategy for Wrist Ship Supply over the past 10 years, where the majority of the current revenue comes from the western hemisphere. Asia has proven to be more difficult, admits Robert Kledal, CEO of Wrist Ship Supply, regarding the growth strategy which was launched in 2015 and is meant to boost the company's core businesses in coming years in supplies for newbuildings and as supplier of provisions for ships from Asian key ports as well as for drilling rigs.

"If we look at the historical development, then we have to say that in Asia we have either not been efficient enough in terms of growth as in the western hemisphere, or that it is simply fundamentally more difficult here. We are still interested in acquisitions, for instance in China, if the right candidate shows up, but what we are currently doing in the Chinese markets is Greenfield investments, where we start from the very bottom," Robert Kledal tells ShippingWatch.