United Heavy Lift and Ocean7 Projects have expanded their Middle East presence by opening a new office in Dubai under their joint United O7 brand. The office will focus on chartering and is headed by Anup Anthony, who previously worked in the region for Zeamarine. 

The Dubai office is the third joint branch office United Heavy Lift and Ocean7 Projects have opened since joining forces last year. The project carriers teamed up last year to offer a wider range of vessels. United Heavy Lift operates a fleet of large, heavy-lift capable vessels, while Ocean 7 Projects operates a fleet of smaller geared multipurpose vessels. The joint venture was launched with a joint office in Bergen and soon followed by a branch office in Kuala Lumpur, which now also operates two sub-branches in Beijing and Tokyo.

The new office in Dubai will focus on chartering and is complemented by UHL’s operational agencies Lexicon Overseas in India and Electra Shipping in Dubai.

“UHL has had a wish to extend our presence in the Middle East and India for some time and after Anup Antony became available, on the back of the Zeamarine closure, we started discussions in order to land this agreement. The Middle East and India is a very important region for UHL, as it is in the middle of our usual trade lane from Europe to Asia and vice versa”, comments managing director Christian Monsted of United Heavy Lift Denmark.

Managing partner of Ocean 7 Projects, Jesper Henriksen, adds: “The Middle East region is important to Ocean7. The Dubai office with an experienced manager as Anup Antony nicely follows our strategy of strengthening the personal relations to our business partners regionally.”

The expansion of the chartering network also goes hand in hand with United Engineering Solutions’ growing agency of maritime engineers, which is also located in India, UHL states. Both Lexicon Overseas and Electra Shipping Services will continue their cooperation with UHL and expand their services in the upcoming years.