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Columbia Finance Solutions (https://columbia-finance.com/) the financing arm of the Columbia Group, has strengthened the range of financial services it is able to offer to its clients and partners, by taking a stake in Ahorn Capital GmbH, a Hamburg-based investment platform for to institutional and professional investors. The partnership allows Columbia Finance Solutions to provide its clients with flexible financing options for their fleet expansions and individual projects. In turn, Ahorn will tap into Columbia’s market access, internal asset expertise and extensive knowhow. Ahorn Capital structures direct investment opportunities for institutional investors, family offices and high net worth individuals. Investments are securitised and listed, offering investors efficient and transparent deal-by-deal-access. Assets are thereby converted into bankable, transferable and tradable investment products. It follows a holistic approach and manages the whole lifecycle of a project from sourcing to divestment. Henry Behne and Hendrik Stellamanns will run the company as managing directors. Mark O’Neil, President and CEO of the Columbia Group, welcomed the move by saying it would mean “Columbia can leverage Ahorn’s structuring expertise and access to family offices and high net worth individuals. The partnership will allow us to provide turnkey solutions to our clients and provide part of or all...
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Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM) has fired the starting gun on its most ambitious industry collaboration project yet, that will see ship owners, oil majors, classification societies, cargo interests and technology experts all working together to drive excellence into the Greek tanker owning sector. Announcing the launch of the CSM Hellas Tanker Management Centre of Excellence, CSM President and CEO, Mark O’Neil, said partners in the Centre of Excellence, including clients, future clients and collaborators, would work together on a variety of projects; on optimisation, digitalisation, processes, training, safety, preventative maintenance, technology, IT and best practice. They will share information and learning and “learn together and improve together.” Addressing invited guests in Athens last night, at what was billed as the first event of this year’s Posidonia show, Mr O’Neil said the CSM Hellas Tanker Management Centre of Excellence would be the most advanced, optimised, digitalised, people-focused tanker management service provider available anywhere worldwide. “It will start planning tomorrow morning (Friday) and will set an unrivalled standard in the tanker industry. We will also use it as a networking exercise for those of our partners who are part of this Centre of Excellence, who can network with each other, swap ideas and...
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CSM is proud to reveal a huge charitable drive to help seafarers and their families impacted by the war in Ukraine. We have worked with our partner Mental Health Support Solutions (MHSS) to assemble and deploy a team of 320 Ukrainian psychologists to counsel traumatised refugees at what we call CSM “sanctuaries” in Poland and Romania. And we have raised $1.3m to put directly into the hands of victims of the conflict. CEO Mark O’Neil told TradeWinds that client and shareholder Schoeller Holdings contributed $500,000, with CSM matching this. Employees and other clients added more to the total. CSM has more than 600 Ukrainians and 800 Russians among its 15,000 seafarers. “Some of the stories we are hearing and some of the pictures we are seeing touch our soul and the souls of our seafarers,” O’Neil said. “We look at the victims of the war, whether they are Ukrainian, Russian, Georgian, Filipino, it really doesn’t matter,” he added. The guiding principle for the use of the fund is no bureaucracy, the CEO explained. “We wanted to put cash in the hands of those that needed cash without having to account for it,” he added. Any family of a seafarer coming...
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Columbia Shipmanagement is delighted to announce the official opening of its new office in Greece, in line with the company’s exciting expansion plans. Situated in Voula, a Southern Suburb of Athens, Columbia Shipmanagement Greece will provide ship management and maritime services to new and existing clients. Headed up by Gregory Spourdalakis, General Manager, it will also be able to promptly attend and provide services to all CSM managed vessels as well as other clients & partners requiring support in the area. The new office officially opened on March 24th and will offer cost-effective and fully optimised support services expertly tailored to individual client’s needs, resulting in the delivery of top quality modular maritime solutions. An additional benefit to the new office location is its proximity to other Greek commercial ports and access to the service provision of the local services of the CSM network, including the expertise of the Cyprus region and its management capabilities. Welcoming the opening of the new office, Mark O’Neil, CSM President and CEO, said it was a natural development for CSM to position itself near to what is one of the world’s most important shipowning centres. “Greece is a major maritime country and the importance of its shipowners...
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Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM) is to expand its operations and services in the important French, Italian and Monégasque markets by signing a joint venture agreement with Monaco-based Sea World Management (SWM). Under the terms of the agreement, the new JV company, named COLUMBIA SEAWORLD MANAGEMENT, or CSM Monaco for short, will provide CSM’s full integrated maritime services platform to clients in the region including those in the tanker, bulker, container, cruise, MPP, offshore, Superyacht, private jet, asset management sectors. Capitalising on SWM’s well-established network in the region, CSM Monaco will operate with SWM’s experienced management team in Monaco boosted by relocating CSM expertise. Roberto Corvetta, CEO of SWM, commented that this is a moment of great satisfaction for SWM and the tangible result of many years of hard work. “We are proud – he said – to become partners of such important Group and we are committed to using all our energy and expertise for the success of the initiative, which, I am sure, will allow us to expand our world and to bring benefit to all our clients”. The Columbia Group has significant experience in the leisure sector through its COLUMBIA Blue operation which offers the most comprehensive service in...
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CSM has sealed an agreement to help expand the Middle East’s biggest shipyard. Pictured L-R: Mark O’ Neil (CSM CEO), Ahmed Al Saadi, (IMI Chairman and Saudi Aramco Senior Vice President – Technical Services), Dr. Abdullah Al Ahmari (IMI CEO) CSM has signed a memorandum of understanding with International Maritime Industries (IMI). The deal is an expansion of a partnership agreed six months ago to explore opportunities in the maritime sector. Columbia will now seek to boost Saudi Arabia’s capabilities in shipbuilding, ship repair and engineering. CSM will act as an official consultant for IMI in the areas of “sensorisation technology” for vessel performance optimisation, engineering solutions, vessel design, and newbuild planning and supervision. It will also actively promote IMI’s set-up and technical capabilities to existing clients. Abdullah Al Ahmari, IMI’s chief executive, said: “We are pleased to have signed this agreement with CSM, a company that is committed to supporting our efforts of building a world-class, technologically advanced shipyard that will drive the development of the maritime industry in Saudi Arabia. “The partnership enables us to leverage CSM’s unique capabilities and expertise, therefore enhancing our offering to both partners and customers,” he added. IMI is based at the King...
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CSM is honoured to be recognised in Reuters’ ‘Top 100 Innovators of Global Energy Transition’ list for our joint efforts with TotalEnergies to develop a lube oil monitoring, optimisation and supply platform using our POCR system, while also looking into alternative propulsion and marine fuel systems. The report highlights that “the wholesale move to carbon-neutral energy systems, in less than three decades, is a task that demands almost undreamt-of levels of industrial creativity.” The Maritime sector is a hard-to-abate industry that cannot easily be powered by renewable energy, therefore CSM is proud to be leading the way with innovation to maintain vital global supply chains. Click here to read the report: https://1.reutersevents.com/LP=31962?utm_medium=DNV+-+Maritime&utm_campaign=MARANDE%2CBA-Maritime&utm_source=linkedin&utm_content=eaa987a33b9845feb77cf0ed83ecc142-5011444&utm_term=social&extsource=ext_innovatorlist_marketingsse&hss_channel=lcp-35598225
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Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM) is going boldly into the future of virtual conferencing with an eye-catching new bit of hologram kit. The entertainment industry is no stranger to such technology, which has enabled dead stars from Whitney Houston to Maria Callas to appear on stage again. But this is thought to be a first for shipping. Key speakers will be able to contribute virtually to group training sessions or important client meetings thousands of miles away, so maximising efficiencies and cutting costs, CSM said. “The future is already here,” CSM president and chief executive Mark O’Neil told an audience in Manila as a hologram beamed from the Limassol offices of OneLearn Global, 5,534 miles (8,900 km) away in Cyprus. In a scene reminiscent of the teleporter in Star Trek, the boss appeared as a life-size 3D hologram in a special portal with 4K resolution. He was able to talk to, see and hear the people who were physically attending the event in the Philippines, even though he was six time zones away. O’Neil said CSM is in the vanguard of what he called an exciting evolution. He explained that the company is a firm believer in the power of digitalisation and has...
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