Discussion with Tomoyuki Noma, Managing Director at Grand Blue Shipping
Can you tell us about yourself and background?
I represent the third generation in our shipping family business. Before joining the family business, I worked for another Japanese shipping company for seven years. During that time, I was mainly involved in ship operations and chartering, gaining experience across different vessel types, including bulk carriers, wood chip carriers, LPG and LNG vessels, and general cargo ships. I joined Noma Shipping in 1998 and over time took over the leadership role. I have been leading the organization over the last fourteen years. From early on, I believed it was important to gain experience outside the family business before stepping into a leadership role. That external experience shaped how I approach operations, chartering, and management today, and it also influenced many of the strategic decisions we later made as a company.
How did your family business start?
My grandfather started the ship owning business in 1938. He was someone who liked the challenge. In the early days, he was involved in several businesses at the same time, however, he strongly believed that shipping had the greatest potential for the future and eventually decided to focus entirely on shipping. During my grandfather’s time, the company operated coastal vessels, constructed using wood rather than steel, serving domestic Japanese coastal trade. In the earlier years, the company owned and managed smaller general cargo vessels and wood chip carriers. At one point, the fleet consisted of around 14 general cargo vessels and three Japanese coastal vessels, trading primarily between Japan, the Far East, and Southeast Asia. Over time, the business expanded internationally. We established Grand Blue Shipping in Singapore in 2013 and centralized ship owning and ship management functions there. Since then, we have expanded our bulk carrier business while maintaining involvement in general cargo. Today, we own nine bulk carriers in Singapore, as well as one bulk carrier, two container vessels and one general cargo vessel in Japan. Our group operations are managed centrally from Singapore.
What are your strategic priorities today?
We want to grow our fleet size to around 20 vessels. In the current market, small shipowners find it difficult to survive. Ship financing requires scale, and without sufficient volume it becomes challenging to secure long-term funding. At the same time, we are focusing on expanding our dry bulk carrier business, which is our core area of experience and the main driver of our growth. Looking ahead, we would like to create a more balanced portfolio, and we plan to gradually expand into liquid cargo vessels. We want to diversify carefully over time so that the company is better positioned for the future.
What differentiates successful shipping companies today?
Shipping is a very volatile business, it is important never to lose your sense of caution. You must always operate with the awareness of risk, that mindset is essential. Beyond that, the most important success factor is an ethical approach to operations and long-term relationships. We work transparently and reliably with our charterers and business partners, which has allowed us to build long-term relationships with reputable charterers and established shipbrokers. We see charterers as our valuable clients. Our existence depends on their support. We focus on minimizing operational disruption and supporting our customers when challenges arise. When necessary, we are willing to go slightly beyond the strict wording of the charter party, always within ethical, legal, and official boundaries. This cooperation is naturally reciprocated over time.
Another important foundation is my belief in managing our own ships. When you manage your own ships, you face problems directly. Sometimes the master calls me in the middle of the night about an issue on board. While not easy, this experience allows me to understand situations. Earlier in my career, if a vessel urgently needed spares, I would personally deliver them to the ship. I believe the owner should be involved when problems arise. This combination of caution, ethics, proactive support, and direct involvement forms the foundation of our reputation.
How do you manage your ships?
If you want to manage your ships, in terms of fleet size, I believe the absolute minimum for viability today is five vessels, although owning around ten vessels is preferable. With ten ships, an owner has much more flexibility and can choose different strategic approaches, whether operational, commercial, or financial. In the past we managed all our vessels in-house. Today, however, international regulations, particularly in safety, compliance, and environmental areas are evolving rapidly, making it difficult for any single organization to keep up on its own. While I strongly believe in managing our own ships, we now operate with a combined approach: we manage part of the fleet internally and appoint selected third-party management companies for others. This approach allows us to benefit from the specialized expertise, talent, and best practices of external managers while keeping our internal core team lean and efficient. This also enables us to compare our own capabilities with those of third-party managers and continuously improve. From a resource and cost perspective, this hybrid model is efficient, this balanced approach allows us to remain compliant, efficient, and directly accountable for quality in an increasingly complex industry.
How do you see the structure of ship ownership evolving?
There is clear consolidation. Some shipowners gradually reduce their fleets and eventually exit the business. Others move in the opposite direction and continue expanding their number of vessels. The middle ground is becoming smaller. Owners either decide that the pressure, from regulation, financing, and market volatility, is too high and choose to step back, or they commit to scale and growth. The overall trend is toward consolidation, with fewer but larger ship owning companies operating in the market.
What are the key challenges in our industry today?
Keeping up with international regulations, especially environmental regulations. The question of future fuels is a major issue for shipowners. There has been extensive discussion around dual-fuel vessels, methanol, and ammonia, but there is still no clear or proven solution. While some charterers are interested in these options, many discussions have slowed because the practical challenges are significant. From an operational perspective, many regulations look good on paper but are hard to implement because the technology is not ready. Targets are being set without tried-and-tested solutions. For example, ammonia fuel presents serious safety concerns. Anyone with experience on ships understands that even a small ammonia leak in an engine room can be very dangerous. The risk is carried by those working on board, not by those setting targets ashore. As shipowners, we are responsible for crew safety, training, and well-being, and this responsibility goes beyond commercial considerations. Because of these uncertainties, the next five to seven years are likely to be turbulent for both shipowners and charterers. At the same time, owners and charterers often hold different views, which is why open discussion is essential. There are positive examples, where charterers invest jointly in efficiency improvements, showing that collaboration is critical for navigating these challenges.
What do you love most about shipping?
I love ships. When I look at a ship, I feel excited. I appreciate the shape, the engineering, and the technology, that is the first thing. Shipping is a very simple business in concept, but very difficult in practice. Because of that, I always believe in making my own decisions carefully. Above all, however, shipping is about people. Good relationships with counterparts are essential, and I genuinely enjoy working with shipping people. Most of them are good people, and that human element is what I value most.
What advice would you give to young people?
I would encourage young people to join shipping; it is a truly global business. You work with people all over the world, not only in Japan or Singapore, but everywhere. You can discuss and collaborate with people from many different cultures and backgrounds, and that experience is extremely valuable, both professionally and personally. Shipping is a relationship-driven business. If you focus on being trustworthy and maintaining good relationships, you will grow in this industry. Do not to hesitate to communicate with many different people. If someone needs help, help them, over time this builds trust.
