Odfjell moves ownership of the Singapore fleet to Norway

17.11.2021
To simplify ownership and legal structure, Odfjell SE has decided to move ownership of the Singapore fleet to Norway. The transition has started and is planned to be completed within 2022.

Background and impact

Odfjell operates in a highly competitive market and must continuously review whether we have an optimal setup and ensure that we are efficiently structured from a commercial, tax, financial and regulatory perspective.   

To simplify our ownership and legal structure and to reduce cost, the following changes are implemented:

  1. Move ownership of Singapore fleet to Norway.
     
  2. Maintaining the Singapore flag while unwinding our local ownership is difficult. We have, after a thorough review, decided to choose Marshall Islands as our second flag state.
     
  3. A consequence of these decisions is that most of the tasks within finance/accounting and some tasks within HR/administration in Singapore will cease. Unfortunately, this in turn results in a headcount reduction in these functions.


For the last 25 years, through bad markets and good, MPA and Singapore have been trusted partners for Odfjell, so this is not a decision we take lightly. We deeply regret the consequences this change has for six of our loyal and dedicated colleagues in the Finance (5) and HR/admin (1) functions in Singapore. They have worked hard every day to the best of the company.

Everyone who is directly impacted has been informed and followed up individually and the change has been presented in a town hall meeting with the entire Singapore team.

 

Process

The practical processes relating to change of flag, ownership and organization start immediately, but the organizational impact will happen gradually until mid-2022. We estimate to have completed the restructuring process during 2022. Steven Lau will continue in his role during this period.

As per today, we have ten vessels with Singapore flag which will be reflagged, and 13 vessels owned from Odfjell Asia II which will be transferred to a Norwegian entity. The two processes will run in parallel.

Odfjell will maintain a significant activity in Singapore. As Singapore continues to be an important hub for Odfjell, the chartering, tankers, procurement, IT, and most of HR/admin employees in Singapore will not be affected by this change. This change will not have consequences for our commercial activities in the region, and no consequences for our crew.

This is a significant organizational change that impacts colleagues we’ve had over many years. We are still in a pandemic with employees working from home, which makes the situation for those directly affected particularly challenging. Everyone will be closely followed up in the coming phase.

We encourage you to reach out if you need further information, have questions or comments.

Terje Iversen, CFO – Harald Fotland, COO – Ingjerd Nettestad, VP Corporate HR ​