shareswizard of 10years and still going strong

Current status of Mercator's ships.

Chaitali Prem is one of Mercator's new post-panamax vessel chartered in Sept 09. It is deployed to Refined Success a subsidiary of Cosco Group as part of a 3 year contract with a daily rate of US$39,500. It is now off the coast of South Africa. Its plying the Brazil - China iron ore route

http://aprs.fi/?call=247274800

Chanchal Prem is one of Mercator's new post-panamax vessel chartered in Oct 09. It is off the coast of Brazil. I presume its plying the Brazil - China iron ore route

http://aprs.fi/?call=538003661

Garima Prem is a gearless panamax owned by MLS. Currently contracted to Arcelor Mittal Group till Aug 2010 at US$60k/day. It is currently in USA near Virginia.

http://aprs.fi/?call=565554000&mt=m&z=2&timerange=3600

Garv Prem is an owned gearless Panamax. It is close to Singapore with a voyage destination to India. I am assuming that it is plying the Australia/Indonesia - India coal route.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/defaul ... 40:07%20AM

Prem Veena is an owned Gearless Kamsarmax. It departed from Australia recently. Seems to be heading towards China. Could be plying the China - Australia coal route.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/defaul ... 14:23%20PM

Prem Aparna is an owned geared Panamax. Currently off the coast of Russia in the Black Sea. Was travelling there from Turkey. Not too sure which route its playing. Could be on spot charter for one of the supply chain manager firms.

http://aprs.fi/?call=565272000

Prem Vidya is an owned geared Kamsarmax. Its now in Singapore. It was in China 2 weeks ago.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/defaul ... 06:44%20PM

Prem Varsha is an owned Geared Kamsarmax. It is now in the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans

http://aprs.fi/?call=565353000

Gaurav Prem is an owned gearless panamax. It is near India.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/defaul ... 05:16%20PM

Kesari Prem is an owned geared panamax. It is off the coast of Malaysia and it is heading towards an Indian port.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/defaul ... 15:34%20AM

Kanak Prem is a geared panamax. Not too much info. Left Singapore earlier this month.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/defaul ... 28:09%20PM

Kalpana Prem is an owned geared panamax. It is heading towards the Suez.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/defaul ... 12:56%20AM

Prem Putil is an owned VLOC. It is deployed to Vale for a 14 year contract to transport iron ore from Brazil to China. Its close to Madagascar heading towards Brazil.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/defaul ... 29:45%20PM

The Board of Directors of Mercator Lines (Singapore) Limited (the “Company”) wishes to announce that the Company will be releasing its unaudited financial results for the third quarter ended 31 December 2009 on Thursday, 21st January 2010. The results will also be available on the Company's website at www.mllsg.com

another article:

The art of management

Pramoud Rao
Posted: Sunday, Jan 10, 2010 at 1907 hrs IST

“That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well.”—Abraham Lincoln

Being in the business of protecting lives and other precious objects, keen observation is to me as spots to a leopard. I have been observing the growth of Mercator Lines for quite some time now. Lincoln’s quote above truly embodies what I feel whenever I see or read about Mercator’s achievements.

Incorporated in 1983, Mercator Lines is the second largest private sector shipping company in India in terms of tonnage. Since its inception, the company has overcome conventional barriers of the shipping industry and has succeeded in providing the most optimal shipping solutions.

From a traditional tanker company Mercator has diversified interests in transportation, dredging, oil and gas, ship management services, marine logistics and offshore services. It has also made its presence global by setting subsidiaries in Singapore, Mozambique and Indonesia. All this is due to one man’s vision and keen insight—HK Mittal. Aged 60 years, Mittal, Executive Chairman of the company, acquired Mercator in 1988. An enterprising individual, Mittal has been able to bring transparency and professionalism in a traditional industry like shipping. Living up to opportunities around him and making the most of his resources, he has been able to create the fastest-growing shipping company of today (From Rs 65 lakh in 1988, the firm’s revenue increased to Rs 2,200 crore in the year ended March 31, 2009).

Close observations indicate that the company has been able to transform barriers into opportunities for further growth. Considering the cyclical nature of the global shipping industry, the company steered its way by diversifying into various businesses, oil and natural gas exploration being one of them. Thus today, with Western economies emerging from recession, Mercator is expected to benefit from a possible upturn in the global demand for exploring and transporting crude oil and other products.

The business model of Mercator Lines is simple—aggressively grab every opportunity, thereby derisking the business, while locking in its vessels for long-term contracts to mitigate the volatility of freight rates. A strategy that Mittal led his team to believe in and execute successfully, setting a proud example for India Inc as a whole.

One of Mercators core value is “honouring commitment towards stakeholders”. Truly, living up to this, the company has grown from strength to strength over the last 25 years, expanding both horizontally and vertically, thereby building immense shareholder value.

A perfect example of rags to riches, Mercator has grown from a moderate barge operator to India’s second largest private sector company with six solid verticals.

Mercator’s success story can also be attributed to it mastering the art of managing people. It has laid great emphasis on human capital development, talent management and retention. It has successfully inculcated within each employee the ‘Mercatorian’ spirit of innovation. Testimony to this is the gamut awards one not only individually by Mittal, but also by the company both in India and abroad. My conclusion lies in HK Mittal’s humble words, “And this is just the beginning.”.

- The Financial Express