A perfect mix of oil and water
Helmut Sohmen has a big smile on his face. The oil price is at a record high and he, as the world's biggest private shipowner, is enjoying a boom time for transportation.
“With rising prices, you would expect to see a drop in demand for oil and oil transport,” he says, speaking at the offices of World-Wide Shipping, the Hong Kong-based company he has run for 18 years. “But at the moment, the market is affected by a panic factor that produces the opposite.”
The tanker business is often seen as “a dirty business”, with high-profile oil spills notably the Exxon Valdez in 1989 and the Prestige in 2002 dominating the front pages of the world's newspapers. But right now, it is experiencing a renaissance not only because of the demand for oil but also because of the demand for other commodities in China and other fast-growing economies.
Mr Sohmen points to the fact that the industry is hitting a once-in-a-generation sweet spot, where global supply of tonnage is tight, freight rates are high and additional capacity has yet to come on stream. According to World-Wide Shipping figures, oil tanker charter rates hit a 34-year highof $100,000 a day at theend of September up from $14,000-$22,000 at the end of 2000.
Many of the major shipping companies are listed or state-owned. That World-Wide Shipping is still in a position to compete with these giants is a substantial achievement. The firm controls more than 120 vessels and a chunk of the global oil and gas transport business.
More extraordinary is the fact that Mr Sohmen hails from a provincial town in landlocked Austria. This biographical fact means that he is often compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born body builder-turned-Hollywood actor who is governor of California.
But, as one Hong Kong-based businessman who declined to be named notes, people making this comparison are “missing the point”: “He is more like the Bill Gates of the shipping business because he has managed to change the dynamics of his own industry.” World-Wide Shipping's prominence owes something to happenstance. In 1967, Mr Sohmen, then studying in the US on a Fulbright scholarship, met Anna Pao, a fellow student who also happened to be the eldest daughter of the late Sir Yue Kong Pao, a Hong Kong-based shipping magnate and one of Asia's richest men.
The two married, and Mr Sohmen secured an entry ticket to one of the most powerful business empires. In 1986, when Sir YK retired, the young Austrian took over as chairman. But if he relied on serendipity to get into the shipping business, he later won his spurs by pulling off a coup that would not only save the family business but also help to restructure an industry that was on the verge of collapse.
In the late 1970s, Mr Sohmen realised that the oil shocks that had triggered the worst recession since the Wall Street crash in 1929 would lead to overcapacity in the tanker business and a steep drop in freight rates. He hatched a plan to sell the bulk of the family fleet at the top of the market and then to order new ships once prices had plummeted.
“Being the founder of the group and the biggest shipowner of his time, it was not that easy for YK Pao to accept that he should sell assets and reduce his standing,” says Mr Sohmen. “But I convinced him that there was only one way.”
The group slashed its fleet size from 202 large ships in 1979 to 55 in 1985, raking in cash as others continued to hold out for a recovery. By the late 1980s, the shipping industry hit a nadir, pushing big international shipyards to the verge of bankruptcy. That is when Mr Sohmen put in orders with companies such as Daewoo and Hyundai, two Korean conglomerates. Some deals proved to be so good that some shipyards later sought to renege on their commitments a challenge that the company rebuffed in the courts.
Yet, having saved his group, Mr Sohmen had to navigate the business through an industry downturn that lasted for another decade. The turning point came three years ago, when demand for commodities such as oil, gas and metals started to rise.
The change in the market took many by surprise but not Mr Sohmen. Whereas, during the 1980s crisis, he had ordered the sale of much of the firm's fleet, he decided, on this occasion, to do the opposite: to bulk up. This culminated in the $1.4bn acquisition of Bergesen, the Norwegian shipping group, last year. But Mr Sohmen is not buying more of the same. Given the industry's record of boom and bust, he is hedging his bets, and one of the reasons for snapping up Bergesen was the group's expertise in liquid natural gas transport, which is expected to see strong demand in the next few years as countries such as China seek out cleaner sources of energy. Meanwhile, Mr Sohmen is busily considering ways that the industry can shed its reputation as a sitting target for environmentalists. He thinks shipowners have not done enough to shake off their dirty image. “There is nothing in the public mind that would generate feelings of goodwill or warmth towards a metal box that is three months out at sea,” he says. “But there is a pretty strong response when you get the tar balls and the dead sea birds on your favourite beach.”
He thinks the shipping industry lacks leadership and political engagement, not least because, “over the years, shipowners have maximised their freedom from tax liabilities”. This has made the industry something of an outcast. “If you don't contribute to national coffers, you won't have much political clout.”
Mr Sohmen has endeavoured to address this problem, becoming one of the few non-Chinese at the top of Hong Kong's business and political elite. He also currently serves as chairman of the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation, an industry group that offers technical and logistical help to countries hit by oil spills. The shipping industry's image problem will almost certainly be on the agenda of Mr Sohmen's successor. At 65, he insists that he is “completely unsentimental” about succession planning. But waiting in the wings is his eldest son, Andreas Sohmen-Pao, a Harvard-educated 33-year-old who is head of World-Wide's Singapore operation and vice-chairman of Bergesen. “This is a business where you have to be able to make million-dollar decisions within minutes,” he says. “I would have no hesitation in telling my son ‘you haven't made the mark' if that became necessary.”
Few people expect Mr Sohmen-Pao to miss out on the chance to follow in his father's footsteps. But with the future of the family business resting on his shoulders, there is no question that Mr Sohmen is absolutely serious.
油和水的完美结合
赫尔墨特?苏海文(Helmut Sohmen)笑容满面。石油价格正处于创纪录的高位，而他作为全球最大的私人船东，正得益于运输业的繁荣时期。
“随着价格上升，人们一般会预期石油和石油运输的需求将下降，”他在总部位于香港的环球航运公司(World-Wide Shipping)的办公室里表示。他经营这家公司已有18年。“但眼下市场正受到恐慌因素的影响，造成了截然相反的结果。”
油轮业务往往被视作“肮脏的生意”，因为一些重大的石油泄漏事件赫然占据着全球各地报纸的头版，尤其是1989年“埃克森瓦尔笛兹号”油轮(Exxon Valdez)和2002年“威望号”油轮(Prestige)事件。但就目前而言，这一行业正在复兴，一是由于全球石油需求，二是由于中国等快速增长的经济体对其他初级商品的需求。
苏海文先生指出，事实上，该行业正遇上一个一代人才有一次的良机：全球吨位供应紧张，航运费用高企，而新增的运力尚未投放市场。根据环球航运的数据，9月底，油轮租费达到每天10万美元，为34年来的最高水平，与2000年底的每天1.4万至2.2万美元形成对比。
许多大型航运公司都是上市公司或国有企业。环球航运依然有能力与这些巨擘竞争，这是个了不起的成就。这家公司控制着120多艘船舶和规模可观的全球石油及天然气运输业务。
更不寻常的是，苏海文先生来自内陆国家奥地利的一个省城。这一个人背景使他经常被人比作阿诺德?施瓦辛格(Arnold Schwarzenegger)。施瓦辛格出生于奥地利，曾是健美运动员，后来改行成为好莱坞演员，现在是加州州长。
但是，正如一位拒绝透露姓名的香港商人所说，进行这种比较的人“偏离了主题”：“他更像航运业的比尔?盖茨(Bill Gates)，因为他成功地改变了该行业的格局。”环球航运公司之所以如此显赫，在一定程度上要归功于某些偶然事件。1967年，当时得到富布莱特(Fulbright)奖学金在美国留学的苏海文先生，在同学中结识了包陪庆(Anna Pao)，即已故香港船王、亚洲首富之一包玉刚爵士(Sir Yue Kong Pao)的长女。
两人结了婚，苏海文先生因此获得了全球最强大商业王国之一的入场券。当包玉刚爵士在1986年退休时，这位年轻的奥地利人接任董事长。不过，如果说他最初依靠运气才进入航运业，那么他后来则是通过精明的妙计而赢得殊荣，他的妙计不仅挽救了家族生意，还帮助一个濒临崩溃的行业进行重组。
上世纪70年代末，苏海文先生意识到，石油冲击既然已引发自1929年华尔街股灾以来最糟糕的经济衰退，就终将导致油轮业运力过剩，运费收入急剧下降。他酝酿了一个计划，即在市场高位大量抛售家族船队中的船舶，等价格暴跌后再订购新船。
“包玉刚是集团创始人以及他那个时代最大的船东，因此要出售资产而降低他的地位，这对他来说不那么容易接受，”苏海文先生表示，“但我说服他，只有这条路可走。”
集团削减了船队规模，大型船舶从1979年的202艘减至1985年的55艘。当其它公司还在苦苦支撑等待复苏时，该集团却在回笼大笔现金。到上世纪80年代末，航运业陷入低谷，把一些大型国际造船企业逼到了破产边缘。就在那时，苏海文先生向两家韩国企业集团大宇(Daewoo)和现代(Hyundai)等公司下定单。某些交易后来证明是如此精明，以致一些船厂试图拒绝履行其承诺，迫使环球航运公司诉诸法庭以击退此等挑战。
不过，在拯救了他的集团后，苏海文先生不得不带领公司度过长达10年的又一个行业低迷期。转折点在3年前来临，当时对石油、天然气和金属等初级商品的需求开始回升。
市场变化令许多人感到惊惶失措，但苏海文先生不在其中。尽管在上世纪80年代的危机时期，他曾下令卖掉船队的许多船只，但这一次，他决定反其道而行：扩大船队规模。去年，环球航运公司以14亿美元收购了挪威航运集团本格森(Bergesen)，令扩张行动达到顶峰。但苏海文先生并不只是为了扩大规模而进行收购。鉴于航运业盛衰循环的记录，他是在两面下注。收购本格森的原因之一，是该集团在液化天然气运输上有着专业技术。随着中国等国家寻求更洁净的能源来源，预期今后几年内将出现对液化天然气的强劲需求。同时，由于航运业是环境保护主义者现成的攻击目标，苏海文先生正积极想方设法，要让航运业摆脱这种名声。他认为，船东们在摆脱自己的不光彩形象方面做得不够。“在公众的脑海里，没有什么能让他们对一只在海上漂三个月的金属盒产生亲切温暖的感觉，”他说，“另一方面，当你在最喜爱的沙滩上看到焦油球和死去的海鸟时，就会产生很强烈的反应。”
他认为，航运业缺乏领导力量和政治上的参与，而其中的一个原因是，“多年来，船东们致力于最大限度地减轻自身的纳税负担”。这已使航运业变得有点像被遗弃的人。“如果你不为国家财政做贡献，你就不会有很大的政治影响力。”
苏海文先生有意努力解决这个问题，并已成为香港政企精英中屈指可数的非华裔人士之一。他还担任国际油轮船东防污联盟(International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation)的主席，这是一个行业团体，专为受石油泄漏影响的国家提供技术和后勤支持。航运业的形象问题几乎肯定会出现在苏海文先生继任者的日程表上。年届65岁的他坚持说，他对继任计划“完全不感情用事”。但他的长子包苏文(Andreas sohmen-Pao)显然会是候选人。现年33岁的包苏文曾在哈佛就读，现任环球航运公司新加坡业务的负责人兼本格森副董事长。“这是一项你必须能在几分钟内作出数百万美元决策的生意，”苏海文说道，“如果有必要，我会毫不犹豫地告诉我儿子‘你还没有这种本领’。”
几乎所有人都认为，包苏文先生不会错过继承父业的机会。但既然该家族企业的未来全在他的肩上，苏海文先生绝对会郑重其事是不争的事实。
