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By Pankaj Upadhyay: A lesser-known Indian shipping company – Gatik Shipping Management – has suddenly grabbed international attention for an exponential rise in transportation activity and becoming one of the largest shipping vessel owners in the business.
What brought this company under the scanner was that it reportedly bought the most oil tankers globally since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022.
An expert in the shipping business, on the condition of anonymity, said that the scale of the business was an indicator of the company having proximity with important stakeholders. “Who’s to say whether there has been handsome commission at play but such a sudden and massive scale-up of business definitely has to have a story behind it. The company name has been a discussion point for a while now,” he said.
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The company, whose name suggests speed, shares its address with Buena Vista Shipping at the Neptune Mall in suburban Mumbai’s Bhandup. Its mailing address also mentions the Neptune Magnet Mall.
India Today TV went to the mall to get more details from the company and learnt that the company – Buena Vista – has now shifted its operations. The doors of the office were locked and the signboard, too, has been taken off.
In fact, the office space is now available for sale and rent. “They shifted nearly four months back. Not much is known about its new place of operations. They didn’t share any details. That’s all that we remember,” the security staff of the mall said. But the official website of Buena Vista Shipping still lists this office in the Neptune Mall as its address.
“The shipping company did operate from this third-floor office but they have now shifted. They didn’t give the details of the new place but said that they were shifting to the nearby Powai area,” the security manager of the mall said.
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At the mall, there are other shipping companies managing their operations. But none was willing to talk about the issue.
In its report, the Financial Times said that until 2021, Gatik Ship Management owned only two ships. But by April this year, the company reportedly has over fifty vessels in its fleet. The report further said that Gatik acquired at least 56 vessels since March 2022, including 13 in December when the European Union’s embargo on Russian oil began. “The purchases put Gatik among the largest tanker owners in the world… To put this into perspective, of the almost 14,000 live tankers, the majority of these companies – 1,361 – own fewer than 10 live tankers. Only 20 companies, including Gatik, own 50 or more.”
Questions are now being asked about what contributed to this sudden meteoric rise of the company and who funded these massive purchases. Interestingly, the newly-acquired fleet has been majorly used to transport oil from Russia. And now many reports are drawing a connection with the Russian oil giant, Rosneft.
India Today TV reached out to the Buena Vista Shipping office in Powai but was not allowed to meet the media manager. “Our representatives will get back to you on your query,” the company staff said. The company, which also lists offices in Dubai on its website, is yet to reach out.
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