Todor Vassilev

Todor Hristov Vassilev

Todor Hristov Vassilev is a Bulgarian businessman - the founder and managing director of a group of shipping companies incorporating his surname in their names. (Vassilev Maritime Limited (Malta), Vassilev Maritime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd. Sirketi (Istanbul), Vassilev Morskoy Transport (Rostov on Don) and Vassilev Morski Transport (Varna). He is a majority shareholder in the Bulgarian software company Vasmar Solutions Ltd.

Academic Achievements and Support to Regional Maritime Education
Todor graduated from the English Language School in Varna, Bulgaria in 1987 with excellent overall grade (5.94/6.00). Todor’s class teacher Mak Stanchev wrote into his graduation from school reference: “Todor holds an active living position on all possible subjects.”

Todor passed successfully the entry examinations in the Bulgarian Naval Academy in the summer of 1987 and was accepted as a cadet in the Merchant Marine Department, Navigation Faculty of the Bulgarian Naval Academy.

Todor was a cadet with very good academic and leadership records. During the first year in the Academy Todor was tasked with the duties of the senior cadet of his platoon and he carried out these duties until the autumn of 1991.

In 1990 Todor was selected to be among the crew of cadets of the Bulgarian barquentine Kaliakra for the 1990 Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races.

Todor was promoted to the rank of midshipman at the beginning of his fourth year in the Bulgarian Naval Academy in 1991(one year before the due time) and was appointed as a commander to his platoon.
The same year Todor was appointed as an assistant to the standard-bearer of the Bulgarian Naval Academy - an honour conferred to the top cadets only.
Todor held both positions until his graduation from the Academy on August 23rd , 1992. His graduation ranking was 7th in 50 cadets that had studied in the Merchant Marine Department, Navigation Faculty. Upon graduation Todor was promoted to lieutenant for the Bulgarian Naval Reserve and qualified as a watch keeping officer for the merchant marine.

Upon graduation Todor joined Bels Shipping Company Ltd. in Varna in October 1992 as an assistant to the chartering manager. There he met two great men - Captain Lyudmil Vassilev and Captain Venelin Markov from whom he learned the business of shipping. In a sign of appreciation of Todor’s progress the company’s director Captain Lyudmil Vassilev proposed and Todor accepted to undertake the shipbrokers training course of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, London.

Todor passed successfully the qualification examinations of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in 1994 and 1995. There he won the Seascope Shipping Ltd award for the student in the with the highest grades in tanker chartering. The award was presented in Todor’s absence to his friend Mr. John Hills of the Lloyd’s Register by the British Minister of Transport at a ceremony held in the Baltic Exchange in the autumn of 1995.

Todor was admitted as a member of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in October 1995. It was at that time when Todor was fascinated by the idea that his much respected Bulgarian Naval Academy could teach the curriculum of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and he set up the goal of turning this idea into reality.

With the permission of the Commandant of the Bulgarian Naval Academy Captain Stanko Stankov Todor established in 1999 the tradition of providing the funds for annual awards to a distinguished graduate and a distinguished lecturer of the Academy. Since 2003 four awards are presented every year (one to a graduating cadet, one to an officer from the Academy, one to a graduating student and one to a lecturer from the Academy). The awards are handed over to the persons who have qualified for them by the Commandant of the Bulgarian Naval Academy on the promotion day of the Bulgarian Naval Academy each year.
Todor became a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (London, UK) in 2000.
Todor’s dream of linking the Bulgarian Naval Academy and the Institute of Chartered shipbrokers turned into reality on June 4th, 2004 when the director of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers Mr. Alan Philips visited the Bulgarian Naval Academy and signed together with the Commandant of the Bulgarian Naval Academy Captain Stanko Stankov the agreement by which the Bulgarian Naval Academy was awarded the honour of being the regional education centre of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers for the Black Sea region. Todor was a part of the process preceding the signing of this agreement. The Commandant of the Bulgarian Naval Academy Captain Stanko Stankov ordered that a special section was dedicated in the museum of the Bulgarian Naval Academy to the agreement between the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and the Bulgarian Naval Academy Todor’s contribution in the promotion of the Bulgarian Naval Academy was mentioned there.

The Bulgarian Naval Academy has been teaching the curriculum of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers as a part of its post-graduate education since 2004 and has been graduating about 20 students every year starting in 2006.
Late in 2009 the graduates of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and the Bulgarian Naval Academy formed a branch of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in Varna. Mr. Daniel Stefanov was appointed as first chairman of the branch and Todor was given the honorary membership number - 001 as an appreciation of his impact on the formation of the branch and on the shipping education in Bulgaria.

The world crisis of 2008 pushed Todor to adept to a new environment and add new skills. He has recognized the need to complement his naval and shipping education with understanding of strategy and business management. Following his natural curiosity Todor embarked in 2009 on a dense learning process during which he encountered the name of the late Colonel John Boyd (US Air Force) and read his presentation notes on military strategy (Command and Control, Destruction and Creation, Fast Transients, the Strategic Game of ? and ?, Introduction to Winning and Losing, Patterns of Conflict). Military and Navy has proved to be the source for modern management practices which helped Todor to have new critical reading of Sun Tsu and the books on strategy and war of Robert Green. Among the important reading of this time are the books of Captain Michael Abrashoff (US Navy) and the book of Stephanie Jones and Jonathan Gossling on the leadership of Admiral Nelson. Writing the strategy for the fleet managed by Vassilev Maritime Naklyiat ve Dis Ticaret Limited Sirketi, reading books on strategy and leadership shaped Todor’s new perception of his business, his life and his role in the company. That new perception helped him steer the companies of the holding he manages through the crisis and to start building a new strategy for future development.
Todor is a firm believer and installer of education and training, leadership by example, adherence to long term objectives, loyalty and morality.
Todor is a member of the Bulgarian Naval Academy Alumni Association.
Professional Career
Early Years
Upon graduation from the Bulgarian Naval Academy Todor Vassilev joined Bels Shipping Company Ltd. in Varna in October 1992 as an assistant to the chartering manager. He worked in Bels Shipping Company Ltd. until 1996.
Todor left Bulgaria in January 1996 and started working for a Maltese shipping company - Kama Malta Shipping Co. Ltd. - a joint venture between Kama River Shipping Co. (Perm, Russian Federation) and a group of Maltese and Russian individuals. Since then his professional career and life have been interwoven and influenced by the transition events of the transport and infrastructure of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Todor’s professional specialization became in Russian river-sea shipping.
Todor and his wife incorporated in Malta Vassilev Maritime Limited in 1997.

By April 1997 Todor had become a managing director of the group of companies in Malta in which Kama River Shipping had the majority shareholding. By the summer of 1997 Todor and Mikhail Tokaryev were the only men left in group of companies that had been brought to the edge of bankruptcy by one of its former directors.

Relations with Kama Shipping Co. Ltd. and Kama River Shipping Co.
In an important meeting with the majority shareholder of Kama River Shipping Co, Mikhail Antonov, on August 15th, 1997, Todor laid out his plan to Mikhail Antonov for the salvage of the companies and the vessels. This meeting lasted only 15 minutes but at the end of the meeting Todor was authorized to execute his plan and he did execute it.

Among important issues of Todor’s plan was the reallocation of the ship management services to a location that will match the trading requirements of the vessel’s managed. The natural decision for picking up Istanbul as a hub for shipping operations was taken in August 1997.

In February 1998 Todor and his family settled in Istanbul, Turkey.

Todor completed the procedure for the establishment of the liaison office in Istanbul of Kama Shipping Co. Ltd. (as subsidiary of Kama River Shipping Co.) whose managing director he became on April 27th, 1998. This office was established for the management of the vessels of Kama Shipping Co. Ltd.

Todor and his wife Elena Nikolaeva Vassileva, incorporated Vassilev Maritime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd. Sirketi on October 14th ,1999 in Istanbul. Vassilev Maritime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd. Sirketi was a 99 % subsidiary of their Maltese company Vassilev Maritime Limited. Vassilev Maritime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd. Sirketi signed management agreements with Kama Shipping Co. Ltd. for 17 foreign going river-sea design vessels and managed the vessels during the biggest crisis in the history of the company and of Kama River Shipping from November 1999 until March 2000.

In March 2000 Mikhail Antonov was invited to join Vassilev Maritime Limited as a 49 % shareholder. This step secured the extension of the existing management agreements for the river-sea design vessels for an indefinite period of time.

During the years 1999 - 2001 Todor represented Kama Shipping Co. Ltd in their victorious efforts to regain control over vessels that had been ill-chartered out earlier to foreign companies. Kama Shipping Co. Ltd. became the only Russian river shipping company that did not lose to creditors any vessel during the transition period in Russia. The vessels that were regained were m/v Nikolay Meshkov, m/v Vassiliy Tatishev, m/v Aries, m/v Borealis, m/v Corvus, m/v Delphinus, m/v Vera, m/v Sofia, m/v Maria, m/v Zarya, m/v Volgodon 5029 and m/v Volgodon 5032.

In 2003 Todor recognized that in order to manage successfully a large fleet of vessels and further expand it Vassilev Maritime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd Sirketi needed dedicated software. For these purposes Todor Vassilev joined with Vladimir Markov and incorporated Vasmar Solutions Ltd in Sofia. Since then a continuous process of designing, implementing and improving has been undertaken about the software required for the automation of the processes performed in Vassilev Maritime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd Sirketi and for reporting the key performance indicators of these processes.

Todor and the group of companies he is a managing director of is a part of the history of Kama Shipping Co. Ltd and Kama River Shipping. He had a contribution not only in the preservation of the fleet of Kama Shipping Co. Ltd, but in its subsequent renovation.

In 2001 Kama Shipping Co. Ltd. evaluated the age and the technical condition of their vessels and came to the conclusion that unless extensive renewal programme would be embarked upon during the forthcoming years, Kama shipping Co. Ltd. would have to dispose of the aging vessels and subsequently lose its market position. Todor and his team designed the programme for the renovation and upgrading of the fleet of Kama Shipping Co. Ltd. and commenced the execution of a tremendous effort. As a result of this effort by 2007 all the vessels of Kama Shipping Co. Ltd. had been renovated and had their deadweight improved with approximately 30 %. 10 vessels that used to trade in the rivers only were converted for seagoing trade too and added to the fleet.

By 2008 the foreign going vessels of Kama Shipping Co. Ltd. were 27 and they were all managed Vassilev Maritime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd Sirketi.

The process of renovation of the fleet of Kama Shipping Co. Ltd. was progressing together with the reorganization of its ownership structure that ended with the formation of a holding of 21 shipping companies owning 27 vessels.

Change in the business environment
Todor and his team faced the biggest challenge in their lives in March 2008 when the shipowning holding of the 27 vessels which Vassilev Maritime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd. Sirketi had been managing for years was sold to a company controlled by Mr. Aleksej Fedoricsev. The existing management agreements were preserved, but it became necessary to adapt to the requirements of a new demanding and ambitious client. The process of adaptation coincided with the commencement of the worst financial crisis in the world’s history and the creation of working links and relations between Vassilev Maitime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd Sirketi and the companies (and people) of the holding of Mr. Fedoricsev.

Todor commenced the year 2009 working on a business plan for the fleet managed by Vassilev Maritime Nakliyat ve Dis Ticaret Ltd. Sirketi. The plan required the projection of the trading of a fleet of 38 vessels in a period of 5 years. Special software was designed and subsequently developed by Vasmar Solitions Ltd for the purpose of reflecting the mathematical model of the operation of the fleet, projecting the financials and calculating the key parameters for evaluation of the performance of the fleet. For Todor the process designing the software for the business plan went hand in hand with the process of intensive reading about finances and business planning.Todor admits that his advantages to his competitors are knowledge and honesty.
Personal Life
Todor Vassilev was born on June 24th , 1968 in Kubrat (Bulgaria). He is the second son of Hristo Vassilev and Svetoslavka Vassileva. His father used to be an officer in the Bulgarian Navy (retired as captain) and later chief engineer on merchant vessels. His mother used to be an accountant. They are both retired now.
Todor is married to Elena Nikolaeva Vassileva (August 19th, 1991) and is the father of two daughters.
Captain Vassil Yotov - a classmate of Todor’s from the Bulgarian Naval Academy told Todor’s elder daughter recently that her father used to be the living conscience of the platoon while they studied in the Academy.

Todor’s motto is “He who serves best profits most.”

Todor likes very much John Boyd’s phrase: “He who adapts to the fastest rate of change survives.”

Todor’s life models are Admiral Horatio Nelson and Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz (US Navy).

The persons who have affected most significantly Todor’s life and views are his parents, Svilen Dimitrov (he diverted Todor from becoming an engineer for the Bulgarian Navy), Commander Ivan Ivanov (he was Todor’s company commander in the Naval Academy), Elena Vassileva (she married Todor and diverted him from seagoing career), Captain Lyudmil Vassilev and Captain Venelin Markov (they introduced Todor into shipping), Mikhail Antonov, Sabahattin Su and Aleksej Fedoricsev.

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