New Delhi: In the last few days, the name of an unknown Indian company has come to the fore in the international market. A media report states that since Russia attacked Ukraine, the company has bought several oil tankers. With this, it has become the world’s largest shipping company from an unknown Indian shipping business. This company is Gatic Ship Management. It had only two tankers in 2021. By April this year, it acquired a fleet of 58 ships with an estimated value of $1.6 billion.
The origin and ownership of this company remain a matter of mystery. Its corporate records are also not available. Importantly, Gatic Ship Management’s registered address is in this deserted mall of Mumbai along with Buena Vista Shipping. Buena Vista Shipping is also another mysterious operation that two years ago reported assets worth a million dollars. Following the sanctions, India opted to increase imports of Russian oil. Gatic has emerged in this context. According to Rebecca Galanopoulos of VesselsValue, the purchase makes Gatic one of the largest tanker owners in the world.
According to the latest available data shared with The Indian Express by VesselsValue, a London-based marine market intelligence firm, Gatic has put together a fleet of 61 older oil tankers since March 2022. Most of the ships are over 15 years old. The group was registered as an exporter in India on March 31 this year but is not registered in the official Corporate Registry of India. Who owns Buena Vista Shipping and what has helped Gatic’s fleet expand rapidly? This thing is troubling the oil market. But shipbrokers, analysts, and commodity traders are skeptical that its biggest customer is Russian oil giant Rosneft.
However, Gatic does have a Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) code, which is a global identification code for legal entities for financial transactions. According to records from various global LEI databases, including Bloomberg LEI, Gatic’s address is the same as that mentioned on the BVS corporate website, an office at Neptune Magnet Mall in Bhandup, Mumbai. Global trade sources suggest that Gatic is an arm of Mumbai-based Buena Vista Shipping LLP (BVS) and also has links with a Dubai-based shipping entity. Interestingly, the name of a tanker from Gatic is also mentioned as Buena Vista. However, Gatic does not have any record on the Registrar of Companies (RoC) database. While it does have a company website, the site is under construction and a “Launching Soon” message is flashing on the webpage.
