Konecranes has appointed Juha Pankakoski Executive Vice President, Port Solutions and member of the Konecranes Leadership Team. The post reports directly to Konecranes’ President and CEO Anders Svensson. Juha Pankakoski will succeed Mika Mahlberg, Executive Vice President, Port Solutions, who has left the Konecranes Leadership Team with immediate effect, but will continiue with the company as a Senior Advisor until November 7, 2023, ensuring smooth handover of his duties. Pankakoski joined Konecranes in 2004 and has held several key leadership positions during his career since 2015. He has been a member of the Konecranes Leadership Team as EVP, Technologies, since 2015.

Oakland, CA, USA: The Oakland Board of Port Commissioners has welcomed two new members to the Board. The new appointments are Jahmese Myres (PowerSwitch Action) and Stephanie Dominguez Walton (Voter Protection Project). They fill open positions due to Commissioners Cestra “Ces” Butner and Joan Story completing their years of volunteer service as Port Board members.

Multipurpose carrier Intermarine and sister company Jumbo-SAL-Alliance (JSA) have expanded their presence in South America, opening a new office in Santiago, Chile. The new company, JSA–Intermarine Chile is led by General Manager Nelson Matus.

Cosco Shipping Lines Spain has announced the appointment of Huang ChuangXiong as its new CEO.  ChuangXiong replaces Wan Kun, who was in charge since November 2020. He has been with the line for over 20 years.

GEODIS has announced the appointment of Xavier Avrard as Chief Strategy Officer. He will be a member of the Group’s Management Board, under the chairmanship of CEO Marie-Christine Lombard. Avrard joined GEODIS in 2014 as Group Controller. After contributing to the acquisition of OHL in 2015, he was appointed Managing Director for Projects Logistics, initially for Africa and then for the WEMEA region. In 2019 he was named SVP, Odyssey digital transformation programme and earlier this year over the strategic development of the Europe region, focusing on the integration of trans-o-flex, a company recently acquired by GEODIS. 

Schaumburg, Ill, USA: SEKO Logistics has appointed Maxime Bessiere as its new CCO, EMEA, effective immediately. He takes up the role as one of four founders of SEKO’s UK division, David Emerson, will be stepping down, effective 31 December. Bessiere has rejoined SEKO after nearly five years at Kerry Logistics, EMEA, where he served a dual role as commercial director of EMEA and cluster managing director of Sweden, Poland, Belgium, Czech Republic and South Africa. Prior to working for Kerry Logistics, Bessiere spent 11 years at GEODIS in the Asia-Pacific region in a series of roles, the last being sales and marketing director for China and Hong Kong.

Atlanta, GA, USA: Global temperature-controlled logistics real estate company Americold Realty Trust, Inc, has appointed a new COO for North America, Bryan Verbarendse. He brings more than 31 years of experience to the company. Prior to joining Americold he SVP, Distribution and Replenishment, for Albertson’s. He has also served as Group Vice President of Distribution at Albertson’s and held General Manager roles at Albertson’s and SUPERVALU.