History
Pleiades’ principals draw on over 50 years of continuous experience of successfully managing merchant vessels of various types and sizes. The company is highly regarded across the industry for its ‘hands-on’ management style, prudent operating policies, rigorous tanker fleet maintenance, safety standards and its long-term commitment to capably serving the global oil transportation sector.
Initially the Pleiades / Pegasus group (Pleiades was the Greek representative office of Pegasus Ocean Services of London) pioneered orders from the mid-60s onward for the Japanese-built 15,000 dwt Freedom type multi-purpose dry-cargo vessels, and later for the Freedom MK II with its substantial Greek design input.
Apart from well-judged secondhand purchases, the group also took deliveries of bulk carrier new-buildings in Denmark and South Korea, and had by the late 1970s developed into one of the largest operators of multi-purpose general cargo vessels in the world, with a fleet of 34 vessels of some 1.5m deadweight tons carrying capacity.
During the 1980s Pleiades / Pegasus group saw its opportunity to enter the tanker market. Wet trading units that were successfully managed and operated ranged from chemical and product carriers to Panamax, Suezmax and VLCCs regularly chartered by various oil majors.
During the 1990s Pleiades Shipping Agents S.A. and Pegasus split and the company became independent. It was then decided to specialize in Panamax – Aframax class tanker trade. Starting with the acquisition of 2nd hand vessels in a very short time it was operating a fleet of 17 ships, mainly Japanese built. Later on, Pleiades Shipping Agents S.A. joined forces with Heidenreich Marine Inc. (“Heidmar”), and founded the Heidmar-Pleiades Pool, a revenue-sharing Panamax tanker pool.
After 2000 the company continued renewing its fleet through an expansion and modernization program. In 2012, Pleiades Shipping Agents S.A. decided to part from the Heidmar-Pleiades pool and pursue a commercially independent venue, by expanding the range of services it can offer and becoming engaged into the Medium Range product tanker market. Meanwhile, the company continued being active in the sale and purchase market.
Pleiades Shipping Agents S.A. now operates its managed tanker fleet, coordinated commercially via its office in Greece. The fleet operates along worldwide trading routes, primarily between North and South America, the Caribbean and the Far East, transporting dirty, clean oil products and vegetable oils. The company provides both technical and commercial management including chartering services, operations management, crew recruitment and training, insurance placement, supply of stores, spares and fuel, financial and accounting services, as well as dry-docking and special survey commissioning.
