Søren Leth Johannsen will take over from Sean Fitzgerald as CEO of Maersk Container Industri A/S as of next month. Johannsen has been COO of MCI since joining the company 17 years ago. He previously worked for Maersk Broker Asia Ltd in Singapore as general manager and later as managing director in Greece. He has been CEO-designate since April and the “business as usual” letter sent to customers last month following the cancellation of the proposed sale of MCI to CIMC was signed by him.

Associated British Ports has appointed Tim Morris as Group Head of Corporate Affairs. He joins from the UK Major Ports Group (UKMPG), one of the two trade associations representing the country’s ports, where he has been CEO for five years. Prior to that he held a number of senior communications, sustainability and strategy roles in the industrial group Tata Steel, and before that he spent six years with McKinsey in its strategy and corporate finance team.

Jacksonville Port Authority (Jaxport, FLA) has announced a number of new appointments. Kelsey Cox replaces James Benett as Chief Engineer, with the latter’s appoitment as COO. Kelsey Cox was previously project engineer in the city of Jacksonville’s Department of Public Works. Justin Ryan has been appointed as director, foreign trade zone (FTZ) and grant administration. In addition, Raymond “Mike” Ryan has joined as cargo sales director, US NorthEast region. He was formerly Vice President, Operations with ZIM America. David Briceno has been appointed cargo sales director, US SouthEast region. Finally, J Palmer Clarkson is the new Board Chairman, with Daniel Bean as Vice Chairman.

Victoria Zamora is the new head of Manta Port Authority (APM), where she previously served as Director of Promotion and Marketing. She also formerly held the post of Administrator of the Management Contract that formed part of the overall Public Private Partnership between APM and Terminal Portuario de Manta, TPM SA. She has held positions in the Autonomous Decentralised Municipal Government of Portoviejo such as Treasurer-Executor of Coactivas and Management Control Specialist. She also worked as a financial consultant at Línea Estratégica Linestrategic SA.

The management board of the Argentinian Port of Bahía Blanca has appointed Juan Francisco Linares as its new General Manager. He formerly served as Business Development Manager. He replaces Federico Franchini, who will return to Engineering Management after 19 months in charge. Alberto Carnevali, the port’s Operations Manager, will become the Deputy General Manager.

Rodrigo Monsalve Riquelme has stood down from his post as CEO of Empresa Portuaria Talcahuano San Vicente in Chile. In his place, the Board of Directors has appointed Arturo Morello Fuentes, currently the Chief Financial and Administration Officer as interim CEO until a new CEO is appointed.

Wascosa has appointed Iris Hilb as its new CEO with effect from 1 January 2023. She will take over from Peter Balzer, who will become Chairman of the Board.  Other Board members are Irmhild Saabel (CSO and CBDO), Markus Vaerst (Head of CDQO), Dominic Felice (COO) and Stephan Kellmann (CFO). Iris Hilb was previously SVP, Customer Service at DB Cargo AG. She joined Wascosa at the start of October, initially as Board member in charge of sales.

Chicago, IL, USA: West Hutchinson has joined Vertical Cold Storage as CEO and President, joining from Lineage Logistics, where he was SVP, Network M&A. Given Lineage’s acquisitions spree in the past 2-3 years, the appoitment suggests that West Hutchison aims to expand within and outside North America. West Hutchinson was a partner and COO of Emergent Coldstores before it was sold to Lineage. He started his career with UPS before moving to Americold Logistics, LLC.

The Board of the Transport Research Foundation (TRF), the holding company of TRL Ltd, has appointed Dr Clive Hickman, OBE, as the new Chairman with effect from 1 November 2022. Dr Hickman began his career as an engineer at Rover Group and rose to become Chief Executive of Tata Motors European Technical Centre via senior positions at MIRA and Ricardo UK. He has been Chief Executive of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) since its formation in 2011 and he will continue his involvement with MTC becoming Chairman in 2023.