Former Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) chief executive Ron Widdows is joining the Germany-based Rickmers Group, reported Straits Times.
Widdows will become the new chief executive of Rickmers Holding, a maritime and logistics company, and its shipping arm Rickmers-Linie on April 1, taking over from Jan Steffens.
He will step down as senior adviser at NOL at the same time. Widdows has held the post since leaving the NOL job last October.
His departure follows the exits of two other key personnel announced in the past year – former chairman Cheng Wai Cheung is retiring in April, and Eng Aik Meng, who was president of APL, the firm's container shipping division, has already left to join Fortis Healthcare.
Widdows led APL from 2003 to 2008, when he became CEO and president of NOL. He has spent more than three decades with NOL.
Rickmers Holding chairman Bertram Rickmers said: “Ron brings a wealth of experience in container shipping and deep relationships within the industry, with shippers, governments and the financial community to his new role.
“The combination of the rich history and strong brand of Rickmers and the experience of this well- known shipping professional is a very positive development in the process of further expanding our successful enterprise with a strong focus on the Asia-Pacific and American markets.’’
Rickmers Group, which is based in Hamburg, is a maritime conglomerate that owns and charters a fleet of 122 vessels that transports bulk cargo. It also provides ship management and other services.
It employs a crew of more than 3,200 seafarers and has more than 450 staff across some 60 offices and agencies around the world.
Rickmers is also a 33 per cent shareholder in Rickmers Maritime Trust, a shipping trust listed on the Singapore Exchange.
Widdows will become the new chief executive of Rickmers Holding, a maritime and logistics company, and its shipping arm Rickmers-Linie on April 1, taking over from Jan Steffens.
He will step down as senior adviser at NOL at the same time. Widdows has held the post since leaving the NOL job last October.
His departure follows the exits of two other key personnel announced in the past year – former chairman Cheng Wai Cheung is retiring in April, and Eng Aik Meng, who was president of APL, the firm's container shipping division, has already left to join Fortis Healthcare.
Widdows led APL from 2003 to 2008, when he became CEO and president of NOL. He has spent more than three decades with NOL.
Rickmers Holding chairman Bertram Rickmers said: “Ron brings a wealth of experience in container shipping and deep relationships within the industry, with shippers, governments and the financial community to his new role.
“The combination of the rich history and strong brand of Rickmers and the experience of this well- known shipping professional is a very positive development in the process of further expanding our successful enterprise with a strong focus on the Asia-Pacific and American markets.’’
Rickmers Group, which is based in Hamburg, is a maritime conglomerate that owns and charters a fleet of 122 vessels that transports bulk cargo. It also provides ship management and other services.
It employs a crew of more than 3,200 seafarers and has more than 450 staff across some 60 offices and agencies around the world.
Rickmers is also a 33 per cent shareholder in Rickmers Maritime Trust, a shipping trust listed on the Singapore Exchange.