LL Next Generation

NEXT
GENERATION 2012
Book 1.indb 1 16/05/2012 16:40
NEXT GENERATION 2012 3
WHEN I took over as editor of Lloyds List, I was very clear that the focus of our journalistic eforts
should be directed at uncovering business opportunities and identifying risk for our readers. It
was inevitable then that we should end up extending our most inuential people in shipping
series to produce a supplement looking at the next generation of shipping industry leaders.
The opportunities that await our bright young things rest on their ability to learn from the
past, innovate and deal with a new and rapidly evolving market that is laden with a level of
nancial sophistication that many of their predecessors would barely recognise.
The challenge for the shipping industry as a whole has always been its ability to attract and
retain the necessary talent to drive the industry forward.
This inaugural look at the maritime sectors current crop of new leaders analyses the
ambitious heirs apparent who have made the grade. These upstarts will inevitably feature in
future editions of the Lloyds List Top 100 most inuential people in shipping and it seems that
the current generation has made a decent job of its succession planning.
Our list is by no means complete and we acknowledge the limitations of such a project. We
have focused on shippings family dynasties, on those sons and daughters who have rolled up
their sleeves and got involved in the business, for this rst cut. But we will revisit the theme in
the future, with new angles and new names. When we do, we will look to you for suggestions of
the names we have missed or new sectors that we can include.
As I noted when we produced last years Top 100, the Lloyds List newsroom ofers one of the
best vantage points from which to view the entire industry. Even so, I am under no illusion that
we have produced a list that everyone will agree with and I welcome feedback on this and every
other aspect of Lloyds Lists output.
For now, though, this generational take on the future of shipping stands as a positive indicator
of the hard work, sophistication, innovation and talent that resides within the shipping industry.
The future looks to be in safe hands.
Richard Meade
Editor, Lloyds List
Richard.meade@lloydslist.com
@Richard_Meade
Welcome
from the editor
Printing
Stephens and George
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Editor
Richard Meade
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Contributors
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Managing director
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Informa UK Ltd 2012
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NEXT
GENERATION 2012
LLOYDS LIST NEXT GENERATION 2012
Book 1.indb 3 16/05/2012 16:40
4 NEXT GENERATION 2012
This special report highlights the fact that there is no one-
size-ts-all policy when it comes to succession planning in
shipping. There are those who have trained within the family,
ready to take on the mantle when the time arrives and there are
many who have set out by themselves with their own shipping
ventures. But the sheer volume of ofspring choosing to follow
the family line and stay in shipping is a testament to the vibrant
and compelling nature of shipping as a truly global career
brimming with opportunity.
So addictive is it that the next generation is often left waiting
for the previous generation to loosen its grip a little. Retirement
is apparently something that happens in other industries, but
not in shipping.
The upstart examples we have picked in this report are far
from comprehensive and represent only a snapshot of the current
crop of talent coming through the ranks. Nevertheless, our next
generation ag bearers boast an impressively diverse range of
backgrounds, education and strategies, proving that diversity is
alive and well when it comes to shippings family businesses.
SHIPPING is a long-term business based on relationships, trust
and generational investment strategies.
Continuity is vital, so for all the talk of asset plays and short-
term speculative investment, it is perhaps not surprising that
the maritime sector is still dominated by family dynasties.
From privately owned, patriarch-led powerhouses to the
corporate colossuses, shipping remains uniquely populated by
the sons and daughters of shipowners.
Shipping, it seems, is in the blood.
The transition from one generation to the next in any
business can be difcult. While everyone hopes for a process
that reinvigorates tradition with fresh thinking, technical know-
how and modern market nous, it can equally end up weakening
a business and put it on a journey to extinction.
In most other sectors it is estimated that around 70% of
businesses do not make it through a second generation of
leadership. Few make it to three.
Shipping somehow seems diferent and special because of
this.
The generation game
Why the current crop of shipowners is pushing
forward with old values and a new vision
INTRODUCTION
Book 1.indb 4 16/05/2012 16:40
World Leader
in RoRo transport
M
.

D
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Via Marchese Campodisola, 13
80133 Naples - ITALY
Phn +39 081 496 111
Fax +39 081 551 74 01
switchboard@grimaldi.napoli.it
www.grimaldi.napoli.it
IstituzMond3.indd 1 22/12/09 16:11
Every generation looks to the last for direction and lessons
learned. Our latest batch of industry leaders has more than
enough to chew on as it deliberates what went wrong and
forges its own path ahead.
It is difcult to characterise generational traits amid a diverse
array of individuals and companies that we have picked for
this report, but it seem fair to conclude that our crop of young
leaders has become more sophisticated than its predecessors.
They appear more risk aware, although it should be noted
that is very diferent from being risk averse. This generation
has seen the extremes that a shipping cycle has to ofer and
risk management is high on the agenda, even as it searches
for the opportunities that history tells it must be waiting at the
bottom.
They are more concerned with corporate governance and
are certainly more transparent than the last generation who
gave up information as if it were their market share.
Many in our list cite the need to focus on low leverage, strong
cash ows and the ability to survive downturns. Ironically it
is the impatient young upstarts that are taking that long-term
outlook.
While the fundamentals of shipping remain, our next
generation will lead an entirely diferent market that is driven
by new political realities and a rapidly changing global
economic and regulatory agenda.
Perhaps even more signicantly they enter an industry on
the cusp of a technical generational shift driven by fuel costs
The next generation
is often left waiting
for the previous
generation to
loosen its grip a
little. Retirement is
apparently something
that happens in other
industries, but not in
shipping
and the need to rethink much of the global supply chain in
search of efciencies.
But for all their attempts to diferentiate themselves from the
previous generation, many of those we have spoken to cite the
old values of hard work, integrity and loyalty as the guiding
principles for any modern business.
In a highly cyclical industry, it pays to have a tangible
reminder of what has worked and what has not. Family
businesses tend to have long memories, a fact that can be an
advantage just as it can weigh heavily on those who inherit it.
There is something special about shipping that only insiders
can understand. People have a genuine passion for it that you
do not tend to see in quite the same way elsewhere. For the
shipping dynasties, that feeling is intensied.
While the weight of expectation can be unreasonably
high for some, the power that a family business wields can
be highly advantageous. When successfully pulling in the
same direction, families are more nimble in their decision-
making than companies that have to convince shareholders
and boards. They can also make long-term decisions without
concern for quarterly dividends, bound in the knowledge that
eventually they will come out ahead.
But for all their advantages, the continued success of the
shipping dynasties is by no means guaranteed. While success
can often breed success, business skills are not genetic. Sound
succession planning is as much about nding the right talent
in family businesses as it is anywhere else.
INTRODUCTION
Book 1.indb 6 16/05/2012 16:40
Maria Angelicoussis
GREECE
Under doctors orders
PURELY private shipowners on the scale of the Angelicoussis
Shipping Group are nowadays virtually unknown and the
groups future is a subject of fascination.
Revered though founder Anthony Angelicoussis was, son
John Angelicoussis has surely surpassed him, cementing
a group synonymous with the Greek ag, widely lauded
for quality, and the largest in Greece in no fewer than three
sectors of shipping tankers, dry bulk and liqueed natural
gas carriers.
What the future holds would seem to depend to a great
extent on 30-year-old Maria Angelicoussis, daughter of John
and wife Elizabeth.
The qualied doctor, who practised medicine in the UK,
joined the shipping group three and a half years ago after,
she tells Lloyds List, becoming progressively more curious
about a business which is most probably in my DNA and
which I will manage.
Eight years in medicine may not have been the worst
training for shipping success. According to Ms Angelicoussis,
common denominators include the need for multi-tasking,
delivering under pressure and communicating clearly.
Dealing with and reading people is also key, she says.
Thoroughness, attention to detail and an analytical mind are
among traits required of a good doctor that Ms Angelicoussis
believes also have a place in shipping management.
Moreover, though she has no engineering background,
neither is she fazed by the technical aspects. Instead she likes
the tangibility and enjoys mastering them.
Ms Angelicoussis had only a few weeks of experience under
her belt when she was put in charge of solving a headline-
making commercial dispute with Fortescue Metals, the
giant mining group that had defaulted on a ve-year charter
on an Anangel capesize. Lloyds List reported the afair
was eventually amicably settled, resulting in an expanded
relationship with three new ve-year charters.
Being thrown in at the deep end feels like an
understatement, she says today. I ended up not only
learning a lot, but also putting the relationship of our two
companies on a new and I believe better footing.
Ms Angelicoussis credits her father with having achieved
the tricky balance of guiding, but also giving her freedom to
cut her own path and learn from her own mistakes.
He has taught me to think out of the box and be imaginative
and that there is always a solution to any problem, usually a
commercial one, she says.
When asked about her own ambitions, Ms Angelicoussis
simply replies: To maintain the rst-class standards that we
possess as a company, being innovative and ahead of new
developments, while at the same time being competitive and
loyal to our long-standing clients.
My father has taught me that this industry is all about
relationships.
Her late grandfather, too, would surely have nodded in
appreciation.
Maria Angelicoussis hopes to sustain the health of the family business
He has taught me to think out
of the box and be imaginative
and that there is always a
solution to any problem,
usually a commercial one
Maria Angelicoussis:
shipping is all about
relationships
GREECE
Book 1.indb 7 16/05/2012 16:40
2nd engineer Badesha will be home early
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The MV Hercules was scheduled to leave for
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specialist was scheduled to install an update
of the ships communication system. Instead
Imtech Marine completed the job last week.
Without setting foot on board. It is now
8.20 am and the MV Hercules is on her way.
Adil Badesha will be home early.
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rate, but also taking the management of the rst LNG vessel in-
house. According to company sources, the group sees potential
to grow further in the LNG sector.
In another sign of the younger Mr Economous
entrepreneurial mettle, he has headed up the $500m Oceanus
fund for investment in distressed shipping assets.
Meanwhile, the key Nasdaq-listed ultra-deepwater drilling
arm of the group, DryShips subsidiary Ocean Rig UDW, appears
to be largely under the supervision of Mr Economous nephew,
Anthony Kandylidis.
Mr Kandylidis, 35, is seen internally as the current right
hand of the globetrotting tycoon and has already amassed a
formidable curriculum vitae.
He spent four years at OMI, chiey in the commercial
department, and has previously described this start to his
career as being in the right place, at the right time, with the
right people.
In 2006, Mr Kandylidis founded OceanFreight Inc as a
shipowner with a eet of bulkers and tankers, which he took
public the following year with a listing on Nasdaq.
Over the next four years, the company was repositioned as an
owner of large modern bulk carriers with a eet of four capesizes
and two panamaxes in the water as well as ve very large ore
carriers on order in China.
The company, at the time majority-owned by Mr Kandylidis,
was absorbed by DryShips in a 2011 merger valued at $238m.
Mr Kandylidis, who is said to be a frequent traveller to Ocean
Rigs headquarters in Norway but keeps tabs on other aspects
of the groups shipping business as well, graduated from Brown
University in the US and obtained his masters in ocean systems
management at MIT.
GEORGE Economous shipping empire has grown increasingly
diversied in recent years. While the dry bulk and tanker sectors
are far from being ignored by the entrepreneur, it should come
as no surprise that investments have favoured two hot sectors
that are outshining the rest of the shipping markets: liqueed
natural gas carriers and ofshore. Although Mr Economou has a
highly capable team of executives backing him, it is noticeable
that the roles of spearheading development in these two key
sectors have gone to close kin.
Son Christos Economou has taken charge of the Cardif
Marine groups move into the LNG sector and is said to be
personally handling this part of the business empire.
After majoring in quantitative economics at Tufts University
in the US and obtaining his masters at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Christos Economou started his professional career
as a Wall Street M&A banker but quickly turned to shipping. He
joined Heidmar and its tanker chartering and trading platform
before deciding to enter the private family shipping business.
In addition to the diversication into LNG, he has established
an in-house investments and trading division, which he
continues to oversee, and is understood to also be involved in
the day-to-day management of the tanker division.
The LNG division comprises a recently acquired 2004-built
145,000 cu m vessel, Fugi LNG, which continues to be managed
for Cardif by sellers Oman Shipping, as well as four 159,800 cu
m newbuildings for delivery in 2014 from Daewoo Shipbuilding
& Marine Engineering. Altogether, the move represents an
investment of more than $1bn.
The younger Mr Economous challenges include not only
chartering of the new vessels, one of which has recently been
xed for close to four years at what is described as a very strong
Economou family
GREECE
Key roles for kin in Economou empire
LNG remit for son Christos while nephew Anthony Kandylidis looks after offshore
Offshore focus:
Anthony Kandylidis
Driving LNG:
Christos Economou
GREECE
Book 1.indb 10 16/05/2012 16:40
in Greek shipping until some years later. From the start
the focus was on purpose-built newbuildings and a high
quality, environmental management culture.
So far Arcadia has taken delivery of 16 aframax and
suezmax tanker newbuildings from top South Korean
builders Hyundai and Samsung. Meanwhile, bulker sister
company Aegean Bulk, established in 2000, has compiled
an all-new eet of 13 bulkers ranging from supramaxes to
kamsarmaxes. The rst of two new eco-type kamsarmax
newbuilds is due to be added to the eet this June and will
take the combined eet to 31 vessels, all newly built for the
group. The long-term commitment to the industry could not
be plainer.
Joining Arcadia as a recipient of the Green Award, Aegean
Bulk became the rst dry cargo owner worldwide to earn this
distinction. From the inception of the shipping operation,
the younger generation has had a major say in moulding
the group as a model tanker and bulker owner, combining
principle with a shrewd grasp of the commercial benets of
running a quality operation.
Constantinos Angelopoulos family
GREECE
Educated in economics and enterprise
IF A good grasp of economics and entrepreneurship are
cornerstones of success in shipping today, Panayotis and
George Angelopoulos are certainly qualied to shine.
Father Constantinos Angelopoulos has been acclaimed
for the vision and inspiration that led to the emergence of
Arcadia Shipmanagement as a blue-chip tanker owner and
of Aegean Bulk, its counterpart in dry bulk carriers. But, for
many years now, both sons have been intimately involved in
the familys diversied interests, including shipping, steel
and the Olympiacos basketball club among other things.
Associates say that it has been George, 18 months junior
to Panayiotis, who has taken the lead on the shipping side
although the brothers, sitting in adjacent ofces at the
groups Athens headquarters, are said to co-operate uidly.
Panayiotis Angelopoulos obtained an economics degree
at Boston University while George Angelopoulos, now 37,
received an MBA in entrepreneurship from nearby Babson
College, a recognised top school for entrepreneurial leaders.
Arcadia was launched in 1998 and immediately took a
distinctive approach that would not gain extensive currency
Constantinos Angelopoulos sons are well-equipped for life at the helm
The Angelopoulos brothers:
George and Panayotis
GREECE
Book 1.indb 11 16/05/2012 16:40
Tsavliris family
GREECE
Tsavliris pulls in a third
generation of family members
THE second generation Nicolas, George and Andreas
followed in their fathers footsteps, and a handful of their
children are doing the same.
Like their forebears they are enthused by the salvors
mission, dedicated to protecting lives, property and the
environment, the company tells Lloyds List.
There are currently four ofspring from the third
generation working within the family company and involved
with management across the business. This includes
Nicolas daughters, Claire and Alexandra, who joined in
2001 and 2007 respectively. And Georges son Alexander
joined the family business in 2007 at the same time as
Andreas daughter, Mariela.
This young generation of management has brought
a fresh and innovative way of thinking to the company,
and their aim is to continue to keep Tsavliris as one of the
most active emergency response contractors for maritime
casualties worldwide, the company says. In addition, other
Tsavliris children are involved with the maritime industry.
Andreas son Alexander is currently working as a broker at
ICAP Shipping on its sale and purchase desk.
Tsavliris Salvage Groups history can be traced back to the
1920s, when Alexander Tsavliris arrived in Piraeus, Greece,
and as a young boy got a job working on a small harbour
tug.
With help from his uncle who was involved in the coal
bunkering trade and along with his brothers, Alexander
bought a small wooden tug, which he worked on in the day
and juggled with night school.
He eventually established his own business in 1939 in
London, and at the end of the Second World War purchased
his rst ship, which was followed by a building a eet of dry
cargo ships.
Alexander returned to Piraeus in 1956 and in 1964
established a salvage operation by purchasing a tug, the
rst of what would become known as Nisos tugs.
By the mid-1970s, the company had 15 tugs on station in
Greece and throughout the world.
Now, after over half a century at the forefront of the
international salvage industry, Tsavliris has welcomed a
third generation of the family to the company.
Offspring of Nicolas, George and Andreas work for salvage company
Like their forebears they are
enthused by the salvors mission,
dedicated to protecting lives,
property and the environment
Relatives in tow:
from left, Alexandra,
Alexander, Mariela
and Claire Tsavliris
GREECE
Book 1.indb 12 16/05/2012 16:40
Panayotides family
GREECE
Villy Panayotides passes
on a passion for shipping
ISMINI Panayotides is already being tipped as a rising star after
six years as business development ofcer of Excel Maritime
Carriers, the New York-listed dry bulk giant headed by her
father, Greek shipowner Villy Panayotides.
Since September 2008 she has also served as secretary of the
board of directors.
In fact, she has been steeped in the maritime business since
the age of 10.
I remember spending almost all of my summer holidays
from a young age at our Piraeus ofces at the time, contributing
in my own way such as distributing telexes among the
departments, sending out faxes and even coming up with names
for new vessels added into our eet, says Ms Panayotides.
Practical knowledge continued to be accumulated in
shipping during her teen years, working stints in the chartering
and operations departments of Excels management subsidiary,
Maryville Maritime.
To that is now added boardroom and decision-making
experience, plus a rm grasp of technical, commercial and
nancing matters, according to insiders.
Before doing a masters course in shipping, trade and nance
at Cass Business School, London, Ms Panayotides graduated
from Boston Universitys management school and is a very
frequent visitor to the US which she considers almost a second
home.
She tells Lloyds List: There is denitely a steep learning
curve in being an executive of a publicly listed company.
You are exposed to the public markets and have to be in a
position to continuously show your face and capabilities out
there, she says. You invest a lot of time and efort to build and
develop relationships with the investor community, investment
banks and analysts, while trying at the same time to satisfy both
the short-term expectations of the street as well as the long-term
goals of the company.
Thus you always need to be formulating a balanced
corporate strategy, setting the right targets for the future, while
selecting, developing and maintaining the right people around
you.
My father has been a mentor and great teacher all along,
she says. He was always very supportive and encouraging of
me and my brothers joining the family business.
Looking ahead, Ms Panayotides says her main ambition is
to preserve and continue building on the reputation of Excel,
currently the operator of 47 bulk carriers, and to grow it further
as a leader in the industry.
But she would also like to bring more of a womans spirit
and perspective to our shipping community, which is still
dominated by men.
Daughter Ismini says ambition is to preserve and build on Excels reputation
My father has been a mentor
and great teacher all along, he
was always very supportive
and encouraging of me and my
brothers joining the family business
Ismini Panayotides:
plans to build on
Excels reputation
GREECE
Book 1.indb 13 16/05/2012 16:40
Dragnis family
GREECE
Dragnis sons well versed in shipping cycles
JOHN Dragnis became chief executive of London-listed
Goldenport Holdings on April 4 this year, succeeding father
Paris Dragnis. The 34-year-old, who holds a masters in
shipping, trade and nance from Cass Business School,
London, already has 11 years under his belt in the family-led
shipping business. This includes not only Goldenport, which
controls a 25-strong eet of bulkers and containerships, but
formative roles in privately held tanker company Oceangold
and a large super-yacht business, Atalanta Golden Yachts.
I and most others of my generation lack the in-depth
knowledge that the previous generation had as men who
came from the sea and spent their lives working on ships
long-term. That was a lot of their success story.
He adds: Some of us have spent a few months on board,
but it is not the same thing.
While this is put down as a disadvantage, it is ofset in Mr
Dragnis view by a diferent skill-set, developed to address
changes in the industry. We have banking and corporate
requirements which the previous generation did not generally
have to deal with. So our advantages include strong banking
relations, more options for nancing and a focus on forging
long-term relationships with very corporate counterparties,
he says.
Mr Dragnis acknowledges that he has been able to draw
upon his fathers rst-hand knowledge of ships as well as
past shipping cycles and crises. As far as he could, he made
me understand the actual business behind the numbers on
the spreadsheet. It is important to know both sides the
ships and cargoes as well as the balance sheet.
Now chief executive of Goldenport, son John says
his father has taught him to be cautious
His upbringing has also stressed the need for prudence.
Our character is to want to grow and I share this with many
of my colleagues. But I have also been taught to be cautious
to look behind and not only forward. That means you might
not always grow as fast as you might, but I would prefer to
grow slower and safer, he says.
Mr Dragnis believes that the recent historic peaks and
troughs of the industry will prove invaluable experience for
todays young owners. We are gathering lessons. We have
seen a whole cycle in a relatively short time.
Younger brother Vassilis, 31, has followed him into
shipping and is currently contributing mainly to the tanker
side. We both love this business and hopefully we will be in
it for a long time to come, says Mr Dragnis.
Suzanna and Odysseas Laskaridis
GREECE
Laskaridis family looks to the future
Cousins Suzanna and Odysseas have dry bulk ambitions for family business
BROTHERS Panos and Thanassis Laskaridis would appear
to have left little to chance regarding succession in their
business, with families of four and six children, respectively.
But the numbers are not excessive given the variety of
ventures in which the Laskaridis clan is involved.
Although the brothers are perhaps best known as
shipowners and especially as major league reefer owners
the group has extensive interests in the hospitality business,
one of the jewels of which is the famous Grand Bretagne
hotel in the centre of Athens. It is also the second-largest
shareholder in Aegean Airlines, now the countrys leading
carrier.
John Dragnis:
in control at Goldenport
GREECE
Book 1.indb 14 16/05/2012 16:40
ALWAYS forward-thinking, the Martinos shipping family
began preparing for the arrival of a new generation of owners
and managers fully 20 years ago.
Then, the three brothers heading the familys highly
successful shipping company, Thenamaris, amicably
determined to separate their interests. This was both to ensure
that the eet under one roof did not exceed what they felt was a
comfortable upper size limit, but also to diferentiate the family
assets to create a clearer future for their various descendants.
In 1991, eldest brother Thanassis Martinos created Eastern
Mediterranean Maritime as his own venture, while the
youngest of the trio, Andreas Martinos, followed suit ve
years later by launching Minerva Marine. Dinos Martinos has
remained at the helm of Thenamaris which, over the years, has
been recognised as a forerunner of enlightened management
practices such as awarding staf ownership shares in company
vessels. The original family company, the inspiration of family
matriarch Athina Martinou, was founded in 1970 and over the
years has been a springboard for the careers of more than 30
Those are just two ventures in a wide range of business
pursuits outside the maritime sphere, including both active
and passive ownership interests, in which the familys new
generation may choose to be involved with.
The shipping business is growing more diverse, too. After
many years of specialising in reefers, Laskaridis Shipping
extended its activities into high seas logistics services, factory
trawlers and, more recently, in reaction to a waning market
for refrigerated vessels, into bulk carriers and tankers. It also
controls two shiprepair yards.
It remains one of the few major owners internationally to
continue renewing its reefer eet, however.
The eldest ofspring of both brothers have been drawn
into, respectively, child psychology and the afliate business,
Lampsa Hellenic Hotels.
Leading the next generations involvement in the shipping
business appear to be Panos second daughter and Thanassis
second son. Suzanna Laskaridis, 30, joined the company
about four years ago and cousin Odysseas Laskaridis, 27,
followed about two years later.
Insiders say they are spending most of their time in the
dry bulk and tanker areas of the operation. Suzanna and
Odysseas have already been in the limelight, stepping up on
behalf of Laskaridis Shipping last December to accept the Dry
other Greek shipowners.
Today, the three Martinos groups control more than 100
ships including tankers, dry bulk carriers, containerships and
liqueed natural gas carrier newbuilds on order.
It has been Thenamaris that has spread its wings most
widely into diferent sectors with a recent diversication into
boxships and 2011 orders for a rst three LNG carriers. Thirty-
something brothers Yiannis and Nikolas are said to have taken
decisive roles in the management of Thenamaris and are
setting a more corporate course for what is already a widely
admired company.
At Minerva, which has concentrated primarily on tankers,
Andreas Martinos son Andreas has already become highly
inuential in the companys leadership.
The succession picture is a little harder to plot at Eastern
Mediterranean. Thanassis Martinos daughters are successfully
pursuing careers in medical research and politics, with Georgia
Martinou being elected as a rst-time member of parliament in
the May 2012 general election.
Cargo Company of the Year trophy at the Lloyds List Greek
Shipping Awards.
There, they conrmed the company will seek to further
diversify into dry bulk in future, expanding the eet at a
modest and conservative pace.
Martinos family
GREECE
Martinos family quick off the
mark with succession strategy
Three brothers separated shipping interests early on
Championing dry bulk:
Suzanna and Odysseas Laskaridis
GREECE
Book 1.indb 15 16/05/2012 16:40
GERMANY
supervisory board and one of his two daughters also works for
the group and is responsible for the real estate division.
Besides the difcult situation facing most major shipping
markets, the most important challenge for the young chief
executive has been winning over the staf. Of course, there
are things you do diferently, and winning the trust of the
employees is very important, he says.
At present, he does not have plans to make major changes
to the business strategy. The diversied eet structure has
been an advantage during the past years, Mr Hartmann says.
The group owns containerships, gas tankers, ofshore vessels
and bulk carriers as well as product tankers and multi-
purpose vessels.
Hartmanns eet has grown rapidly during the past years,
so ordering newbuildings is not much of a priority right now.
During the past ve years our eet has more than doubled.
Now we have to see that the organisation grows accordingly,
he says.
The groups construction of a new ofce building in Cyprus is
just one such example of how it intends to full that ambition.
TAKING the helm of German shipping group Hartmann in
Leer was always an option for Niels Hartmann. His father,
Alfred Hartmann, started the company in the 1980s with a
single vessel and built it into a giant with more than 130 ships.
But Niels Hartmann wanted to keep his options open and
decided to study business management at the University of
Kiel rather than train at a shipping company.
I took business studies not least to have other possibilities,
the 37-year-old says, but nevertheless his interest in the
industry was clearly established as his PhD thesis was titled
National Location Factors for Shipowning Companies.
After a post-doctorate internship at P&O Nedlloyds ofces
in Sydney, he decided to give shipping a go. In 2004, I entered
the company and started to build up the ofshore unit, he says.
In 2007, he was appointed a member of the management board.
One year later, he became chief executive shortly before the
nancial crisis started, bringing him his rst big task.
Initially, his father continued to be very active, but then he
pulled out of the daily business step by step, Mr Hartmann
says. Alfred Hartmann is still connected to the company via the
Niels Hartmann
Hartmann handed the reins early on
Niels Hartmann found himself at the helm just four years after joining the group
Neils Hartmann:
winning the trust of
employees is vital
GERMANY
Book 1.indb 16 16/05/2012 16:40
GERMANY
Erck and Bertram Rickmers
Resilience remains a Rickmers family trait
THE name Rickmers has a long tradition in shipping. In
1834, Rickmer Clasen Rickmers, who came from the island of
Heligoland, founded a shipbuilding company in Bremerhaven.
Today, the brothers Bertram and Erck Rickmers represent
the fth generation of the family and are among the most
recognisable faces in the container industry.
If there is one thing that the Rickmers brothers know very
well, it is the ups and downs of the industry because there was
virtually nothing left of the family business by the 1980s, just
a famous name.
We had to start from zero, Bertram Rickmers told Lloyds
List back in June 2009 at the 175th anniversary celebrations of
Rickmers involvement in shipping. So we had to [risk] more
and work harder. We never became fat and lazy, but were
always pushing ahead, remembering what past generations
had done and wanting to achieve the same.
We grew up in a family that was always talking about
shipping and shipbuilding. All our lives were somehow
connected [with the industry], so it is very logical that we
ended up in this business, he added.
In 1992, the brothers jointly founded KG house Nordcapital,
but later decided to go their separate ways. Today, Nordcapital
is part of Erck Rickmers group of companies. It also includes
tramp owner ER Schifahrt, which is about to merge with
fellow company Komroski to create the worlds largest eet of
charter containerships.
Bertram Rickmers owns tramp owner Rickmers Reederei,
KG house Atlantic as well as heavylift liner company Rickmers-
Linie. Bertram Rickmers recently made the headlines when
he appointed Ron Widdows to lead his holding company, a
rather ironic move because Mr Widdows became known in
Hamburg when he made a bid for Hapag-Lloyd as NOL chief
executive, which was sharply opposed by Hamburgs maritime
community.
But the brothers do have one shared venture as they jointly
own London-based shipbroker Harper Petersen, the company
where Erck Rickmers worked after his apprenticeship at Ernst
Russ.
Both brothers have several children: Erck has ve daughters,
Bertram two daughters and one son. None of their children
work in the industry or at one of the family companies yet
but the potential is certainly there. Rather telling was Erck
Rickmers statement back in 2009 that history is only relevant
if it can be continued.
Brothers Erck and Bertram have frst-hand experience of shippings high and lows
Relative values:
Bertram and Erck Rickmers have
revived the familys shipping reputation
with their separate companies.
GERMANY
Book 1.indb 18 16/05/2012 16:40
GERMANY
Schulte family
Schultes size up shipping opportunity
Separate branches of family share strong maritime roots
ONE family, two companies has become the motto for the
well-known Rickmers brothers entrepreneurial ventures. But
they are not alone with this approach, as it also applies to the
Schulte family.
In 1882, Johann Hermann Schulte and Christoph Bruns
founded a shipbroking company Schulte & Bruns but today, the
Schulte family is active in two separate groups, the Bernhard
Schulte group, led by Heinrich Schulte, and Reederei Thomas
Schulte started by his brother. The latter is now led by Thomas
son Alexander.
It was a very speedy transition from my father to me;
shortly after I came into the company, my father started to pull
out, says 44-year-old Alexander Schulte.
When Mr Schulte took over the helm at Reederei Thomas
Schulte 10 years ago, the company was still comparatively
small. This changed quickly as he rode the wave of booming
shipping markets and expanded the company strongly until it
became one of the worlds top 20 tramp owners.
Now we are facing a totally diferent landscape in the
shipping industry, he says, and he readily admits that the
company must adapt to the changed environment.
Like many others, the company used to rely on the
stream of capital from KG funds to nance its growth, but
Mr Schulte does not expect this source of funding to return
in the near future.
Newbuilding orders are no longer the order of the day for
Reederei Thomas Schulte. Instead, the company is seeking
other ways to secure future growth. At the moment, we want
to focus on third-party management as an integrated asset
manager, he says. Possible clients could be banks seeking
partners for ships that they have ended up owning.
Prior to taking over his fathers company, Mr Schulte worked
in the shipping industry in several companies in New York,
Hong Kong and Cyprus. Before that he did an apprenticeship
at Hamburg owner August Bolten. After the rst year, it was
clear that I would remain in the industry, he says. Mr Schulte
has one six-year-old daughter. But there is no rush for the next
generation to become involved in the company. I want to do
this for 30 more years, he says.
His uncle Heinrich Schulte has seven children, two sons
and ve daughters. So, there is a lot of potential to keep his
company in family hands.
GERMANY
Alexander Oetker
Oetker heir follows in grandfathers footsteps
THE connection between Germanys food industry dynasty
Oetker and the shipping industry is not always obvious
because the Oetker name does not appear in the daily business
of its afliate Hamburg Sd.
But shipping has been part of the Oetker family business for
four generations, ever since Richard Kaselowsky, stepfather
of Rudolf August Oetker who was the grandson of the group
founder, acquired shares in Hamburg Sd in the 1930s. As a
result of the share purchase, Rudolf August Oetker got a seat
on the supervisory board of the liner company. Oetker then
expanded its stake to 49% and later acquired all the shares.
Reportedly, Rudolf August Oetker was so enthusiastic
about the prospects for the South America trades that he
wanted Hamburg Sd to engage in a major eet expansion
immediately. However, he was thwarted by cautious bankers.
Alexander Oetker is building his own feet at AO Shipping
Still convinced that it was just the right time for newbuildings,
he set up his own shipping company, RAO, which is today the
tramp arm of the Hamburg Sd group.
Established Hamburg owners derogatively called the rst
RAO ships the baking powder eet, as the product once laid
the foundation for the Oetker conglomerate.
His grandson Alexander seems to be heading in the same
direction. He initially worked for Hamburg Sd, but then set
up his own shipping company before he was 30 years old,
for the sake of freedom, observers suggest.
Now 37, the nephew of the current Oetker group chairman
Rudolf Oetker, today heads AO Shipping. The name remains
a reminder of Hamburg Sds tramp shipping arm, and
the company also has business ties with his familys major
shipping group.
GERMANY
Book 1.indb 19 16/05/2012 16:40
GERMANY
GERMANY
Nikolaus Sches
Dhle family
DSR acquisition led to Laeisz change of guard
Second generation still in control at Peter Dhle
NIKOLAUS Sches was working at a shipbroker in New York
when his father called in 1993 and asked whether he would
like to join the family-owned company F. Laeisz, a traditional
German shipowner founded in 1824 and well known for its
Flying-P Liner ships.
At that time, Mr Sches father, Nikolaus W. was preparing his
bid for the former state-owned East German shipping company
Deutsche Seereederei. My father said he would only do it if I
joined the company, says Mr Sches, who was 27 years old at
the time.
The bid for DSR was successful. With hindsight, it was ideal
to start the generation change with a big project, Mr Sches
says. There were no opportunities for conict as it was a very
intense period.
According to Mr Sches, he has had almost no quarrels with
his father, with whom he discusses company strategy regularly.
Laeisz started to grow its eet in the following years but it
stopped its containership newbuilding programme in 2006, just
before the nancial crisis hit the industry.
This decision was not based on anticipation of the crisis but
more on a gut feeling, says Mr Sches. However, the company
did not completely withdraw from new building as it ordered
eight car carriers, of which four will be delivered this year.
For the near future, the company will tread cautiously, says
Mr Sches, who stresses that it still has sufcient liquidity
reserves. You have to be careful that the money you spend on
opportunities is not the money you lack in the end, he says.
Nikolaus Sches was brought in to help with bid for former East German company
Son Jochen and cousin Christoph are managing owners
Leading Laeisz:
Nikolaus Sches
Laeisz has a eet of containerships, bulkers, gas tankers
and pure car carriers. Some 30% of the companys ships y
the German ag, which is far more than the average of German
shipowners.
Mr Sches has three sisters, who hold a stake in Laeisz,
but who do not work for the company. His three children are
between eight and 12 years old. We will see whether they want
to join the company one day or are suited for it, says Mr Sches,
who does not want to put any pressure on them.
He adds that his brother-in-law, Jan-Wilhelm Schuchmann of
tug operator Bugsier Reederei also has children. We have a lot
of potential successors, Mr Sches adds.
PETER Dhle Schifahrts-KG is a diferent beast compared
with most other German tramp owners not only because of
the sheer size of the eet under its control, but also because of
its business model.
Unlike many of its peers, the company has not relied much
on the KG nancing, although it does own a considerable stake
in the KG house HCI. Its strength stems not only from its owned
eet, but also from the vessels for which it does the exclusive
chartering and which belong to a number of smaller owners.
The company was founded in 1956 by Peter Dhle and Robert
Bornhofen under the name of Robert Bornhofen, but Peter
Dhle seized sole control in 1961 and renamed it after himself.
Today the company is headed Peter Dhles son Jochen and his
cousin Christoph Dhle. Both are managing owners.
There is potential for keeping the company in the familys
hands: Jochen Dhle has two sons of which one is already
actively working in the industry. Christoph Dhle has two
daughters.
GERMANY
Book 1.indb 20 16/05/2012 16:40
GERMANY
Jan Meyer
Seventh
generation steps
up at Meyer Werft
THE German shipbuilding industry has been decimated
over past decades but one family-owned yard in Papenburg,
far away from the North Sea coast, has resisted this negative
trend. Today, Meyer Werft focuses on cruiseships and has
become the most well-known shipbuilder in Germany and
yards management team has recently been boosted with
the addition of another Meyer family member.
Since 1982, Bernard Meyer has been the public face of
the yard, which was set up in 1795. Thirty years later, his
son Jan, one of the entrepreneurs ve children, has been
appointed a managing director. The 35-year-old has worked
for the family company since 2008, most recently heading
the technical ofces responsible for the construction of
cruiseships.
Prior to joining Meyer Werft, Jan Meyer completed his
masters studies in naval architecture at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Boston. He then gained experience
working for yards in South Korea and Denmark. He did his
doctorate closer to home at Jacobs University in Bremen.
When the appointment was announced, Meyer Werft
said its management will be rejuvenated and extended
in order to meet the challenges of the hard international
competition.
So far, Meyer Werft has coped well with market
challenges. The yard has relocated from the heart of the city
to the outskirts and resisted demands to set up shop closer
to the sea.
Bernard Meyer has certainly made his mark during his
tenure a mere three years after he took the helm, the yard
delivered its rst cruise newbuilding and all eyes are now
focused on what seventh-generation Jan can deliver.
HINNEBERG is not exactly a household name in shipping
circles. Yet for some of the most powerful shipowners in the
business, the Hamburg shipbroker Walter J Hinneberg is
second to none. For the past 60 years, this discreet rm has
been at the heart of newbuilding negotiations, concentrating
in particular on the containership sector.
The walls of the modest-sized ofces on the Ballindamm are
lined with hundreds of photos of ships representing just some of
those whose order, sale or purchase they have handled. Yet the
rm manages to maintain a remarkably low prole, undoubtedly
helped by the fact that the entire workforce consists of only a
handful of staf four brokers and two secretaries.
When founder Walter Hinneberg snr died eight years ago,
his twin sons Christian and John Walter continued to run the
business. Only recently have they added some fresh blood,
including Christians son Paul who completed a two-year
shipping trainee programme run by Hamburg Sd before
joining the rm in 2009, and Leo Von Rufn Zisiadis.
Paul Hinneberg says he never felt pushed to become a
broker, but with connections to shipping on both sides of the
family, it was a natural path to follow.
His paternal grandfather had a fascinating history. Walter
Hinneberg snr qualied as a chemist before stumbling into
shipping through a friend whose family had lost its eet during
the Second World War and wanted to rebuild it. Then came a
chance meeting that was to change his life forever.
Mr Hinneberg snr had been attending a reception on board
a tanker ordered by Aristotle Onassis from the Howaldtswerke
Hamburg shipyard. Afterwards, he ofered a lift to the head
of Howaldtswerke Kiel, who was keen to build up his citys
shipbuilding industry. And that was the start of a shipbroking
rm that has gone from strength to strength ever since.
While Germanys shipbuilding activities may have waned,
the Hinnebergs forged close links with South Korean shipyards
as shipowners began to place orders in Asia rather than Europe.
Walter J Hinneberg remained active in the business until he
died in 2004, with his children maintaining the trust and loyalty
of those who had worked with their father over the years.
And now the third generation is moving into a business that
has played a pivotal role in the growth of container shipping
but has managed to retain the personal touch that only a small
family unit can genuinely provide.
Paul Hinneberg believes the rm has ourished by focusing
on a few clients rather than trying to do everything.
And while family connections will open doors, his challenge
now is to establish a client base of his own.
Jan Meyer takes top management role
GERMANY
Hinneberg family
Hinneberg family offers
the personal touch
Tightknit team at Hamburg shipbroker
Meyer Werft managing directors:
Jan Meyer, Bernard Meyer and
Lambert Kruse
GERMANY
Book 1.indb 21 16/05/2012 16:40
BEING a family-owned company might have spared German
shipping companies John T. Essberger and Deutsche Afrika-
Linien the worst during the past years of crisis. The company,
which is led in the third generation by brothers Eberhart and
Heinrich von Rantzau, did not join the ordering spree of the
pre-crisis years, which has saved it some serious trouble.
You are more cautious if its your money that you are playing
with, says Heinrich von Rantzau.
And the future as a company led by family members seems
to be secure as the Von Rantzau brothers have ve children
between them. While Eberharts son and daughter are both
still of school age, his brother Heinrich has three sons and all
three have shipping experience.
Johann Heinrich, the oldest of the three, holds a masters
degree from the London School of Economics. And, says
Heinrich von Rantzau, he has also discovered his interest
for the shipping industry. At the moment, Johann Heinrich
is working in the chartering and operations department at
tramp owner giant Peter Dhle.
Georg, 27, has several internships at international
shipping companies and freight forwarders and brokers on
his curriculum vitae and he holds a certicate as a chartered
shipbroker. He also has a masters degree in shipping and
nance from Londons Cass Business School. At the moment,
he works in the chartering and operations department of
Hamburg tramp owner Leonhardt & Blumberg.
Aged 26, Christian is the youngest. After an apprenticeship
at container line Hamburg Sd, he is currently completing his
MBA in London.
However, it will be some time until one or more of the
children takes a leading position in the family companies as
both Eberhart and Heinrich von Rantzau are keen to stay at
the helm for a few more years. All three have said that they
want to build up a career outside the company rst, stresses
Heinrich von Rantzau.
The group of companies, which was founded in 1924 by
John T. Essberger, the grandfather of Eberhart and Heinrich
von Rantzau, today operates a diversied eet of more than
30 vessels, which includes chemical tankers, containerships
and bulk carriers.
GERMANY
Von Rantzau family
Von Rantzau brothers on track to
keep the business in the family
Clan behind John T. Essberger and DAL have several heirs with an interest in shipping
GERMANY
Offen family
Offen has earmarked joint successors
DESPITE the fact that his father was also a shipowner, Claus-
Peter Ofen did not inherit a shipping company unlike many
others in the industry. He started out with one ship, which
he bought at an auction in 1971. Now, his company, Reederei
Claus-Peter Ofen, is an industry heavyweight.
The next generation will probably not have to tread the
same path. Along with one of his cousins, one of Claus-Peter
Ofens sons is already managing director in his fathers
company. Both men are meant to take over the company
jointly one day.
In one of his rare interviews, Claus-Peter Ofen said that his
company was big and complex and much of its success was
based on his personal network so he believes it is a good idea
But German owner has no plans to step down yet
to put the future responsibility for managing it on two people
rather than on his son alone.
At the moment, Mr Ofen is still holding tightly to the helm
of his company, which is one of the leading providers of
charter containerships in the world. His position is president
and owner and, according to people who know him, he
so enjoys being in the drivers seat that he is unlikely to
relinquish control any time soon.
The company has a eet more than 100 containerships
between 1,500 teu and 14,000 teu.
A separate company, the Claus-Peter Ofen
Tankschifreederei, or Ofen Tankers, is active in the tanker
business.
GERMANY
Book 1.indb 22 16/05/2012 16:40
Moller family
DENMARK
Maersk Mc-Kinney Mollers
grandsons rising up the ranks
MAERSK Mc-Kinney Mollers grandsons have managed to
keep a remarkably low prole, despite belonging to one of
the worlds most powerful shipping dynasties.
But when their grandfather died in April at the age of
98, they suddenly found themselves in the spotlight as
speculation began over whether another Moller could one
day lead Denmarks biggest company.
Mr Mollers death did not create any internal corporate
upheavals. Michael Pram Rasmussen has been chairman
since 2003 when Mr Moller retired from that position.
He is survived by three daughters, Leise, Kirsten and Ane.
The oldest and youngest are both involved in the business,
with Ane Maersk Mc-Kinney Uggla particularly close to her
late father.
And it is her two sons who are carrying on the family
tradition, while a third grandson, Morten Olufsen, is on
the board of the AP Moller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Mller
Foundation.
While Mr Moller was alive, it was relatively easy for Johan
and Robert Uggla to work their way up the corporate ladder
without attracting too much attention, helped by their
Swedish surname.
While almost an iconic gure, Mr Moller had kept his
distance from the press while his three daughters also
preferred to stay in the background.
But in this media age, the next generation will nd it
much harder avoid attention, particularly as they move into
more high-prole jobs.
Early last year, Johan Uggla was appointed managing
director of APM Terminals-Cargo Service in Aarhus, which
Johan and Robert Uggla are steadily climbing the
corporate ladder at Denmarks biggest company
Moving up at Maersk:
Robert and Johan Uggla
SCANDINAVIA
Book 1.indb 23 16/05/2012 16:40
LAVINIA CORP.
LASKARIDIS SHIPPING CO. LTD.
...cool and dry
Head Office
Laskaridis Shipping Co.Ltd.
5, Xenias street & Ch. Trikoupi
Athens, 14562
Greece
Tel: +30.210.6284200
Fax: +30.210.8089710/11/12
Email: athens @ laskaridis.gr
On time...
A globally integrated shipping company

Transportation (reefer, wet, dry)
Shipyards
Ship agency
Logistics
Terminals
Fuel Supplies at High Seas
Fishing
Kathrine and Cecilie Fredriksen
NORWAY
THEY appear high up on most lists of ofspring of
billionaires, the more lurid of these lists placing them just
below Paris and Nikki Hilton as the hottest heiresses of big
fortunes.
But unlike the ubiquitous party animal Hilton sisters,
youre not likely to read about the antics of the 27-year-old
Fredriksen twins on the front pages of the tabloid press.
Instead of blurred paparazzi shots of them falling out of
taxis at the end of the night, images of the Norwegian pair
tend to be tightly choreographed press shots of them in the
boardroom, glaring intently into the lens, or either side of
their billionaire shipping tycoon father John Fredriksen
at an international shipping conference, as if they were
protecting him from the demands and attentions of the
industry.
Of course, that is not to say they eschew glamour far
from it. Both sisters exude wealth and privilege, standing
out in an industry that tends to be dominated by middle-
aged men who would probably not know a Louboutin heel
if it passed directly under their noses. One unveried story
about Kathrine was that she broke her leg in an accident
Fredriksen twins being taken onboard
Kathrine and Cecilie both hold directorships at many Fredriksen companies
handles more than half Denmarks container volumes. His
younger brother Robert recently took over as chief executive
of Svitzer, AP Moller-Maersks harbour towage and salvage
subsidiary.
Both are said to be down-to-earth, personable, and
approachable, with neither expecting special treatment
despite their family connections. If they are being quietly
fast-tracked up the corporate ladder, it is being done in a
way that has not caused any apparent resentment from work
colleagues.
Both are getting to know various parts of the business,
although their career paths have taken quite diferent routes.
Johan Uggla, who is 35, has focused on the ports
division, spending time most recently in Brazil as project
implementation manager for an APM Terminals facility in
Itajai, before his move to Aarhus.
He is unappable and easy to talk to, say associates.
He understands the need to live up to the high standards set
by his grandfather, but does not pull rank.
Younger brother Robert, who had a spell with an
investment bank before joining AP Moller-Maersk, has been
more involved in nancial matters, working for Maersk
Line initially where he was part of the team responsible for
managing the takeover of P&O Nedlloyd. He moved on to be
country manager in Dubai.
Immediately prior to his new job at Svitzer, he was
managing director of Brostrm and in charge of the
integration into Maersk Tankers. At Svitzer, which has a
eet of more than 500 vessels, he will head up a workforce
of 4,500 people.
Those who have worked with Robert Uggla describe him
as very bright, with a relaxed, easy-going manner and the
charm of his grandfather.
He is highly intelligent, very articulate, and has a nice
air about him, says one former colleague
But there are no guarantees that either one will eventually
rise to the top of AP Moller-Maersk, the business that dates
back to 1904 when their great-grandfather Arnold Peter
Moller set up the Steamship Company Svendborg.
The group has been transformed in recent years as it
adapts to changing times. The appointment of an outsider,
former Carlsberg boss Nils Andersen, as group chief
executive a few years ago suggested that Moller family
members will not automatically command the most senior
jobs in future, regardless of their heritage.
It is not a denite, says one ex-Maersk executive.
Whoever is appointed chief executive or group chairman
in future will have to have been selected on merit, and
not because of their parentage, say those who know the
company well.
In the front line:
the Fredriksen twins
SCANDINAVIA
Book 1.indb 25 16/05/2012 16:40
and had to use crutches, which she then decorated with
Swarovski crystals.
And therein lies the rub when it comes to the Fredriksen
twins public image. For every compliment you read
posted by bloggers and industry commentators about their
dedication to business and their deserving success, there
are two spite-fuelled comments referring to parasitic, Euro-
trash ofspring of billionaires, the fortunate beneciaries
of nepotism. One wonders if such vitriol would exist if they
were young male heirs to the Fredriksen fortune.
What is certain is that Mr Fredriksen is keen that they
earn their eventual places at the top of the group, ensuring
that they learn the shipping and energy industry intimately
by taking up a number of varied roles across the Fredriksen
empire.
For instance, Kathrine, having graduated from the
European Business School in London, has been a board
member of oil trading company Arcadia Petroleum since
2008. She also sits on the board of ofshore company
Seadrill, Independent Tankers and Golar LNG. She decided
not too stand for re-election to the board of tanker company
Frontline in 2010, leaving the way open for her sister to take
up the role.
Cecilie, a graduate from London Metropolitan University
in business and Spanish, has an equally full CV, with a place
on the board of Frontline, Aktiv Kapital, Frontline, Seawell,
Northern Ofshore, Ship Finance International, and bulk-
carrying company Golden Ocean.
There is no guarantee that the Fredriksen sisters will
eventually head up the family business and take over
executive and chairperson roles when John Fredriksen
decides to hang up his boots. Judging by a recent interview
in which he expressed his enthusiasm for buying more
product tankers, that could be a long time in the future
anyway. He also clearly has big plans for the groups LNG
division and appears to be genuinely excited about the
success of ofshore company Seadrill in such a short period
of time.
Big Wolf, as he is sometimes referred to, is clearly set to
stay in shipping for some time to come, but his cubs are
more than making their presence felt, and are looking pretty
good in the process.
US
THE Bergen-based Grieg family is as much about the current
generation and the next generation.
The fourth-generation siblings took over the reins of the
company in 1999 with Per Grieg Jr, Elisabeth, Camilla and
Elna-Kathrine taking leading roles in the group. Elna-Kathrine
is chair of Grieg Maturitas.
They set up the Grieg Foundation in 2002. The foundation
owns 25% of the Grieg Group of companies and invests its
income into charitable and ethical needs. The remaining 75%
of the Grieg Group remains in the hands of the family through
their holding company Grieg Maturitas.
In Bergen, where the 127-year-old family group is based,
and elsewhere in Norway, the family name is synonymous with
ethical behaviour as much as its musical associations.
Bribery is forbidden to such a point that even a packet of
cigarettes to sweeten a port agent or ofcial is prohibited, and
the groups shipping business has launched Grieg Green, a bid
to help owners recycle ships in a sound way.
The Grieg group of companies is famous for its shipping
activities, but there is much more to the organisation. In
addition to Grieg Shipping, there is the broker division,
Joachim Grieg & Co, perhaps one of the older parts of the
group. The Grieg Group also consists of a logistics company,
an investment company and Maris, developer of navigation
equipment.
Green initiatives reign at Grieg
Fourth-generation siblings took over the reins of the company in 1999
Grieg family
NORWAY
Outside the shipping sphere, Grieg Group also owns half of a
sh group, Grieg Seafood and 40% of a wind farm installation
group, NorWind Installer.
Sisters Elisabeth and Camilla run the shipping division, both
attracting media attention, and national awards. Elisabeth
became the 41st and rst female president of the Norwegian
Shipowners Association in 2008, joking once that she would
like to pull down the dusty sombre portraits of the former male
incumbents over the last century.
Family foundations:
Elisabeth and Camilla Grieg
SCANDINAVIA
Book 1.indb 26 16/05/2012 16:40
Driving change at Hegh
IT says something either about Norwegian society, or the
Hegh family, that one of them walks to work every day.
The Hegh family is a very reclusive one by all accounts,
taking a completely diferent approach to ownership to many
other families running businesses. For them standing in front
of the camera is something best left to the management.
Cousins Leif and Morten Hegh took over the family
business in 2003 and promptly brought all the companys
outstanding shares and delisted it from the Oslo Exchange.
They then restructured it into two main businesses
Hegh Autoliners, the car carrier business that was originally
a joint venture with Uglands from 1970 to 2000, and Hegh
LNG. Lief is chairman of Hegh Autoliners, while Morton
Cousins have restructured car carrier and LNG businesses
Hegh family
NORWAY
THOMAS Wilhelmsen cares about his staf, and the
continuation of the companys good name. Run a a quiet
straw poll canvas of people in Oslo of what they think of the
Wilhelmsen name and brand and one gets the feeling that all
is well in the Wilh. Wilhelmsen camp.
Mr Wilhelmsen took control of the family-controlled, but
Oslo-listed business in the middle of the economic storm two
years ago, and he has done his best to remain upbeat and in
control. He holds two interlinked positions. He is chairman
of the board of Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA, the listed shipping
division, and is group chief executive of Wilh. Wilhelmsen
Holdings, the listed parent group that also owns Wilhelmsen
Maritime Services.
Norwegians do not readily care for a silver spoon approach
to family inheritance, and Mr Wilhelmsen has been made to
work his way round the family business, a unique bespoke
family apprenticeship that has meant he does not take the
business for granted. This in turn has earned him some
respect.
Ask Mr Wilhelmsen about his personal interests, and you
will get a short and sharp answer. Ask him about the business
and its developments and you get a clear, well considered
response.
Alls well at Wilhelmsen
Thomas Wilhelmsen has earned his stripes at the Norwegian company
US
Thomas Wilhelmsen
NORWAY
is chairman of Hegh LNG, which was one of the early gas
carrier owners, building some of the rst Moss-type tankers
in the early 1970s.
The high investment costs in the liqueed natural gas
market, especially given Heghs plans to expand into
oating regasication units in lieu of land-based terminals,
prompted the family business to re-list Hegh LNG on the
Oslo Exchange last year, with a 37% stake in the company
raising $120m.
Hegh Autoliners remains one of the major car carrier
businesses. It is now partly owned by AP Moller-Maersk.
The Danish operator sold its 12 car carriers to the Norwegian
business in return for a 37.5% stake.
The reshaping of the business in 2010 still left the family in
control. The family name has a good standing and while the
relisting may not have raised the volumes hoped for, it did
quite well given the market conditions. A weaker company
would probably not have tried such a scheme.
Mr Wilhelmsen has yet to make a big mark on the family
business, but he has plenty of time on his side in which to do
so. The general feeling is that he is a safe pair of hands and
that is more than can be said of many others in the shipping
business.
Two generations:
Thomas with his
father Wilhelm
SCANDINAVIA
Book 1.indb 27 16/05/2012 16:40
ULSTEIN is a place, a shipyard and a family name. The
Ulstein siblings Gunvor and Tore have been shaping the
shipbuilder into a specialist designer and have made the
company name renowned through one important and visible
ship design the X-bow.
Ulsteinvik is a small former shing village on Norways
northwest coastline. The best way to get there from Oslo is
to y via lesund, then take a ferry south. Today, one of the
main reasons for visiting the region is because of its ofshore
specialists. Ulsteinvik is just one of these ofshore technology
clusters and the Ulstein family is at the heart of it.
Back in 1999, Vickers bought the Ulstein Group, just
months before Vickers itself was targeted by Rolls-Royce.
What Vickers did not want at the time was the shipbuilding
Firm designs on an offshore future
Ulstein siblings have helped reshape shipbuilders focus
US
Gunvor and Tore Ulstein
NORWAY
THE Odfjell family name continues with strength in the west
of Norway shipping community. Not only is it continued in
the Oslo-listed Odfjell Group, but can still be found in Odfjell
Drilling and in the family ofshoot, Jo Tankers.
Lawrence Ward Odfjell, who was born in 1965, took over the
chair of the chemical tanker and terminal operating Odfjell
Group in 2010, when his father Bernt Daniel Odfjell stepped
down as chair and took a position as a board member under
his son. Mr Odfjell snr had been in the company since 1963.
While his father had been outspoken on a number of issues
facing the chemical tanker business up to his retirement, Mr
Odfjell jnr has taken a more reserved approach to the public
face of the family business, leaving the day-to-day industry
comments to the companies outspoken chief executive Jan
Hammer. Mr Odfjells other passion does appear to be wine.
The family owns a vineyard in Chile.
Meanwhile Jo Tankers, launched as a separate business
from a former Odfjell pool in the 1980s, has developed as its
own business away from Odfjell. Johan Odvar Odfjell has been
chairman since 2008 and sole managing director as of 2003
when both Jo Tankers and Odfjell were embroiled in price
xing allegations in the US. Jo Tankers has been one of the few
to order chemical tankers this year, taking a pair, with options
from a Chinese yard at the start of the year.
Family succession order of day at Odfjell
Lawrence Ward took chair from his father in 2010
Lawrence Ward Odfjell
NORWAY
division, focusing more on the engineering side of the
business.
The windfall for the Ulstein family, and the mandatory
years when it was barred from building overseas, or
expanding its portfolio, allowed it to focus on Ulstein Verft
and on nding a new niche. This led to the development of
X-bow design, which has become one of the bow designs of
choice for the ofshore sector.
Father Idar Ulstein passed way in April this year. But for
many years, the three children there is another daughter
Ingerid who runs the family investment business Ulsmo
have been instrumental in crafting a new company with a very
unique identity both in Norway and within the international
ship design and shipbuilding market.
The new order:
Lawrence Ward Odfjell
SCANDINAVIA
Book 1.indb 28 16/05/2012 16:40
Saad family
FRANCE
Saad offspring stay in the shipping fold
CMA CGM is a truly family afair, with chairman and chief
executive Jacques Saad still very much in charge, but the
next generation holding key positions in the group that now
operates the third-largest container line in the world.
Mr Saads three children all work for the French company,
while his wife Naila is president of the CMA CGM Corporate
Foundation, which supports underprivileged children. Also
undoubtedly part of the extended family is Farid Salem, who
helped Mr Saad found Compagnie Maritime dAfrtement in
1978 and who remains a central gure in the business.
The pair were both born in Beirut, with Mr Saad running
the business his father had established for 20 years.
All three children have roles at CMA CGM
Father and son:
Jacques Saad and
his son Rodolphe
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 29 16/05/2012 16:40
But the war in Lebanon eventually persuaded him to move
to Marseilles where the Saad family has been based ever
since, building up CMA CGM into a group with annual
turnover in excess of $14bn and a eet of almost 400 ships,
including a series with capacities approaching 14,000 teu.
With Mr Saad and Mr Salem both in their seventies, the
younger generation is getting ready to take over although
not quite yet. Like many of his peers who also built up
shipping empires, Mr Saad has no retirement plans.
Nevertheless he expects his son Rodolphe, who is now 42,
to eventually succeed him, and has made sure he has a good
grounding in the business. And Rodolphe showed at an
early age that he had inherited the entrepreneurial touch of
his father, starting up Dynamic Concept, a company selling
water coolers, while studying for a Bachelor of Commerce
degree at Concordia University in Montreal.
After running that business for a year or so, he joined
CMA in 1994, shortly before the group acquired Compagnie
Gnrale Maritime and formed CMA CGM. He subsequently
worked in New York and Hong Kong before moving back
to head ofce where he gained experience of all the major
trade lanes. He was put in charge of the lines transatlantic
and transpacic services in 2000, and later was given
responsibility for developing the north-south trades and
expanding the groups presence in Africa. In 2008, he
was appointed chairman of the groups African specialist
Delmas. More recently, Rodolphe Saad was directly
involved in negotiating a ground-breaking vessel sharing
agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Co covering the
Asia-Europe trades.
When CMA CGMs cruise yacht Le Ponant was seized four
years ago, he was the one who made contact with Somali
pirates, leading negotiations until the moment when the
boat and its hostages were freed by French armed forces.
His brother Jacques jnr is senior manager in the agencies
department, and also in charge of the groups real estate
strategy to ensure, wherever possible, that staf work in
premises that are both comfortable and efcient.
Tanya Saad Zeenny, Mr Saads only daughter, is both
CMA CGM Group general secretary and senior vice-president
of corporate communications, setting up the public relations
department soon after joining CMA in 1995. Since then,
she has focused on promoting the brand and corporate
culture as the group went on to acquire CGM, Delmas, the
Australasias ANL, and several other lines as it expanded
into a global player.
She was appointed to the board in 2000 and also heads
the groups environmental committee.
A few months ago, Mrs Saad Zeenny decided to become
personally involved in the campaign for workplace equality
between men and women in France.
Like virtually every other containership operator,
CMA CGM has had a bumpy ride in recent years, with
the groups ambitious expansion programme and large
debts leaving the group particularly exposed during the
downturn and subsequent price war. But the Saad family
has demonstrated on numerous occasions that a business,
particularly a shipping concern, would appear to have a
much better chance of survival and success in the hands
of a united and determined family than one where outside
shareholders with short-term horizons call the shots.
When CMA CGMs cruise yacht
Le Ponant was seized four years
ago, Rodolphe was the one
who made contact with Somali
pirates, leading negotiations until
the moment when the boat and
its hostages were freed by French
armed forces
Key players at CMA CGM:
Farid Salem, Tanya Saad
Zeenny and Jacques Saad jnr
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 31 16/05/2012 16:40
Aponte family
SWITZERLAND
BY the time Alexa and Diego Aponte were born, their parents
had already started to build a shipping empire that would
eventually evolve into one of the biggest and most powerful
in the world. There was little question as to what they would
do when they grew up.
Geneva-headquartered Mediterranean Shipping Co is very
much a family business, with Italian-born Gianluigi Aponte
the powerful patriarch still rmly in charge. Although he is
in his early seventies, he has made it crystal clear that he
has no intention of retiring or easing up. Senior container
line executives report directly to him under MSCs famously
at management structure.
But there is also no doubt that his son Diego, now 37, is
being groomed to take over the container shipping business
that ranks second only to Maersk Line, while 40-year-old
Alexa concentrates on the cruise line along with her Israeli
mother, and her husband Pierfrancesco Vago who is chief
executive of MSC Crociere.
With his father retaining a tight grip on the container line,
Diego Aponte is responsible for the groups ports business,
Terminal Investment, the worlds sixth-largest container
terminal operator.
Like their father, Diego and Alexa keep a relatively low
prole. None of the family have biographical details on
MSCs website. But when MSC formed a vessel-sharing
alliance with CMA CGM late last year, it was Diego Aponte
and his opposite number at CMA CGM, Rodolphe Saad, who
announced the deal and elded media questions, rather than
their respective fathers. Both made the point that they were
Aponte lines up successors to take charge
Diego gradually assuming more top-level container
duties while Alexa concentrates on the cruise business
responsible for negotiating the agreement. That was seen
by some as a signal that the younger Aponte was gradually
taking on more top-level duties.
He had already stepped into the gap left by the untimely
death in early 2010 of Nicola Mastro, one of Mr Aponte Seniors
inner circle who had helped MSC grow into the dominating
force it is today and had also set up MSCs terminals division.
Gianluigi Aponte is convinced that family businesses are
by far the best model for shipping.
I dont think shipping companies that are quoted on the
stock exchange will ever be successful, he said recently.
Shipping needs a lot of dedication, a lot of sacrice, a lot of
knowledge that you only have if you work every day... and are
responsible 100% for the business.
It is that commitment and determination that he expects
of his children as they prepare to take on the business that
their father founded with a 2,800 dwt tweendecker in the
early 1970s, and which now includes a eet of more than 470
containerships of 2.2m teu, cruise vessels, ferries and ports.
Those who know the company and Mr Aponte snr regard
him as one of the sharpest brains in the business, but
someone who is also immensely loyal to his staf and, as
a former sea captain, hugely supportive of his shipboard
personnel.
His children will have to demonstrate that they have the
same depth of industry knowledge while able to command
as much respect as their father who has achieved so much
over the past four decades. Industry insiders say he will be
an incredibly hard act to follow.
Family line up:
Gianluigi
Aponte, left, with
his daughter
Alexa and his
son Diego
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 32 16/05/2012 16:40
Ofer heirs embrace their shipping legacy
SAMMY Ofer bequeathed more than a shipping empire to
his sons and grandchildren. They also inherited one of the
most iconic names in the industry a name that continues to
resonate in shipping circles the world over.
Like most shipping families, the Ofer clan prefers to keep a
low prole, giving away as little as possible about its business
interests.
But shipping is in the blood, with both second and
third generation family members deeply involved in the
organisation that Sammy Ofer founded some 40 years ago.
When he died last year, sons Eyal and Idan took over as
principals of Sammy Ofer Group Monaco that encompasses
both London-headquartered Zodiac Maritime Agencies and
the afliated Singapore-based Tanker Pacic.
A few weeks ago, Eyal was named chairman of Zodiac,
which manages and operates a eet of more than 150 vessels,
including some of the worlds biggest containerships, along
with bulk carriers, chemical tankers, and car carriers, many
of them agged in the UK.
And now his two sons, Daniel and David, are embarking
on their own careers in shipping, joining the business at a
young age and having learned plenty from their father, uncle
and, of course, famous grandfather.
Last year, Daniel was appointed managing director of
Zodiac Maritime, working directly for the highly-respected
Capt Rami Zingher who heads up the rms large London team
of ship brokers, eet managers and other shipping personnel.
Daniel joined Zodiac after studying for a bachelors degree
at Dartmouth University in the US and graduating with an
MBA from the London Business School. He is also on the
board of directors of the Standard P&I Club.
Younger brother David studied at Dartmouth as well, and
then went on to Columbia University in New York where he
gained an MBA. He subsequently spent several years with
Goldman Sachs before joining the business focusing on
tankers in Asia.
In the lobby of Zodiacs smart new ofces in Londons West
End are some splendid ship models. But in one corner is a
reminder of the man who founded one of the industrys great
shipping dynasties a bronze bust of Sammy Ofer.
And his children and grandchildren have pledged to
ensure that the hugely successful business he developed
from such small beginnings will continue unchanged,
with the promise to maintain his tradition of hard work and
dedication, as they protect and build upon the legacy he left
behind.
Second and third generation active in the family business
Ofer family
UK/ MONACO
Tribute to tradition:
the Ofer family stand in
front of the bust of Sammy
Ofer at Londons National
Maritime Museum
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 33 16/05/2012 16:40
Well-connected Radziwill rates family structures
JOHN Michael Radziwill had just turned 30 when he was
appointed chief executive of bulk carrier owner and operator
CTM a couple of years ago, and he has had to contend with
some torrid trade conditions since then.
However, he was well prepared.
With rates under severe pressure, one of his top priorities
has been to reduce Monaco-based CTMs exposure to a falling
dry bulk market in the short term while covering much of the
companys long-term exposure via time charter contracts.
At the same time, his aim was to cautiously expand our
activities through, for example, ship acquisitions or long-term
charters with purchase options.
But before being thrown into the deep end at a such
a particularly difcult time for the shipping markets, Mr
Radziwill already had plenty of experience under his belt,
having spent time at sea, and even buying and selling some
ships of his own while still in his twenties.
What helped were his family connections. His maternal
grandfather was the late John M Carras, one of the so-
called Golden Greeks, while Mr Radziwill is rst cousin of
another prominent Greek shipping magnate, Ceres Shipping
shareholder Peter Livanos.
On his fathers side of the family, Lee Radziwill, sister of
the late Jacqueline Kennedy who wed Aristotle Onassis, was
married to his grandfather.
Mr Radziwill served as a deck cadet and apprentice engineer
on his grandfathers tankers and bulk carriers during semester
breaks from Brown University in the US, where he studied
economics.
CTM chief executive John Michael Radziwill enjoys close ties with his Greek relations
John Michael Radziwill
MONACO
Saverys recipe for a shipping career
FOR Alexander Saverys, the 34-year-old founder and
managing director of Delphis, a Belgium-based multimodal
company, going into the shipping industry was simply a
logical decision.
When your family eats and breathes shipping every day,
When your family eats and breathes shipping, you cannot
help but be intrigued by the industry, says Alexander Saverys
Alexander Saverys
BELGIUM
going from the shipbuilding stage to the naming ceremonies
and visiting ships calling in ports, you end up being
intrigued by the industry, he says. I was never actively
pushed into shipping, it is just probably in my DNA.
The Saverys family has extensive involvement in the
After graduating, he spent a year working in technical
operations at related company Ceres Hellenic, and another 12
months at South Korean shipyard Samsung Heavy Industries,
which culminated with him serving on one of the ships whose
construction he oversaw the 2004-built suezmax Cap Pierre.
At CTM, part of the Ceres Shipping group, he has continued
to develop logistics activities while the company also has a
fully edged inhouse technical management department for
its dry cargo activities. The eet CTM manages now numbers
65 ships.
Mr Radziwill has also worked alongside his brother Philip
in the LNG sector through GasLog, which recently completed a
successful initial public ofering.
Not surprisingly, the CTM chief executive concurs with the
view that the family model still works in shipping.
We are very happy with ours, he says.
Family ties:
John Michael Radiziwill
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 34 16/05/2012 16:40
Rolling on the family business
WHEN brought up in a shipping family and expected to take
over the reins, it is imperative that you learn about the whole
business. That means both ofce work and time at sea.
When Guido Grimaldi was just 16, his namesake grandfather
sent him away for three or four weeks during the summer
holidays onboard the familys vessels, a tradition that was
repeated until he left school.
With only the master of the vessel aware that Guido was a
Grimaldi, he was treated like everyone else. That gave him great
insight into the Grimaldi Groups operations, which span car
and truck carriers, con-ros and passenger ferries, making it one
of the largest fully integrated multinational logistics group.
After attending university in Naples, he studied for an MBA
in logistics in Frankfurt, before joining the family business in
2005 where he has worked his way up to become commercial
manager of shortsea lines.
You grow in our company if you do a good job and if you
work hard. I am the rst one in the ofce and the last one out,
he says.
Guido, now 29, praises the close working and personal
relationship he has with father Emanuele and his uncle
Gianluca, who head the groups activities along with their
brother-in-law Diego Pachella.
He cites as an example a new line set up earlier this year
between Salerno and Malta that was launched a week after he
discussed the idea with his father over lunch. They simply came
back to the ofce, had a meeting with relevant managers and the
trade lane was implemented.
Its amazing how fast we are but we have the exibility that
not all companies have, he says.
Certainly, a large eet helps but understanding your
customer base is vital and the younger generation is always
asked to bring fresh ideas to the table.
Sometimes problems start when there is conict with
diferent generations but the best thing about our company is
that my father and my uncle will always listen to us about our
ideas and projects. We have to be very innovative and come up
with concrete business plans, he says.
Guido Grimaldi is one member of the third generation at the Italian ro-ro specialist
Grimaldi family
ITALY
shipping industry. His father Marc is chairman, chief
executive and major shareholder of holding company
CMB, owner of the bulk carrier operator Bocimar and the
listed very large crude carrier specialist Euronav, while his
uncle Nicholas is chief executive at Exmar, a shipowner
specialising in gas carriers.
But how easy is it for subsequent generations to make
their mark? Its never easy, says Mr Saverys, but then
that can be said about any job. Coming from a shipping
family has pros and cons. The obvious advantages are the
well-established network, good name and business culture
that has proven successful throughout the years. The
disadvantages are the prejudices and high expectations.
Despite the familys extensive shipping interests, it seems
that Mr Saverys has been determined to achieve success in
his own right by going into a completely diferent sector.
He set up Delphis in 2004, which bought feeder operator
Team Lines from Finnlines in 2006. Other acquisitions have
included Portlink and the Sjursoya Container Terminal.
However, Mr Saverys has chosen to retain close family
ties. He is a director of CMB and his father Marc has a
seat on the Delphis board with one of the advantages of
working alongside family members being easy and fast
communication, he says.
Mr Saverys has degrees in law from the University of
Leuven and Complutense Madrid and an MBA from the
Fachhochschule fr Wirtschaft in Berlin. He is also a director
of the Belgian Shipowners Association. He is married and
the father of three young sons, aged ve, three and one.
Does he want his children to continue in the business? I just
want them to be happy, whether in shipping or elsewhere.
Alexander Saverys:
shipping is in my DNA
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 35 16/05/2012 16:40
And we have a very good relationship between the cousins
as well, which is very important. We talk a lot and this is really
the strength of the company. The fact that as a family we are very
close adds value.
Of the nine cousins, a handful work within the family
company. This includes Guidos younger brother Eugenio, 26,
who started with the company around the beginning of the year
and is working closely with him in the commercial department.
There is also another Guido in the family business, the
son of Gianluca, who is working within the commercial
department of the deepsea business, which is headquartered
in London.
Another cousin Mario also works for the company, taking
care of the crew and also customer satisfaction onboard
vessels, having joined around 2007.
But Guido stresses that none of the third generation has
been pushed into the business and refers as an example to
Marios sister who is a teacher. It is very important she is
doing something she likes. If we want to work in the company
we have to do very well, he says.
Guido now spends a lot of his time in Spain, split between
Barcelona, Valencia and Madrid where the company has
ofces generating cargo. As commercial manager, he
estimates he takes around 300-350 ights a year. He will be
spending more time in Barcelona now that the group has won
a concession to build a new terminal in the Spanish port, of
which he will be a member of the board.
First established in 1947, the Grimaldi Group has grown
to encompass shipping, terminal and logistics operations
with ofces in 25 countries, and has a eet of around 100
vessels spread across many quality brands such as Atlantic
Container Lines, Malta Motorways of the Sea, Minoan Lines
and Finnlines.
We have a very good
relationship between the cousins
as well, which is very important.
We talk a lot and this is really the
strength of the company. The
fact that as a family we are very
close adds value
Guido Grimaldi:
has found satisfaction
in shipping
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 36 16/05/2012 16:40
Bottiglieri sisters shine in shipping
HAVING experienced two shipping downturns by the age of 34
is quite an impressive feat, but Mariella Bottiglieri remembers
that rst experience as if it was yesterday.
During the 1980s crisis at the tender age of ve years, the
eldest daughter of Italys Giuseppe Bottiglieri recalls seeing
laid-up ships lling Mediterranean ports.
I remember saying to my father Oh daddy, thats nice and
he said to me, Thats not nice darling, thats when it is not
nice, she says. Of course back then I didnt understand why
it was not nice.
Along with her two younger sisters Alessandra, 30, and
Manuela, 26 Mariella followed her father Giuseppe onto his
ships every summer holiday when school nished. Manuela
even celebrated her rst birthday on board one of the family
vessels.
Indeed the Giuseppe Bottiglieri Shipping website for the
family company that operates a eet of modern post-panamax
bulk carriers and medium range product chemical tankers
has a photo gallery detailing not only the daughters growing
up with the business, but the history of a shipping dynasty
begun in 1850.
The three daughters represent the sixth generation of
Bottiglieris in shipping. They each specialise in diferent areas of
the family company, playing to their own strengths and interests.
Three daughters of Italian owner fy the fag for women in the maritime industry
Bottiglieri family
ITALY
Shipping sisters:
Mariella, Manuela and
Alessandra Bottiglieri
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 37 16/05/2012 16:40
Mariella is a managing director and chartering manager,
overseeing the tanker eet. After studying economics at
university in Naples, she moved to London as a trainee for
shipbroker Clarksons.
I believe in having a signicant experience outside the
boundaries of the family business; it is important to be an
employee before being an employer, she says.
After a few months as a trainee she was ofered a permanent
job brokering product tankers, and stayed for almost three
years. This is also where she met her husband Joe Green, who
was her boss and is still a director of Clarksons London tanker
department. She moved back to Italy and joined the family
company in 2004 so has seen the boom and the bust of the
noughties.
Alessandra followed a similar path and studied economics
at university before joining the business at the same time
as Mariella; having started in the operations team she now
works in the nancial department and is also a managing
director. Her husband Rafaele Borriello works in the dry cargo
chartering department of the business as well.
In contrast to her sisters, Manuela studied law at university
in Rome and now works in the companys legal department,
while her husband Giorgio Avino works in the dry cargo
chartering department of their uncles business Michele
Bottiglieri Armatore.
This is a family business but when I talk about family I
dont just mean my parents and sisters, its everybody. We have
people who have been working here for more than 30 years,
which makes the family feeling even stronger, Mariella says.
The secret is to get on well and not have arguments
within the family. At weekends or even eating your turkey at
Christmas, you end up talking about shipping. This is a good
thing but also a bad thing in the terms that you never really
stop its a 24-hour job.
Between them, the three daughters have ve young children
ranging from seven months to three years and while childcare
may be widespread across other parts of Europe, Giuseppe
Bottiglieri Shipping in Naples has introduced an in-ofce
nursery.
Since my sisters and I became mothers, we understand the
problem coping trying to match your personal life and your
job, says Mariella.
It started as a personal need but then we understood that
many women have this problem so it is open to any woman in
the ofce. Whether its me or any other woman in the ofce, as
a mother they can go in the nursery and see what their children
are doing. This gives you the possibility to stay, with peace of
mind. And then you work better if you dont have to worry
about your child.
For now the children follow their mothers wherever they
go, travelling with them on business trips, and have already
become used to the international reach of the shipping
industry.
But do they want them to follow in the family footsteps?
The strength of any family business is staying together. I
hope that all ve of them have the qualities and should they
[want to], they are welcome, Mariella says.
The process of handing down the business from one
generation to the next must be handled with care though, even
if takes a couple of decades.
You dont want to just change the top of management it
takes a long time to get the qualications and experience. A
surname is something we all have as heritage but you have to
show that you can do the job.
DAmico family builds on maritime heritage
LIKE many Italian shipping companies, the roots of dAmico
Societ di Navigazione go back to a group of brothers working
together in the maritime industry. Today their grandchildren
are also following the same route.
The company was set up in the 1950s in the crude tanker
sector and today spans product tankers, dry bulk, containers and
shipping services. Cousins Paolo dAmico, the groups president,
and Cesare dAmico, the chief executive, descend from brothers
Ciro and Salvatore, with the latters namesake one of the most
active next generation members in the business today.
Latest generation entering the family business
dAmico family
ITALY
The ofspring of Paolo, who is also the head of the Italian
shipowners association Contarma, are all understood to be
involved in the maritime world. Lorenzo is still at Cass Business
School in London and has yet to join the family business like
his siblings Manuela and Salvatore.
The dAmico website gives little biographical detail but we
can learn from business networking sites such as LinkedIn that
Salvatore has been eet manager at dAmico Dry for over two
years having been marine supervising manager for the wider
group since April 2008.
At weekends or even eating your
turkey at Christmas, you end up
talking about shipping
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 38 16/05/2012 16:40
Yildirim brothers will look to third generation
TURKEYS Robert Yildirim suddenly arrived in the wider
consciousness of the shipping industry in 2010, when Yildirim
Group acquired a 20% interest in debt-laden French container
giant CMA CGM.
But he did not arrive out of nowhere, and is himself the product
of a family business, launched by his father Garip Yildirim in 1963
as a construction material trading company. Today, it is one of
the fastest-growing Turkish industrial groups, with headquarters
in Istanbul.
Mr Yildirim senior is now retired, and the concern is currently
run by his three sons. Robert, born in 1960, holds the job of chief
executive and arguably enjoys a higher prole than his brothers.
Of the others, Ali Riza, born in 1957, acts as chairman, while
Mehmet, born in 1963, has a seat on the board.
Yildirim Group is active in many spheres. On the shipping side,
Yilmar Shipping and Trading was launched in 2000 to handle
the logistics needs of the wider group by operating as an active
shipping company involved in ownership, shipmanagement,
chartering, agency, shipbroking services and sales and purchase.
It bought Marmara Shipyard a few years ago, expressly to build
vessels for its own account. In addition, it operates privatised
ports in Turkey, and openly covets terminals elsewhere, recently
gaining control of 50% of Malta Freeport.
In an exclusive interview, Robert Yildirim told Lloyds List that
he believes private family businesses in shipping can work well
up to a certain size. Once they are worth something like $100m,
they might nd it better to be listed. Even then, it is sometimes
worth retaining family control
If family members have talent and know-how they should
remain in the business even if it is listed, says Robert Yildirim
Yildirim family
TURKEY
If they have the talent and the know-how, then the family
should stay in the business even if it is listed, so the majority is
controlled by the family, hesays.
So what are the succession plans at Yildirim Group? Will
management eventually be entrusted to a third generation?
We are hoping so. Our next generation is still young. There
are three brothers in the second generation and each of us has
two children, one boy and one girl. The youngest ones are in
high school and the others at university.
It will take some time for them to put their minds to their
work, but it is our wish they come and continue. Some of the
kids want to do something else outside the family business, but
this is an early stage and they can change their mind, after they
see that it is not easy to start up something.
However, Mr Yildirim admits that it can be difcult for
successors to make their mark, especially in todays climate
of globalisation and economic turbulence. But if his own
experience is anything to go by, it is not impossible.
When I started, I had to negotiate with the older generation.
I can see the difculties, but after you gain experience, these
things disappear. You dont see the age diference when you
negotiate. But to get used to this, you need to work about 10
years, he says.
We are all still children in our fathers eyes, and our children
will still be children in our eyes. This is psychological. I had to
prove to my father that what I did was right and the best result is
the prot. If it creates prot, it is no problem, you are right and
he saw the result.
Family values:
profts are one
way of proving you
have made the
right decision, says
Robert Yildirim
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 39 16/05/2012 16:40
Family focus at Yasa Holdings
YASA Holding has only been in existence for 13 years,
during which time it has established itself as a leading
Turkish player in a number of sectors.
Its shipping division, Yasa Shipping Industry and
Trading, controls a modern fleet comprising 17 bulk
carriers and nine large tankers, which is reported to
be entirely on time charter. The group is also active in
Sabanci sons have board seats
Sabanci family
TURKEY
Looking after your business is as
important as looking after your child
STILL in his early thirties, Yavuz Kalkavan is managing
director of Turkeys family-controlled Besiktas Group, which
is engaged in shipping and shipbuilding as well as banking,
insurance, health services and tourism.
He is married, with a son and a daughter, although at such
a relatively young age, succession planning will obviously not
be rst thing on his mind.
But while he is a strong supporter of the family business
concept, he accepts that it might not be right for all enterprises
in all situations.
It depends on the capability of the family, he says. Modern
shipping has strong requirements from the companies. For this
reason, shipping is a big challenge for all companies including
family companies.
In our family culture, looking after the business is as
important as looking after your kid. I am very proud to be in
Yavuz Kalkavan of Besiktas hails family culture
Yavuz Kalkavan
TURKEY
construction, aviation, tourism and textiles. Founder
Yaln Sabanci,aged 69, is the scion of the Sabanci family,
the richest in Turkey, and spent 39 years running its textile
operations before going into business on his own account
in 1999.
Succession is thought to lie with his sons Emirhan and
Ilhan, both of whom sit on the Yasa Holding board.
my family business and having the chance to look after the
business.
Mr Kalkavan says that succession arrangements proceeded
smoothly in his case, as he has enjoyed support from his father,
who extended him full condence.
We have a very strong principle. My father does not take
any decision that I dont like and the same denitely goes for
me.
Indeed, long-term support from the family is the key to
success, he believes. That said, there will be no pressure on his
own ofspring to take over the reins.
I only wish to see my son and daughter as happy individuals
like me, they are 100% free to try this in shipping or in any
other thing to spend their own lives, Mr Kalkavan says.
However, he suggests that it might be good for them to have
some experience outside the family business, which he did not
have himself, with a handover once they reach their thirties.
But what about the inevitable diferences of opinion that
arise in all businesses? Which generation should get the last
word?
Younger people are more aggressive and most of the time
not experienced enough, he says. They need good support
next to them, but not heavily on top of them. Both generations
must be equal for the last word; both of them must try for the
agreement.
We have a very strong
principle. My father
does not take any decision
that I dont like and the
same defnitely goes for me
REST OF EUROPE
Book 1.indb 40 16/05/2012 16:40
UK/HONG KONG
Williams brothers
Graig goes to China
CARDIFF-BASED Graig Shipping has made a mark for itself
as a progressive international shipowning and ship services
group, and an approach to business that features innovation
as a dening characteristic.
Graig was one of the rst marine groups from outside
China to recognise and deploy the potential of Chinese
shipyards. Graig developed a new design concept for an
energy efcient container feeder vessel in collaboration
with Wrtsil and DNV. As a start, it has ordered three 2,083
teu vessels from Jin Hai Shipbuilding in China, with an
option for another three more. All told, it plans a eet of 20
of these ships.
This is a plan with some audacity, but the approach is very
much in the blood. Hugh Williams, born in 1960, has been
chief executive of Graig Shipping since 1993. Chris Williams,
born in 1966, joined the rm in 1999, is now commercial
director. Their father Desmond Williams joined the company
in 1945, and eventually wrote a memoir about the historic
rm. Founder Idwal Williams established the company with
a purchase of a First World War tramp steamer, the SS Graig,
for a tidy 140,000.
The China order represents an extension of a business
model pioneered by Graig. The model, which the
company used earlier in its Diamond project to build
handymax carriers in Vietnam, is based on agreement with
shipbuilders to construct an extensive series of ships, with
Graig providing extensive pre-delivery supervision.
Chris Williams, who spent seven years early in his career
working for Fortis Bank in ship nancing in Singapore, lent
his nancing acumen to the deal, which included support
from the China Exim Bank.
Commenting on the order, Chris Williams emphasised
the companys hands-on approach. It is important to be
competitive in terms of design and payment terms, he said.
Our specications are stronger than standard designs at
other Chinese yards.
Williams brothers helping to build this historic Cardiff
companys next global phase
It is important to be competitive
in terms of design and payment
terms, our specifcations are
stronger than standard designs at
other Chinese yards
Governing Graigs Asian drive:
Chris, top, and Hugh Williams
ASIA
Book 1.indb 41 16/05/2012 16:40
HONG KONG
Andy Tung
The Tung legacy lives on
WHEN Andy Tung, 45, takes the helm as chief executive of
Orient Overseas Container Lines on July 1, he will be the third
generation to lead what has now become one of the best-run
companies in shipping.
OOCL, which is the main business of holding company
Hong Kong-listed Orient Overseas (International) Ltd has had
its troubles in the shipping crisis. But it is fair to say that other
than Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL has shown the most resilience to
the market downturn of any major line. OOCL nished 2011
in the black. Mind you, the $83m net prot it posted for the
year was down 90% from 2010, and also weaker than the rst-
half gain of $143.4m, indicating that second half was loss-
making. But OOCL was protable all the same, a testimony to
the companys discipline in holding down costs, turning away
loss-making cargoes during the 2011 rates war, and in its policy
of diversifying into the intra-Asia trades.
If it was easy, then more lines would have achieved
protability. But Mr Tung, like his uncle, chairman of OOIL
Tung Chee-chen, or his father, former OOIL chairman and rst
post-colonial chief executive of Hong Kong Tung Chee-hwa,
has never regarded shipping or the stewardship of OOCL as
anything but the most serious endeavour. Mr Tung has been
the lines chief operating ofcer since 2009 and OOIL executive
director since 2011. After working in management positions at
OOCL between 1993 and 1998, he became chief nancial ofcer
at internet stock trading company Boom.com. He then held
senior management positions at Hong Kong Dragon Airlines
and rejoined OOCL in 2006.
The combination of outside entrepreneurial experience and
deep background in shipping is sound grooming for an heir
apparent. He has had exposure to nance and management
at two Hong Kong self-starting companies, and he knows the
mechanics of a ship operator now as second nature.
He has a legacy to draw on. The Tung family itself has had
a long and complex history of shipping in China. In 1947,
the 10,000 tonne Tien Loong, owned by the family patriarch
CY Tung, was the rst all-Chinese ship to cross the Atlantic.
Andy Tung brings a wealth of experience to the
helm of what many call Asias best-run box line
Following the communist revolution in 1949, the Tungs moved
from Shanghai to Hong Kong and built their shipping empire
there under British governance. CH Tung was closely involved
with the politics of the handover in 1997 before being tapped as
Hong Kongs rst chief executive under Chinese rule.
The company went through a major restructuring in
the 1980s. Some analysts believe that that trial by re has
benetted OOCLs institutional memory. Under CC Tung,
the company has maintained a strong cash bufer, which
has helped its operations and reputation during the current
downturn. Looking ahead to 2012 and to stewardship of
OOCL into the future, the main focus will be maintaining
the discipline on cost, risk management, diversication and
customer service that has put the company ahead. Andy Tung
looks well prepared. His uncle CC Tung said it best when he
told Lloyds List in 2009, There is nothing better than working
through the down cycle to get experience.
His uncle CC Tung said it best
when told Lloyds List in 2009,
There is nothing better than
working through the down cycle
to get experience.
Andy Tung:
will take control
of OOCL in July
ASIA
Book 1.indb 42 16/05/2012 16:41
HONG KONG
Sabrina Chao
Smooth transition at Wah Kwong Shipping
LONG groomed to take over her family business, Sabrina Chao
is not just some inexperienced daughter of chairman parachuted
into a key position.
On paper, Ms Chao has the educational and professional
background to be a top nancial manager anywhere. After
earning a bachelors degree in mathematics with management
from the Imperial Colleague University of London in 1996, she
worked for Jardine Fleming and PwC two prestigious rms in
the nancial industry.
In 2002, Wah Kwong Shipping, founded by her grandfather in
the middle of the last century, welcomed her back as a director.
She then was appointed vice-chairman and chief nancial ofcer
in 2007, becoming the heiress apparent to her father, chairman
George Chao.
Ms Chao has been Wah Kwongs de facto leader after her
father sufered a stroke in late 2010. The transition appears to
be smooth, as Ms Chao generally maintains the companys risk-
averse business model of leasing out vessels on time charter
contracts lasting from one to ve years. Wah Kwong, one of Hong
Kongs largest non-listed shipping lines, has been receiving
Sabrina Chao has been at the helm since her father suffered from a stroke
SINGAPORE
Pacifc International Lines
PILs staying power
PACIFIC International Lines has staying power. So too does the
legendary family that founded it. The company was started by
Teo Woon Tong also know as YC Chang in 1967 from a small
storefront on Singapores Market Street. At the time, its strategy
was highly original. Knowing that he could not compete with
the global carriers, Mr Chang opted to export Chinese goods to
the world. The changes in China eventually catapulted PIL to the
19th largest shipping company in the world.
Son Teo Siong Seng has built on his fathers commercial
acumen, ensuring that the shipping company held its own and
became a big player in the intra-Asia trades, now the worlds
single biggest trade region in terms of volume.
He oversaw the companys listing of its container unit,
Singamas, on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 1993, a year
after he became managing director of PIL. His father remains
chairman.
SS Teo knew that he would make a career in shipping
from the start, with studies in ocean engineering and naval
SS Teo has furthered his fathers legacy. Whos next in line?
architecture at Glasgow University before he joined PIL in 1979.
He has also been active in Singapore maritime afairs, as
former chairman of the Singapore Maritime Institute and
president of the Singapore Shipowners Association. He is
currently a nominated member of Singapores parliament.
He has won numerous accolades in his career including the
Singapore International Maritime Centre award organised by
the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore.
SS Teos younger brother, Choo Wee Teo, is executive
director of Pacic Shipping Trust, which is now a wholly
owned subsidiary of PIL after a buyout by the sponsor last year.
Choo Wee Teo served as acting chief executive for PST from
2009 through March, 2011, when he was replaced by Sim Keat
Lim. He is said to be a close condant of SS Teo, but prefers to
stay out of the spotlight.
Will PIL stay in the family? The smart money says yes, with
several candidates currently at university. But thats for the
next generation to decide.
newbuildings as planned. It now owns a well-balanced eet of 12
bulk carriers, ve tankers and 12 liqueed petroleum gas carriers.
Further purchases of vessels, as well as expansion in property
and environmental business, could be on Ms Chaos agenda in
the future. The young leader has held rm in shippings worst
downturn in decades, and outsiders will be keenly watching how
she performs once the business climate improves.
Smooth operator:
Sabrina Chao
ASIA
Book 1.indb 43 16/05/2012 16:41
SINGAPORE/NORWAY TAIWAN
Evergreen Andreas Sohmen-Pao
Evergreen founder
draws the line at
family succession
Sharing his fathers
expansive outlook
EVERGREEN founder and chairman Chang Yung-fa once
famously declared that none of his sons would succeeded him
as head of the company, and that he would rather bequeath
day-to-day responsibility for the group to the senior managers
who had helped him build up his business empire.
That was ve years ago, but nothing much seems to have
changed in the interim.
Dr Chang, now in his mid-eighties but very much in control
of one of the worlds top container shipping lines, still seems
estranged from his children.
At one stage, all four of his sons had quit Evergreen, but one
has since returned.
Chang Kuo-wei, the youngest, is president of the groups
airline, Eva Air.
In contrast to most of his peers, Dr Chang seems unconcerned
about founding a shipping dynasty, although he has held out
the possibility that one day some of of his grandchildren may
rise to the top of the Taiwanese group.
In the meantime, he is surrounded by a close-knit group
of senior executives, including his second-in-command SS
Lin, Evergreen Marine Corp chairman Bronson Hsieh, and
vice group chairman Marcel Chang, who is in charge of all
Evergreens European interests.
Dr Chang has made it clear that he has no retirement plans.
Eventually, Dr Chang says he would prefer to be succeeded by
one of those from this inner circle than by any of his sons, two
of whom have worked for Evergreen Marine in the past. The
eldest was president of Evergreen Marine Corp at one stage, as
was third son Chang Kuo-cheng.
But while apparently not held in high regard by their
father for their management skills, the sons may well inherit
the company one day. And that leaves open the question of
whether they will want to become directly involved in the
organisation, be content to let others run it, or even sell the
family business.
ANDREAS Sohmen-Paos moves to expand the scope of BW
Gas, a subsidiary of BW Group which is one of the worlds
largest shipowners in tonnage terms, attest to his commitment
to innovative solutions and showcase his role as now much
more than a rising star in the shipping and energy industry.
At the age of 41, he has paid his dues after entering the
family business in 1999, but still qualies as part of the next
generation of shippings movers and shakers as long as his
father, Helmut Sohmen, remains active in the industry.
Unfortunately the son was travelling on business when
Lloyds List contacted the company for a chat, but a fair bit is
known about him and his company to appreciate what it has
done to merit inclusion.
For instance, the expansion was a canny bit of business,
with the son creating a joint venture with InterEnergy Holdings
last December to build a liqueed natural gas terminal on
the southeastern coast of the Dominican Republic in the
Caribbean, providing business for BW Gas own eet of 13 LNG
carriers to ship cargoes to the terminal.
The company called this an all-encompassing logistics
solution to bring gas to the Dominican Republic.
Mr Sohmen-Pao is no stranger to such innovative solutions.
A previous initiative involved renancing by ofering some
of the companys tanker eet to its bankers as collateral in
exchange for greater nancing exibility.
With these decisions, he has proved he is much more than
his academic credentials which, by the way, are impeccable
and has the ability to exert BW Gas inuence on the industry.
The role of gas in the global energy mix is rising high on
most countries agendas. BW Gas is in the right place at the
right time, as is its chief executive.
Chang Yung-fa has said none of his sons
will control the Taiwanese company
BW Gas growing infuence is down to
Andreas Sohmen-Pao
Innovative approach:
Andreas Sohmen-Pao
Eventually, Dr Chang says he
would prefer to be succeeded by
one of those from this inner circle
than by any of his sons
ASIA
Book 1.indb 44 16/05/2012 16:41
TAIWAN
Chih-Chien Hsu
Family model offers foundation for success
CHIH-CHIEN Hsu is in no doubt that shipping companies
fare best in family hands, and would positively encourage his
teenage children to pursue careers in an industry that he nds
so exciting.
Although still at school, his son and daughter are already
well-travelled and accustomed to meeting people from many
diferent backgrounds. They would probably nd any other
business far too dull, says Mr Hsu who was born into a wealthy
Chinese shipping family.
The chairman of privately owned Eddie Steamship Corp
and the Singapore-listed dry bulk operator Courage Marine
argues that, in such a volatile industry with extreme highs
and lows, a family business gives the company a continuity
of knowledge and experience that helps keep it stable during
these swings in the market.
Without this continuity, he says, new hands in a non-
family shipping business can easily make rash decisions that
can bring down a company.
He himself has rst-hand experience of how quickly
fortunes can change. The family shipping business was almost
wiped out in the 1980s, with the eet shrinking from 60 ships
to just three as banks foreclosed on loans. Mr Hsu, then a
young graduate, joined in the ght to save the company from
collapse.
But there are other reasons why families may remain in
shipping for many generations.
That is because shipping assets are very easy to divide up
between siblings by splitting the eet so that each can go their
separate ways, thereby avoiding a violent clash that would
cause the collapse of many other types of family businesses.
Eddie Steamships CC Hsu says new hands in a non-family
shipping business can easily make rash decisions
Over the years, many shipping companies have been
broken up into independent entities, yet all carry on using
the family name.
Shipping is also a very mobile business, with companies
easily relocated should families have to move in times of crisis,
as Mr Hsus parents did during the political upheavals in China
that forced them to ee to Taiwan.
In 1946, Mr Hsus father had bought an ocean-going vessel.
Then during the Communist revolution, most of the familys
factories and other businesses had to be abandoned. The only
oating asset that could be moved away from mainland China
was the ship. That was our rice bowl, Mr Hsu recalls.
This mobility may be two-way. Many Chinese shipping
companies and families that relocated from Shanghai to Hong
Kong or Vancouver are now back in Shanghai. And many Greek
shipping families and their businesses moved from Athens to
other domiciles such as London before returning to Athens.
Mr Hsu, whose early ambition was to be a sculptor, insists
there was no pressure to join the family business.
It was simply assumed from the day I was born that I would
become part of the family business. In fact, for many Chinese
family rms, there is often no distinction between the family
and the business, he says.
But family pressures or not, he loves the business of
shipping.
Do I still get a buzz from shipping? Yes, he replies most
emphatically.
And that is why he hopes his children will follow in his
footsteps.
I think the most exciting aspect of shipping is the fact that
it is a totally international industry and you deal with people
from around the world every single day, he says. With his
daughter at boarding school in the UK and his son also likely to
study in Britain, they are already used to travelling and mixing
with all nationalities.
So I think they will easily acclimatise in this industry. In
fact they may nd most other industries quite boring, says
Mr Hsu.
New hands in a non-family
shipping business can easily
make rash decisions that can
bring down a company
CC Hsu:
family businesses
beneft from
continuity of
knowledge
ASIA
Book 1.indb 46 16/05/2012 16:41
OF THE four sons of billionaire BS Abdur Rahman, founder of
conglomerate Buhari Group, which has a turnover in excess
of $5bn a year and employs over 60,000 people, Ahmed was
always the son destined to run a shipping business.
He has the qualications, holding a masters in shipping,
trading and nance from the City University business school
in London.
True to the entrepreneurial spirit of his father, he has not
sat on his laurels as one of the directors of the huge Buhari
Group, but in 1998 founded the Coal & Oil Company, aimed at
investing and trading in the energy sector.
His company bought a bulk carrier to improve the supply
chain and has plans to buy more ships and become more
closely involved in the shipping side of things to bring down
the costs of importing thermal coal into India.
An intriguing video clip on YouTube shows it is not all
about business, though, as he is interviewed while cooking
for his family. The next shots show him in his ofce, telling the
interviewer the importance of creating an ofce decor that is
relaxing yet stimulating, the colour cherry being particularly
good at generating this ambience in what is a home from
home for the staf.
Such consideration and attention to detail, at home and
work, is impressive for someone who must be inundated with
demands on their time. But as the old adage goes, if you want
something done, ask a busy man.
Expect, then, the Coal & Oil Company to expand its
presence in shipping and energy sooner rather than later
especially given that thermal coal generates around 70%
of Indias power with the charismatic Ahmed Rahman
showing he has what it takes to be a future head of the Buhari
Group, if he wants it.
US
Rahman shares
enterprising spirit
Buhari Group heir has also
founded his own business
Ahmed Rahman
INDIA
US
INDIAS rapid growth on the world stage as a consumer of
commodities is second only to Chinas, and Essar Group,
with its sprawling tentacles wrapped around everything from
shipping to oil services and telecoms, embodies the dynamism
of the subcontinent as much as any conglomerate.
Already holding the reins of power within the group are
two young executives, Rewant Ruia and cousin Anshuman
Ruia, both under 30, and are already making waves in the
international business world.
Anshuman, 29, the son of Shashi Ruia the chairman of Essar
Group, is on the board of the groups directors and is head
director of Essar Shipping, a company with 25 vessels, mostly
bulkers and ofshore units.
He may be young in business terms but hes already had 10
years of working his way up in the family business, and has a
degree in business an indication that it hasnt all been silver
spoons and special treatment handed down from dad.
Perhaps reecting his relative youth, hes been put in
charge of Essars move into the renewable energy sector; an
increasingly important sector for Asian companies as climate
change tops global political agendas, not least because of the
benets of economic growth provided by the green economy.
Newer to the group is cousin Rewant, son of vice-chairman
Ravi Ruia and the same age as Anshuman. Also a director of the
group, he oversees the steel, mineral and retail business and
has responsibility for the groups North America operations.
That would make him pretty busy, but hell have time to see his
cousin; Essar Shipping signed a 15-year contract in the fourth
quarter last year with Essar Steel to transport iron ore along
the India coast.
As these two cousins work closely together on long-term dry
bulk shipping contracts to meet Indias rapid economic growth
avoiding the volatile spot market one wonders how long it
will be before they improve on Essar Shippings recent strong
performances and replace the two brothers at the head of the
table in the groups boardroom.
Cousins on a
mission at Essar
Anshuman and Rewant Ruia are hard
at work within sprawling conglomerate
Anshuman and Rewant Ruia
INDIA
True to the entrepreneurial spirit
of his father, he has not sat on
his laurels as one of the directors
of the huge Buhari Group, but
in 1998 founded the Coal & Oil
Company
Rewant and cousin Anshuman
Ruia, both under 30, and are
already making waves in the
international business world
ASIA
Book 1.indb 47 16/05/2012 16:41
Tom Crowley
US
Confdent Crowley continues
to build family business
TOM Crowley stepped into his fathers shoes at a very young
age, and is proving to be an ideal role model for those still
waiting in the wings.
As head of family-owned Crowley Maritime, Mr Crowley is
not so much a member of the next generation, but one of the
younger generation already holding a top maritime industry
position.
He has also shown vision and condence in reshaping
and diversifying the business his grandfather founded, while
bringing a youthful dimension to a world still dominated by
chairmen and chief executives two or three decades older.
Not for him a suit and tie, but smart casual attire that goes
with his easy informal manner.
Mr Crowley is also convinced of the benets of family
control, particularly in a business like shipping.
We can make long-term decisions that could not be justied
on a quarterly basis, he says.
The business is 100% family-owned, with minority
shareholders bought out ve years ago.
Crowley Maritime, whose portfolio ranges from container
shipping and logistics to product tankers, shipmanagement,
harbour towage and salvage, has just pulled of a considerable
coup. Its Titan subsidiary beat stif competition to win the
contract to remove the Costa Concordia wreck, with Mr Crowley
personally involved in negotiations with insurers.
Still in his mid-40s, Mr Crowley has been running Crowley
Maritime since 1994 when he was appointed chief executive
following the sudden death of his father. He was just 27 at the
time.
By then, he had gained plenty of experience, starting
at the age of 16 as a ticket collector for the companys San
Francisco passenger service, the Red and White Fleet. He
continued working for the company in a number of positions
while attending college, and then entered Crowley Maritimes
management training programme.
He is a third-generation Crowley, continuing to build up
the business his grandfather started in 1892 with the purchase
an 18 ft boat to transport personnel and supplies to ships
anchored in San Francisco Bay.
Today, Crowley Maritime has an annual turnover of around
$2bn, with the business mix designed to protect revenue
streams from excessive volatility, while also creating synergies
between the diferent activities.
Mr Crowley, who lives in the San Francisco area even
though Crowley Maritime is headquartered in Florida, took
the decision soon after he succeeded his father to lessen the
companys dependence on container shipping. Latin American
operations were sold to Hamburg Sd in 1999. Liner services
and logistics now account for around half the groups turnover.
But Crowley Maritime is still an important player in the US
container trades, giving Mr Crowley plenty of personal contact
with the big global players. He is a member of the elite Box Club
as well as on the board of the World Shipping Council.
As he drives the business forward into the 21st century, Mr
Crowley remains acutely conscious of the legacy bequeathed to
him by his father and grandfather.
The constant over the past 100-plus years has been a desire
to be the best at whatever we do, he says.
And he is also showing that family businesses can survive
and thrive in shipping, with Crowley Maritime now one of the
few remaining shipping concerns left in the US.
Third-generation owner Tom Crowley has more than stepped up to the plate
Tom Crowley:
a family business can make
long-term decision that cannot
be justifed on a quarterly basis
US
Book 1.indb 48 16/05/2012 16:41
Fritz Heidenreich
US
A SELF-PROFESSED computer geek who was born into a blue-
blooded shipping family has done what might appear to be
the obvious thing established himself as a shipping software
expert in charge of a pathbreaking online service.
However, Fritz Heidenreich has done this the old-fashioned
way, through hard work, independent thinking and with the
courage of his own convictions.
As a youngster, Mr Heidenreich spent summers working in
Heidmar, the tanker pool owned by his father, Per Heidenreich.
He learnt about chartering and operations on the ground
oor.
However, a fascination with computers and a passion for
programming, built upon a natural afnity for mathematics,
science and outer space, led to an aerospace engineering
degree. He never took over Heidmar itself. Instead, he and
his team masterminded the Q88.com website for the tanker
industry in the late 1990s.
Mr Heidenreich came to head Heidenreich Innovations, an
arm of the parent, in the early 2000s. After his father sold the
company to Morgan Stanley which in turn sold half of it to
George Economou Heidenreich Innovations spun itself of in
2008.
Today, it counts Heidmar merely as one of its 800-odd clients.
His company and its Q88 ofering, meanwhile, have already
revolutionised life for charterers, vetting personnel, operations
folks and owners, and today boasts a suite of 770 questionnaires.
Of course, life for Mr Heidenreich has had its share of bumps.
A dry bulk variation of Q88, Baltic99, was started with high
A program for success
Tanker pool heir Fritz Heidenreich opted to turn his attentions to technology
Volckert van Reesema
US
A YOUNG man who began as a Pepsi management trainee,
doing jobs that included operating forklifts, has established
an unusual niche as an owner focused on US-ag and Jones
Act shipping, and, through his wifes side of the family, on
international ofshore activities.
Volckert van Reesema says Pepsi co-founder Don Kendall,
who himself started of driving trucks, instilled a work ethic
into him, for which he is still grateful.
Finding strength in family ties
Volckert van Reesema coined a plan for Mid Ocean Marine with his father, Nickel
hopes in 2008, but the market collapse immediately thereafter
meant that it has elicited only a handful of clients so far.
Undeterred, Mr Heidenreich and his team recently launched
Milbros, a specialist information portal focused on liquid
chemical transport. In contrast with dry and wet bulk, not all
chemicals move by sea alone.
We are excited about adapting our skills to an entirely new
area, Mr Heidenreich says.
Over the past four decades, his father, the indefatigable
Dutch-American entrepreneur Nickel van Reesema, has
established a name as a US-ag shipowner. Mr van Reesema
cut his shipping teeth in Strong Vessel Operators, the liner
company half-owned by his father. The two of them co-founded
Mid Ocean Marine in 2007.
Mid Ocean last year snapped up a 70%-built state-of-the-
art Jones Act product tanker, originally ordered for $124m by
Software for shipping:
Fritz Heidenreich
US
Book 1.indb 49 16/05/2012 16:41
Kristian Rkke
US
A LOW-PROFILE appointment as chief executive of Aker
Philadelphia Shipyard in April 2011 fails to diminish either
the signicance of the mantle thrust upon Kristian Rkkes
shoulders, or its weight.
Mr Rkkes shipbuilding pedigree is top-drawer. His father,
Norwegian billionaire Kjell Inge Rkke, has owned several
successful shipyards, and in 2001 engineered the famous
takeover of Kvaerner, the European shipbuilding giant.
With the conquest came Kvaerner Philadelphia the defunct
navy yard that Kvaerner, with hundreds of millions of dollars of
help from local governments, had pledged to revive as a leading
Jones Act shipbuilder.
Success in this endeavour has been modest. The yard
debuted by delivering four containerships to Matson Navigation,
and then built a dozen product tankers bareboated to Overseas
Shipholding Group. It is currently building two aframax crude
tankers for ExxonMobils US-ag subsidiary SeaRiver Maritime,
and two product tankers on a speculative basis.
Mr Rkke has taken the top job comes at a time when Jones Act
shipbuilding itself is in ux. In addition, he must contend with
a strong union presence in Philadelphia, renowned through the
ages as a tough steel town.
A US citizen, born when his father lived here, Mr Rkke began
as a 17-year-old trawler deckhand in Alaska, and worked as a
pipe tter in his fathers yards in Norway.
Tough yardstick for Rkke heir
Challenging times for Kristian Rkke as he takes charge at Aker Philadelphia
AHL Shipping, at a bankruptcy auction for $12.7m. Together
with private equity group Alterna Capital Partners, the
company invested a further $60m to complete the ship, which
is expected to begin trading this summer. Mid Ocean also has
a majority interest in Great Lakes dry bulk player VanEnkevort
Tug & Barge.
However, this is only half of Mr van Reesemas story. His late
father-in-law, Willem Cordia, headed a shipping family as well.
Mr van Reesema says he learnt a lot from the father-son bond
Willem shared with Keesjan, Mr van Reesemas brother-in-law,
who today heads up Dutch jack-up rig player Workfox.
On a philosophical plane, Mr van Reesema is more in tune
with emerging technologies such as liqueed natural gas
propulsion, while his father favours proven technology.
Despite the standard prodding and poking to test each others
theories on various new ventures, and the odd hour each
day when they are at friendly loggerheads, he says he is
fortunate to have a partner and mentor like his father.
Mid Oceans next aspiration is to start a shipping fund
focused on US-ag projects.
He is a highly qualied graduate, having attended Colby
College in Maine, the London School of Economics and the
Norwegian School of Management.
He has worked his way up through the ranks at Aker
Philadelphia since joining in 2007. It is now up to this
thoughtful, well-travelled young man to make sense of, let alone
build on, the tempestuous labour relations situation in his new
hometown, as his yard seeks to make a name for itself in the
country of his birth.
Van Reesema:
fortunate to have his father
as a business partner
Shipbuilding role:
Kristian Rkke
US
Book 1.indb 50 16/05/2012 16:41
corporate lines than many family-held shipping vehicles and is
considered to be primed for growth when the moment is right.
With nancial and shipping markets under a cloud, the owner
has had to be patient, although a seventh aframax was recently
added to the eet.
Atlas has built a corporate culture based on loyalty and
meritocracy, says Mr Patitsas, who is a mechanical engineer
and holds a masters in ocean systems management from
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Employees ashore and
at sea feel part of the family. We are passionate about our work
and committed to our industry.
Leon Patitsas Atlas Maritime
A STRONG family pedigree in shipping, based on the traditions
of the tiny Aegean island of Oinousses, has helped to prepare
Leon Patitsas, 36, for the business of waiting out markets for the
right time to invest in vessels. His company, Atlas Maritime, was
established in 2003 after a division of family shipping interests
and a urry of deals in the next few years sculpted a highly
focused eet of six aframax tankers.
Frequently mentioned in banking circles as a candidate
for a public listing when the capital markets were more
entertaining of the industry, Atlas has been modelled on more
On our radar
So far, the next generation magazine has focused on the families that are dominant
in the shipping industry. However, there are some rising stars who warrant a
mention in this magazine because of their entrepreneurial spirit, their leadership
capabilities or simply because they have recently landed a top job.
Engendering
enterprise:
clockwise from
top left, Leon
Patitsas, Harry
Vafas, Michael
Skov and Jeffery
Landsberg
ON OUR RADAR
Book 1.indb 51 16/05/2012 16:41
Evangelos Pistiolis Top Ships
EVANGELOS Pistiolis announced his presence on the big
stage of world shipping with a bang in July 2004 when he took
his company Top Tankers public on Nasdaq. It was the largest
initial public ofering of a tanker company in the US for ve years
and ushered in what would prove a new era for shipping in the
public capital markets.
The IPO raised $146m to buy 10 tankers from Sovcomot
and within the same year another $130m was raised, partly for
acquiring ve suezmaxes from Essar.
In early 2005, Top Tankers made a bid to diversify with the
acquisition of a eet of 15 bulkers. If it had succeeded, the history
of the company could have been quite diferent, but nancial
markets were tightening their purse strings and a proposed
private placement to fund the deal zzled out.
To be renamed Top Ships, the owner entered the dry bulk
market on a more modest scale later on, but when the dry bulk
boom had almost run its course.
Although a series of six 50,000 dwt product-chemical tankers
were delivered by SPP Shipbuilding in 2009 and hired out on
bareboat charters, Mr Pistiolis has spent much of the last few
years weathering the storm and has been innovative in chopping
back Top Ships expenses.
The hard-working 39-year-old will no doubt bounce back to
more aggressive shipping deals. Now dividing his time mainly
between Greece and ofces in Monaco, where a new privately
held family outt, Central Shipping, has been established,
Mr Pistiolis gave a recent hint of things to come with Centrals
maiden order for two product tanker newbuildings at the STX
Ofshore & Shipbuilding yard in Dalian, China.
Harry Vafas Stealthgas
FEW Greek shipowners combine a grasp of new business tools
and old-fashioned hands-on involvement with such alacrity as
Harry Vaas.
Mr Vaas, chief executive of Nasdaq-listed StealthGas and
de facto head of his familys private shipping empire, has the
curriculum vitae of an old hand in the industry but is still
only 34.
After gaining sale and purchase and chartering experience
with top London shipbrokers Seascope and Braemar, he
joined his fathers dry bulk shipping business Brave Maritime
in 1999 and in the same year launched Stealth Maritime, a
sister company marking the familys rst foray into tankers. It
was an instant success and foreshadowed the groups future
development to the extent that today the group comprises 34
liqueed petroleum gas carriers, eight LPG newbuilds and 22
tankers with just two bulkers.
Running a public company has ofered a broader education
than a family business, says Mr Vaas. However, he credits
his father Nikos for allowing him not only seed capital but the
freedom to develop the business his way. You also need lots
of luck, determination, a thick skin, ambition and to be able to
judge peoples characters, he says.
Lucius Bunk and Alexander Tebbe Auerbach Schifffahrt
GERMAN shipping may be weathering one of most
challenging periods in its history but this has not stopped
33-year-old Lucius Bunk and 30-year-old Alexander Tebbe
from starting up a new venture.
Their shipping company Auerbach Schiffahrt, set up
in 2010, eventually wants to control the whole value chain
for small bulkers and general cargo vessels. Like KG funds,
the company relies on wealthy private investors, but with
Auerbach, they play much more of an entrepreneurial role.
Though young, the two company founders have already
gained quite an impressive track record in the shipping
business, both in Germany and abroad. Mr Tebbe has worked
for various owners, brokers and KG nanciers after studing ship
nance in London. Mr Bunk studied Sinology before joining the
management programme of a Hamburg shipping company. He
is now spearheading Auerbachs expansion into Asia.
Jeffrey Landsberg Commodore Research & Consultancy
JEFFREY Landsbergs entrepreneurial spirit came at just the
right time in the shipping downturn because since setting up
Commodore Research & Consultancy in March 2010, he has
made a name for himself as a leading provider of dry bulk
information.
The New York-based companys biggest coup is the
exclusive partnership it has formed with the China National
Shipping Service, a government organisation based in Beijing
that works with Chinese shipowners, for which Commodore is
a paid consultant.
Keeping watch:
clockwise from top
left, Hanne Srensen,
Grant Daly, Abhishek
Pandey, Birgit Liodden,
Krish, Krishnamurthi
and Julie Lithgow
ON OUR RADAR
Book 1.indb 52 16/05/2012 16:41
What sets Commodore apart from the research arms of large
shipbrokers is that the company has no agenda other than
to supply information to the market, whether that is through
its subscriptions-based reports or bespoke consultancy. It
focuses heavily on cargo supply and demand, rather than
on eet supply, and is quick of the mark in distributing
information.
This is our bread and butter we have to do it very well,
says Mr Landsberg. And although our primary client base is
still shipowners and traders the pure dry bulk players were
also seeing a lot more interest and business from the hedge
funds and nancial groups.
Commodore was established when Mr Landsberg was
just 27. After reading Asian studies at Boston University, he
spent time at Hanjin Shipping in Seoul before working as a
derivatives broker in Singapore and then Norway.
Mikael Skov Tankers Inc
THE one time operating ofcer and interim boss at Torm,
Michael Skov took his expertise and contacts to set up Tankers
Inc when his tenure came to an end.
The entrepreneur secured enough nancing to bide his time
and is now beginning to play his cards. Newbuilding orders
and a potentially lucrative contract with Nordic Tankers, now
called Nordic Shipholding, will help set up his business just as
many hope the tanker markets opens up again.
Christian Bonfls Nordic Bulk Carriers
A MAN with a niche on his mind, Christian Bonls co-launched
Nordic Bulk Carriers to focus on utilising high ice class dry
bulk tonnage, and in the process becoming a key actor in the
development of the northern sea route.
Mr Bonls priority is nding winter cargoes in the Baltic
sea for his eet of owned and chartered in tonnage, but he is
now pushing to increase summer cargoes through the northern
sea route between northern Europe and Asia and becoming
a champion in the drive to get more transparency from the
Russian authorities.
Julie Lithgow Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers
APPOINTED director of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers
last year, Julie Lithgow is one of a new generation of men and
women breaking into top shipping industry jobs. She readily
admits to being surprised that she was picked for the post
but members have taken to her and have applauded the fresh
approach she brings to the job. The London-headquartered
institute sets the professional standards for shipbrokers,
shipmanagers and ship agents, with some 5,000 ICS exams
sat each year in countries worldwide. Ms Lithgow, who has a
maritime studies degree, spent time at the Nautical Institute,
V.Holdings and Pole Star before she joined the ICS. One of her
key tasks now is to ensure the ICS retains its position as the
leading professional body while reforming the way the institute
is run, and deciding on its future role.
Birgit Liodden Youngships
BIRGIT Liodden has become the gurehead for Youngships
International, a Norway-based association of budding
junior executives wanting to make a mark for themselves in
the shipping industry. She represents the hope of the next
generation, and her constant enthusiasm won her this years
Womens International Shipping & Trading Association
leadership award 2012 for her eforts to raise the prole of the
shipping industry, particularly in a bid to attract more women
into the industry.
Her tireless eforts have been instrumental in raising the
prole of Youngships and expanding the organisation outside
Norway. Her knowledge, enthusiasm and standing within
tomorrows generation of shipping executive mark her out as a
future shipping leader.
Andreas Chrysostomou IMO
THE Cypriot chair of the maritime environmental protection
committee has his work cut out. Andreas Chrysostomou
is responsible for directing the International Maritime
Organizations debates on climate change, keeping them on
track and focused. A contender in last years race to become
the IMOs secretary-general, Capt Chrysostomou has a network
of contacts, and this, along with his personality, sets him out
from the pack.
Krish Krishnamurthi The Nautical Institute
KRISH Krishnamurthi has just become the youngest president
of the Nautical Institute. Known to be passionate about
improving safety at sea through professional standards, Capt
ON OUR RADAR
Book 1.indb 53 16/05/2012 16:41
Krishnamurthi played a key role in setting up The Nautical
Institutes India South branch in 2001. Capt Krishnamurthi
has more than 20 years of industry experience. He went to sea
in 1982, becoming master after a distinguished career with
companies including Univan, Bergessen Worldwide, Bernhard
Schulte and Tanker Pacic. In 2007, he came ashore and is
currently vice-president, operations technical for Sanmar
Shipping Ltd Chennai.
Suyin Anand, Tabitha Logan and Marija Pospisil Young
Professionals in Shipping Network
HONG Kongs Young Professionals in Shipping Network has
attracted more than 500 members since its foundation in 2010.
Founded by Suyin Anand, Tabitha Logan and Marija Pospisil,
the YPSN has evolved from an organiser of informal social
gatherings of friends and colleagues to a semi-ofcial forum
for young professionals to meet their peers from shipowners,
charterers, shipmanagers, shipbrokers, insurers and law rms.
Its quarterly event usually draws more than 200 attendees.
The three women behind the YPSN have invested much of
their spare time in building the networks membership despite
working long hours in the shipping industry. Ms Anand is
solicitor with law rm Ince & Co, Ms Logan works for Maritime
Capital Shipping and Ms Pospisil is a senior claims executive at
the North of England P&I Association.
Claudio Chiste Banca IMI
CLAUDIO Chiste is a ship nance specialist at the London
branch of Italys Banca IMI and chair of the Shipping
Professional Network in London, a network for young shipping
professionals. The Cass Business School graduate is also one of
the few people in this supplement to have a military background
he started his career as a lieutenant in the combat branch of
the navy in South Africa.
Grant Daly Safmarine
GRANT Daly, 41, took the helm as Safmarine chief executive
in February this year. Previously the head of multipurpose
vessels, the South African has been charged with overseeing
the merger of Safmarines management activities into Maersk
Line. AP Moller-Maersk acquired the South African shipping
group in 1999 and the company was allowed to operate fairly
independently until the plan was announced in October 2011.
In the past decade, Safmarines headquarters may have
moved from Cape Town via Antwerp to Copenhagen but,
says Mr Daly, this doesnt mean a diminished Africa focus.
Safmarine has strong South African ties and we still regard
ourselves as an Africa specialist. Africa remains a vital market
for us, he told Lloyds List earlier this year. The married father
of two is regarded by colleagues as a true Safmariner, but with
more than 17 years at the company under his belt, that is hardly
surprising.
Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal Golden Ocean
BIRGITTE Ringstad Vartdal has been nancial ofcer at
Golden Ocean Group for about 18 months. She came to the
group after cutting her teeth within the privately owned
Norwegian shipowner Torvald Klavness Group where she
worked in a number of positions including vice-president of
nance.
The young Norwegian found herself headhunted into
Golden Ocean and has shone ever since. Ms Vartdal is also
listed as a board member of Vartdal Fishing, an lesund-based
family-run business and in the family-focused investment
management rm run with other family members. She has
masters degrees in nancial mathematics and in physics and
mathematics. She has a reputation in Oslos maritime circles
for being extremely hard working, is held in high esteem and
tipped for a bright future.
Hanne Srensen Maersk Tankers
HANNE Srensen has been at AP Moller-Maersk for nearly
20 years but the previously low-prole executive escaped the
attentions of Lloyds List until this January. At just 46, she has
taken the helm of one of the worlds leading tanker companies
in terms of tonnage owned and chartered-in. With bags of
experience behind her as chief commercial ofcer of Maersk
Line and Asian nance chief, the skys the limit for Ms Srensen.
Could we be looking at the rst female chief executive of the
worlds biggest and most inuential shipping company?
Luis Benito Lloyds Register
AFTER many years of involvement with Lloyds Registers
South Korean operation, Luis Benito has recently been
appointed Lloyds Registers global strategic marketing
manager, marine and has relocated to Singapore. As manager
of LRs Korea marine development team from 2006, Mr Benito
helped to make LR gain the largest market share in the South
Koreas newbuilding market. Mr Benitos role is a new one for
LR, and recognises that Asia is now the worlds main shipping
hub. Previously, the global strategic marketing manager for
the class society resided in London. The move to Singapore
complements LRs development of its second major research
centre in Singapore, a companion to the centre now under full
steam at Southhampton.
Abhishek Pandey Standard Chartered
AGED 34, Abhishek Pandey has been the key man for growing
Standard Chartereds shipping portfolio from the ground
up to $4.4bn within ve years. The UK-based, Asia-focused
bank is one of the few banks owning a eet, and Mr Pandey
has utilised his past work experiences with shipping lines to
the great benet of the bank. Aside from being involved with
several award-winning deals involving Korea Gas and ABG
International, Mr Pandey was also instrumental in starting
Standard Chartereds ship lease business in 2010.
Barry Wingate HSBC
BARRY Wingate is director of global banking at HSBC
Investment Bank in London, having worked on various aspects
of the banks business since leaving Glasgow University. He also
has an MSc in shipping, trade and nance from Cass Business
School. Scottish-born Mr Wingate is 40 and has become a
regular speaker at key industry events. He lists his specialities as
ofshore oileld services, industrial shipping and the maritime
leisure market.
ON OUR RADAR
Book 1.indb 54 16/05/2012 16:41
Matt Dias
+44 (0)20 7017 4188
@ matt.dias@lloydslist.com
Wednesday 26 September
Lancaster Hotel, London
New for 2012: The Next Generation Award
Enter now at www.lloydslist.com/globalawards
Deadline for entries: 15 June 2012
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