Thailand’s Precious Shipping, one of Asia’s best-known dry bulk owners, is changing its leadership. Long-serving managing director Khalid Moinuddin Hashim will become executive vice chairman, and finance director Gautam Khurana will take over as head of the Bangkok-listed company.
The changes
- Effective date: 1 January 2027, after approval by the board, according to a filing with the Stock Exchange of Thailand
- Khalid Hashim: moves from managing director to executive vice chairman after leading the company for more than three decades
- Gautam Khurana: takes charge of running the company and stays on as finance director until a successor is found
- Both keep their seats on the board of directors and the executive board.
Who is Gautam Khurana?
Khurana joined Precious in 2018 as chief financial officer and became finance director in 2019. Before that he spent ten years at DVB Bank in London and Singapore, working in maritime finance, structured asset finance and leasing.
A company in renewal
Hashim helped build Precious into one of Thailand’s leading dry bulk owners after it was founded in 1989 and listed in 1993. The handover comes during a big fleet renewal, with older handysize and supramax ships being sold and the ultramax fleet growing.
- In September, Precious ordered four 64,500 dwt ultramaxes at China’s Taizhou Sanfu Ship Engineering for a combined $141.8m, for delivery between April 2030 and January 2031.
- That followed an earlier $133.46m order for four 63,500 dwt ultramaxes at the same yard; two are in service and two are due by the first quarter of 2027.
- Once all are delivered, the fleet should reach 47 ships of about 2.34 million dwt.
- The company has also moved into MR product tankers this year, through direct purchases and its 45%-owned Nusantara Maritime joint venture.
Based on reporting by Splash247, 6 November 2026.
Photo: Representative image: a bulk carrier at a terminal (not a Precious Shipping vessel). Calistemon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
