Ardmore Shipping has opened a new office in Singapore as it seeks to expand its presence in the Asian and Middle East tanker markets.

As part of the expansion Celio Wakamatsu joins Ardmore in Singapore from Petrobras as chartering manager and Retno Muninggar, formerly from Vittol and Navig8 Chemicals has been appointed as voyage manager.

“A great deal of cargo is controlled from Singapore, and we already have a lot of important relationships in this market which we are keen to evolve,” Wakamatsu commented.

“We are aiming for our chartering platform to take on a stronger regional profile and this will enable us to take our commercial presence in Asia to the next level.”

Ardmore’s fleet has grown from eight to 24 vessels on the water over the last two years.