STANKO Jekov, the managing partner of SSY, the world’s largest independent shipbroker, aims to expand by an additional 300 people in five years, taking the global company to more than 800.

“When we go into a market, we want to do it properly, and with most markets we enter, we want to be a top three player,” Jekov told Lloyd’s List.

In October the 145-year-old shipbroker, best known for its dry bulk and tanker desks, opened an LPG and ammonia desk, expanded its nascent offshore division and added to its sale and purchase team in Athens.

After working for the company for 23 years, including six years as head of dry cargo — the company’s biggest revenue-generator — Jekov said he knew what he wanted to change from day one as managing partner. He began in December, 2022.

“I always had an idea of what I would want to change because I knew the company that well,” he said. 

“So, it was a lot easier for me when I stepped into the role, and also fortunately for me is that by the time I took over, people around me, my co-partners, were all pretty like-minded.

“We were all a similar age, in our early 40s. A lot of us have grown up in the company, and waited for the opportunity to take control the firm, to really take it to the next level, and that’s what I think has happened.”

SSY “wants one transaction to become four or five transactions”, said Jekov.

His key messages to external stakeholders for the past two years remain unchanged: expansion and diversification is front and centre, all the while highlighting the shipbroker’s young leadership.

“That’s where for us the angle will be, and being a bigger broking company means that you can offer to the same client a lot more services,” he said.

“It’s not only doing one interaction from A to B.

“Even before the ship is required, even before the cargo arises, you can discuss with the client and talk about strategy of how they will move these goods [in order to] to stick closer to the client, both to the shipowner, and to the principal from the early stages.”

That includes helping to finance assets, and then securing income with cargo, he said. 

“With that 1.25% brokerage commission they are paying you, they want you to offer a lot of services,” Jekov said

“They want to know everything. It is about having the full spectrum of services, as that’s the way you get closer to a client, because you’re not only talking to the chartering people. 

“You’re talking to the people higher up. You’re talking to the people also lower down, and you’re talking to everyone in the company. 

“It then becomes more of a company relationship, and a better relationship. It’s all about relationships. 

“You have to (have a) strong relationship with your client so that they can trust that you can actually deliver to them and help them, whatever their plan is, to fulfil that.”

The average age of SSY’s 27 partners is late 30s, according to the company. A rebranding in October 2023 changed the name from Simpson Spence and Young — referencing the company founders — to SSY. 

When Jekov began as managing partner, SSY employed 373 people. The current staff count is around 550.  Expansion has been seen in Dubai, where the office has grown to 40 people from three people in five years.  The two-year-old Athens office now has 30.

“There was (an office in Athens) back in the day, but we didn’t have the right people so we shut it down,” Jekov said. The office shut in 2015.

“This time around, we had a few good people here in London, Greeks, who were wanting to go back and also at the same time as we acquired some anchor shipbrokers. So, it made sense. It was also post Covid, and a lot of people at the time looked to going back home.”

SSY says that gender balance in its Asia office is fifty-fifty, but the figure is much lower in its European offices, and London. The overall balance is about 33%, according to the company.

A trainee programme that recruits from UK universities enters its second year and aims to support diversity in the workplace. 

Jekov acknowledged London shipbrokers are not diverse workplaces and that job applications did not come from diverse backgrounds.

SSY does not release its financials. A Norwegian national, Jekov is listed in Companies House as the officer of seven companies, including five for SSY and another two for Signal Ocean. That reflects SSY’s minority stake in a data-led shipping technology platform.

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