Navigator Gas L.L.C. is a publicly traded liquefied gas shipping company with a global market, that was incorporated in 2000 in the Marshall Islands. It was restructured in 2006, and revitalized in 2012 to become the world's largest fleet of large, sophisticated gas shipping vessels.
Overview
In 1997, Giovanni Mahler of Lugano, Switzerland and Shaun Fergusson Cairns of the Isle of Man formed Navigator Gas Transport PLC as an Isle of Man public limited company with the intention of constructing the world's "largest ethylene capable vessels." The first five vessels were built in the Jiangnan Shipyard/CSTC shipyard in China, a shipyard known for constructing carriers that are technically complex and capable of transporting even ethylene gas. They provided regular transoceanic service with a shipping fleet of sophisticated large vessels capable of carrying different types and sizes of cargoes, such as liquefied petroleum gas and petrochemical gas, including ethylene to ports in North and South America, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Following a slump in the gas shipping transport market in the late 1990s and early 2000s, delays in the delivery of the vessels, and other factors, NGT was forced into a restructuring which was completed in 2006. In 2006 Navigator Gas Management Limited (NGML) and its affiliated companies were under new management and owned and operated "five semi-refrigerated 22,000 cubic meter liquefied ethylene gas carriers". In 2012, when Wilbur Ross—who had acquired his first stakes in Navigator in 2011 through WL Ross & Co and affiliates—increased his stake, the company was transformed. Ross, who served as Chairman of Navigator in the 2010s, arranged financing so that Navigator Gas could make major purchases which included the 2013 acquisition of Maersk's Handysize LPG fleet, two secondhand LPG carriers, and construct four new buildings. Before Ross' transactions, Navigator Gas's fleet of ten gas shipping vessels was the second largest in the world after Maersk. When Ross purchased the 34% stake of Navigator Holdings held by the then-bankrupt Lehman Brothers in August 2012, Ross' stake increased to 55.7%. By 2013, with the purchase of Maersk's fleet, Navigator became the largest gas shipping company in the world with 27 vessels and "a 28% market share in the handysize gas segment." By 2017, Navigator Holdings had 14 ethylene-capable semi-refrigerated gas carriers, 17 semi-refrigerated and 7 fully refrigerated vessels.
Navigator Holdings Plc
Navigator Holdings Company (Navigator Holdings Plc), is a holding company, which was founded in 1997 with headquarters in the United Kingdom. In its first annual report published on February 1, 2001, Navigators Group Inc. self-described as "an international specialty insurance holding company with insurance company operations, underwriting management companies." It is the parent company of subsidiaries such as Navigator Gas L.L.C, Navigator Europa L.L.C., is the holding company or parent company of subsidiary Navigator gas shipping. Navigator Holdings Ltd. is sold on the New York stock exchange as (NYSE:NVGS). By December 31, 2012, Navigator Holdings's subsidiaries included service companies in Singapore, the UK, a vessel owning company in Indonesia, an investment company in the UK and a holding company in Delaware. By the third quarter of 2012, Navigator Holdings Ltd. subsidiaries included Delaware-based holding company Navigator Gas US LLC, Marshall Island-based service company Navigator Gas LLC, UK-Based service company Navigator Gas Transport (NGT) Services (UK), Singapore-based service company Falcon Funding PTE Ltd, UK-based investment company Navigator Gas Invest Ltd, Indonesia-Based vessel owning company PT Navigator Khatulistiwa. By 2017 Navigator Holdings affiliates included Marshall Island-based service company Navigator Gas LLC, UK-based investment company Navigator Gas Invest Ltd (Navigator Gas Invest L.L.C.), Navigator Gas Transport P.L.C., Navigator Europa L.L.C., Navigator Atlas L.L.C., the Indonesia-Based vessel owning company PT Navigator Khatulistiwa. (Their Liquefied Gas Carrier (LPG) vessel flies the flag of Indonesia and its home port is Surabaya), Navigator Triton L.L.C., and Navigator Oberon L.L.C.