Leading container ship broker Jan-Hendrik Heikes is stepping down as managing director of Ernst Russ Shipbroker.
The veteran shipbroker will retire at the end of the year from the Hamburg broking shop he helped form.
He will be replaced with immediate effect as co-managing director by Maik Putzer. The move is part of “a generational change”, the company said.
Ernst Russ Shipbroker is mainly known for the chartering of container feeder tonnage, as well as a broker of multipurpose (MPP), dry cargo, and ro-ro vessels.
The company was established in 2013 from a merger of the feeder activities of Peter Dohle Schiffahrts and the entire shipbroking operations of Ernst Russ and Stuwe.
That was part of the consolidation of the German shipbroking scene, coming after Peter Dohle acquired a one-third stake in Ernst Russ in 2011.
Stuwe veteran
Putzer is a 20-year veteran of the German shipbroking scene.
He started his career with Stuwe in 2002 with whom he completed an apprenticeship in 2005.
After a year in Paris, Putzer returned to Hamburg to take responsibility for chartering of tonnage entrusted to Stuwe.
Ernst Russ Shipbroker has historically had a strong position in the chartering of feeder container ships, especially for smaller feeder vessels.
Many of the larger container vessels managed by its principals have been handled by Blue Net Chartering, the Hamburg and Singapore-based platform created in February 2018 by Peter Dohle and Greek container ship owner Costamare Shipping.
Ernst Russ is strengthening its chartering team this month by taking on Marc Serwatzki from the Blue Net desk.
