2020 Bulkers taps offshore veteran Babinski as CEO after AHTS pivot

Oslo-listed 2020 Bulkers has named anchor-handling veteran Tom Babinski group chief executive, replacing Lars-Christian Svensen with immediate effect as the company completes its switch from dry bulk to offshore.

Svensen resigned with immediate effect, the company said. Babinski had already been lined up to lead AHTS AS, the business acquired on October 1, so his elevation to the top job consolidates leadership around the new offshore platform.

Babinski arrives with a CV built almost entirely in offshore: Aurora Offshore Management, Viking Supply Ships, Westshore Shipbrokers, Framar and Sevnor. That background matters because 2020 Bulkers is no longer a shipping generalist. It is now one of the larger players in big anchor handlers, and the board wants an operator, not a transition manager.

How the fleet got to 12 vessels

The reshuffle lands weeks after the bulk of the company's offshore consolidation closed. A deal unveiled in September targeted companies controlling up to 15 large anchor-handling tug supply (AHTS) vessels.

Three moves since then:

• October 1: closed the acquisition of AHTS AS plus stakes in four associated vessel-owning companies, securing control of 11 large anchor handlers.
• This month: bought Anchor Australia, which had itself taken over the Skandi Peregrino from Akastor's DDW Offshore for $21.6m, lifting the fleet to 12.
• Q4: three more AHTS vessels are lined up, potentially taking the fleet to 15 units.

The fleet transactions carried an aggregate agreed vessel value of roughly $407m on a debt-free, cash-free basis. A $175m private placement completed in September backed the expansion.

The investor roll behind the venture reads like a Norwegian shipping reunion: Harald Moræus-Hanssen's Uthalden, Arne Blystad's Songa Capital, chairman Magnus Halvorsen's MH Capital and Tor Olav Trøim's Drew Holding.

What does this change for shareholders?

For a company that disposed of its entire newcastlemax fleet earlier this year, the answer is: everything. The group was originally built around eight scrubber-fitted newcastlemaxes ordered from 2017 at an average $47.6m per vessel. After selling the remaining six ships, it returned about $316m to shareholders through a special distribution in April.

So Svensen, a former Golden Ocean executive who became CEO in April 2025, ran a wind-down. He oversaw the final stages of the dry bulk exit and prepared the ground for the offshore move. He has also held chief executive roles at Himalaya Shipping and tanker investment vehicle Bruton. Babinski's job is different: scale the new business.

The company has already outlined its playbook. It plans to change its name to AHTS and pursue further consolidation in the large anchor-handler segment, with the ambition of distributing most of its free cashflow after debt servicing to shareholders. That is a yield story built on consolidation, and it depends on integration running cleanly across a fleet assembled in a matter of months.

For the offshore market, the move adds another consolidator with capital behind it and 15 potential units under control by year-end — capacity that will matter to rig movers and offshore project developers as activity in the segment firms up.