Denmark’s Lauritzen Bulkers has found a replacement for outgoing chief executive Niels Josefsen close to home.
Copenhagen-based chartering operation Integrity Bulk’s CEO and founding partner Martin Egvang has been recruited to take over from 1 September.
Integrity Bulk has been operating successfully in the handysize bulk carrier segment for a decade, Lauritzen said.
Before starting the company, Egvang gained extensive dry bulk and management experience from Clipper Group, Armada Bulk and AP Moller-Maersk.
“Martin has vast experience from all parts of dry bulk shipping and he also shares the same values and ethics as those of Lauritzen. Therefore, it is with great expectations and confidence we are handing the responsibility for Lauritzen Bulkers to Martin,” chairman Kristian Morch said.
“It is with pride and humility that I take over from Niels Josefsen as CEO of Lauritzen Bulkers, and I am very much looking forward to working with the team and the board to continue the successful journey of the company”, Egvang added.
Josefsen’s intention to depart was made public in April. He will continue as CEO until Egvang joins.
“We are grateful for the way that Niels has made himself available for this transition of leadership, and we wish him all the best in the future,” Morch said.
Josefsen has spent more than five years in the top job.
Time for a break
The boss told TradeWinds that the company had needed some changes in its organisation over his time in charge, “but we have managed to maintain the DNA of Lauritzen”.
He will take a six-month break when he leaves the company, “to consider what is right for me”.
“There will be some golf involved,” he added.
The Danish handysize operator is wholly owned by investment company J Lauritzen.
The fleet comprises about 100 vessels, of which eight are owned.
The company employs about 110 people and has offices in Copenhagen, Singapore, Dubai, Hong Kong and Poland.
Lauritzen Bulkers continued to rebuild its owned fleet through three new secondhand deals in Asia last August.
It bought a trio of handysizes built in 2017 and 2015 after selling its remaining ships in 2022 and starting from scratch again.
The 2022 operating profit from core dry bulk activities was $115m, compared with $91m the year before.
