Major shipping group BW Group, based in Singapore, is working to expand its European presence through product tanker carrier BW Pacific, which will now open an office in Copenhagen with several employees.

The carrier's management is currently putting together a new team of employees that will handle chartering and operations with the aim to build BW Pacific's relations and brand, according to a job ad on ShippingWatch. The ad does not mention how many new employees the carrier is looking for, but the new team will be employed at the carrier's "new office in Copenhagen," according to BW Pacific.

Torm loses head of tanker to Singapore competitor

It was announced in March that BW Group had hired Torm's head of tanker, Tina Resvbech, to head BW Pacific. The break from Torm was subject to a competition clause, which is presumably still in effect, as Tina Revsbech has yet to begin her new job, and cannot as such comment on the carrier's plans. BW Group's management also declines to comment further on the plans for the product tanker carrier, the company tells ShippingWatch.

Ackermann off to flying start as head of BW LPG

The ties between BW Group and the Danish shipping community have become increasingly interwoven in recent years, especially after the group in June last year hired then-CEO of Norden, Carsten Mortensen, as new Chief Executive of BW Group. He replaced Andreas Sohmen-Pao of the shipowning family behind the carrier, who instead joined the BW Group board of directors, which is chaired by his father, Helmut Sohn. Carsten Mortensen has offices in Copenhagen as well as Singapore.

Since that time, several Danes have followed Carsten Mortensen to BW Group. Martin Ackermann, who served as CEO of Evergas since 2008, was in March hired to head BW LPG, currently the biggest VLGC gas vessel owner in the world, listed in Oslo and based in Singapore.

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The arrival of the product tanker carrier will no doubt be received very positively by the Danish government, which has for years been working to bring more carriers to Denmark to join the already significant cluster of tanker carrier's based in the Danish capital. Maersk Tankers, Torm and Norden are just a few of the city's well-known product tanker carriers. The city is also home to more chemical-oriented carriers such as Team Tankers and Nordic Tankers.

BW Pacific's fleet current consists of 21 LR and 22 MR product tanker vessels, and the carrier is seen as a potential IPO candidate, meaning that it could become even stronger than is the case today. BW Pacific is experiencing an extraordinary boom due to the low oil price. The same fact applies to supertankers, which are carrying crude oil at historically high levels due to the same low oil price. And then there are all the gas vessels, which analysts expect a great deal from in light of the increasing volumes of oil that will be replaced by gas going forward.

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BW Group is a financially well-padded group that, according to observers familiar with the business, with the necessary funds to back the expansion that Carsten Mortensen will spearhead. In some cases, this involves carriers, such as BW Pacific, in which Sohmen-Pao owns 2/3, while the remaining 1/3 is owned by Asian investment fund PAG. The deal between the two companies dates back to 2014.

BW Group has already established offices in Oslo, Houston, Mumbai and Beijing.

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