Celsius Shipping rises in the LNG sector

With a fleet of 13 LNG carriers — four in operation and nine under construction — Celsius Shipping has rapidly risen in the LNG shipping sector, led by the deft hand of veteran shipping executive Jeppe Jensen.

Mr Jensen, founder and executive chairman of Celsius Shipping Group, sat down with Poten & Partners chairman emeritus Michael Tusiani at Marine Money Week 2022 in New York City in June to discuss his more than four-decade journey, starting as shipping trainee at AP Møller Maersk in 1985 and founding a shipping group with a diversified fleet valued at over US$3.3Bn in 2012.

Celsius owns about 50 chemical tankers, product tankers, container vessels and LNG carriers. One of the fastest growing LNG carrier owners with one of the youngest fleets, Celsius Shipping has been able to secure long-term charters with Clearlake Shipping, a subsidiary of Gunvor, Cheniere Energy, BP and Shell.

During a one-on-one ‘Captain of Industry’ interview, Mr Tusiani asked why Mr Jensen chose a shipping career and how he founded LNG shipowner GasLog with Peter Livanos. Mr Jensen said it was “pure luck” that he wound up in shipping and he was thankful for the opportunity to join AP Møller-Maersk as a shipping trainee in 1985.

After remaining with AP Møller-Maersk for 22 years, with increasing responsibility in management positions, including senior vice president, Mr Jensen started to feel “the time was right to move on, as I was getting older”. While he said his time at Maersk was “fantastic”, he wanted to realise his boyhood ambitions. “I always had a dream of getting my own business; building something on my own,” he said.

“I always had a dream of getting my own business; building something on my own”

In 2007, he started working at home after business hours on a plan to launch his own shipping company. “I ended up with a commitment letter from Lehman Brothers for US$300M to start a Danish shipping company,” he said.

Mr Livanos caught wind of the commitment letter and contacted Mr Jensen, telling him of his own aspirations to build a shipping business. Mr Jensen said Mr Livanos told him his new company – GasLog – had secured a technical management agreement for one LNG carrier and offered to join with him to work together to build the company, rather than compete. “And that was how we ended up shaking hands. We built GasLog from there,” said Mr Jensen.

Serving as chief executive, Mr Jensen worked with Mr Livanos for five years to successfully build GasLog Ltd into one of the premier LNG shipowners and operators.

“But after building GasLog, you prepared it for an IPO, and just after five years, you decided to leave. Why?” Mr Tusiani asked Mr Jensen.

Mr Jensen responded: “The common vision we had was really to build scale, and we didn’t talk too much about where we were going to end up with the company.” Mr Jensen said the business model for GasLog was to order ships and get contracts in place. “We ordered two ships, then we fixed them, then we ordered two more on speculation, then we fixed them; it was a sort of growth model.”

After 10 or 12 newbuildings were on order, Mr Livanos, who was the principal shareholder, had a desire to get in the public market and attract some public capital. “I wasn’t necessarily in agreement with that,” said Mr Jensen. “I had other preferences. And that was why we decided to prepare the IPO, and get it done. And then we parted after that.”