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Marco Polo Marine bets on renewables for future growth

The company’s revenue mix will rely on oil and gas for now 

Benjamin Cher
Published Mon, Mar 3, 2025 · 05:00 AM
    • Marco Polo Marine was looking to pivot into the renewable energy sector, but a vessel charter from a Taiwanese company helped guide the way, says CEO Sean Lee.
    • Marco Polo Marine was looking to pivot into the renewable energy sector, but a vessel charter from a Taiwanese company helped guide the way, says CEO Sean Lee. PHOTO: MARCO POLO MARINE

    THE pivot to the renewable energy sector for Macro Polo Marine (MPM) was something that CEO Sean Lee has been pondering for a while.

    In the quest to turn around the business as oil and gas demand for vessels cooled in 2019, Lee and Darren Teo, managing partner at Apricot Capital (a major shareholder of MPM) had a conversation on pivoting to the renewable energy sector. A think tank was set up and ideas were bounced about for a year, but nothing concrete arose.

    It took a vessel charter from a Taiwanese company to pique Lee’s interest in 2020. It was during Covid-19, and Lee made multiple trips to Taiwan, enduring long quarantines to talk to vessel charterers there.

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