Limassol-based shipmanagement company Dobson Fleet Management has announced it is to cease trading after 18 years after it lost a lot of business following the onset of the Arab Spring.
The decision was made in November and the company is scheduled to close its doors on January 31st. Bob Maxwell, company Managing Director, told SMI: “We lost a lot of business with the Arab Spring and we gambled on the African and near east markets. We lost a lot and it got to the point where we couldn’t really gamble on the new business. We had potential business out there but it got to the stage where we couldn’t hang on and decided to pull the plug.”
Mr Maxwell said he was moving back to the UK where he will start work reporting to Bob Bishop in V.Ships’ Glasgow office.
He told SMI that the company has been gradually winding down its managed fleet: “The last of the fleet was going through natural wastage with scrappings etc. and Irish ferries now have their own management operation. A company has been set up with our Dublin management to manage the Irish Ferries vessels. It naturally ran down to zero. It was not a case of having 10 ships and shutting the door.”
The owners of Dobson Fleet Management said in November last year that they were considering strategic options following a number of approaches for parts of the business.
The company has operated in Limassol since 1993 and the team of 13, led by Managing Director Bob Maxwell has a vast depth of experience, providing ship management services over 18 years to the owners of a wide range of vessels, including bulk carriers, LPG/C gas carriers, tankers, container carriers, reefer vessels, passenger/freight ferries, high speed ferries and MPCs. The company has also recently been at the forefront of industry initiatives to reduce piracy in the Gulf of Aden.