Monaco-based Gestion Maritime is ready for its debut in the liquid bulk market this summer and is also readying a significant dry bulk series of acquisitions. Two 50,000dwt medium range tankers under construction at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard will be delivered this June and August, says Danilo Fumarola, CEO of the company.

The ships, named Stenaweco Andrea Corrado and Stenaweco Caterina Corrado, have already been chartered out for five years to Stena Weco.

"The two coming new tanker ships are strategic for us and mark our entry into a new market that offers a degree of diversification of investments much appreciated by our shareholders, especially given the present market situation in dry bulk," Fumarola says.

Gestion Maritime, founded by the Corrado family, a privately-owned shipping company whose roots stretch back in 1908. It has grown from a small family company to a prominent global tonnage provider mainly in the dry bulk segment but ready to start a new business adventure in the liquid bulk market too.

Including the newbuildings still to be delivered, Gestion Maritime manages and operates dry bulkers and chemical/oil tankers with a total tonnage of approximately 800,000dwt and an annual carrying capacity of 4.2m tons of cargo.

"We have invested significantly in order to handle these ships according to the highest standards required by the market," says Fumarola. "Furthermore, apart from the new tanker vessels, we also took the opportunity to improve the standard of the management for the entire fleet made up of the current nine bulk carriers."

The current crisis in freight rates for bulkers offers interesting opportunities for those who have financial resources, Fumarola maintains.

"We are seriously considering the possibility of modernising our dry bulk fleet taking advantage of the economic situation that allows replacement and renewal of tonnage at a historically very low cost," says Fumarola, one of many Italian shipowners who call Monaco home. More specifically, Gestion is hunting down modern secondhand panamax and kamsarmax ships. "No new construction, because we believe the market is oversupplied enough," Fumarola stresses.