A new bulker operator and pool manager has launched in Athens, focusing initially on the panamax market.
Headquartered in Kifisia, Bluepool Trading claims to be the first dry-bulk platform of its kind in Greece.
It is led by experienced brokers and traders Aris Bachos, Nikolas Gavriilidis and Kimon Angelopoulos. The company did not disclose the identity of its backers.
Bachos was previously head of Noble Group's panamax trading. Gavriilidis was a freight derivatives trader at Global Maritime Investments and M2M Shipping, while Angelopoulos was a partner at shipbroker Ifchor.
Angelopoulos, Bluepool's head of business development, said the team looks forward to growing the business in Athens.
"We have created a modern, well-capitalised trading business which provides its investors with an opportunity to benefit from our trading experience in the dry-bulk market," he said.
"With regards to our pool, we observed the many challenges faced by other panamax pools in the past and strived to overcome them. We therefore designed innovative terms to provide shipowners the highest fairness, transparency and flexibility."
Bluepool's operating strategy will be to take panamax bulkers on period charters, while using freight derivatives to monitor and hedge cash flows.
Its panamax pool, meanwhile, will focus solely on the spot market.
The pool is "designed to outperform the index on behalf of its clients" by leveraging economies of scale and "advanced index-hedging techniques", Bluepool said.
The pool will commercially manage Bluepool’s chartered-in fleet alongside third-party owned vessels.
Marshall Islands-registered Bluepool Trading was issued with a legal entity identifier (LEI) in May 2021 by London Stock Exchange LEI, according to records.
