London-based Lomar Shipping has promoted Peter Cotopoulis as its new chartering director after veteran Simon Hollamby decided to stand down.

Cotopoulis first joined containership and bulker owner Lomar at its London headquarters as a chartering executive in 2011.

The new director will also continue to head the company's office in Singapore, where he has been based for the past six years.

He succeeds Hollamby, who after nearly three decades at Lomar is taking a step back from the day-to-day fixing of vessels.

"This change has long been in discussion and recognises a long-serving talent in Peter Cotopoulis, whose promotion to chartering director is richly deserved," said Nicholas Georgiou, Lomar's chief executive.

"Equally we are delighted that Simon Hollamby will remain as an advisor to Lomar, so that we can continue to benefit from his extensive experience and knowledge of the markets."

Lomar owns 64 ships, mostly feeder and panamax containerships, but also four panamax bulkers, a multipurpose and chemical tankers.

Cotopoulis said his promotion is a privilege at a time of tremendous opportunities in the industry for shipowning businesses like Lomar.

Mixed fleet can help customers

"Our diversified fleet of modern containerships, bulk carriers and chemical tankers means that we are well placed to meet the demands of customers globally, as we continue to develop our position as a first-class shipowning and management business," he added.

Cotopoulis will oversee a team based in London, Bremen and Singapore.

He began his career at Seabreeze UK in 2006, before moving to the broker Tollard Shipping, where he chartered many types of vessels for several Greek owners.

Cotopoulis was appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers in 2011.

Hollamby joined Lomar as chartering manager in 1994 and was made chartering director in 2012.

His career in shipping began in 1978 at International Chartering as a trainee broker.

Having worked on numerous projects for major oil companies, he joined Jebsen Bulk Carriers London in 1989 as a chartering manager before moving to Singapore as managing director.

Fleet transformed on Hollamby's long watch

Lomar Shipping's CEO is Nicholas Georgiou. Photo: Lomar Shipping

At Lomar, the experienced executive has witnessed the transformation of a predominantly reefer-based fleet into a large, highly diversified pool of vessels.

Earlier in October, TradeWinds reported that Lomar had sold two boxships and bought two bulkers in deals worth an estimated $92m.

The UK-based company offloaded two feeder boxships for an estimated $66m to liner shipping giant Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC).

The 2,452-teu Milan Trader (built 2002) and 2,127-teu Georgia Trader (built 2007) went for about $33m each, according to boxship sources. That looks set to net Lomar an on-paper profit in the region of $48m.

Lomar also emerged as the buyer of the 53,400-dwt Teton (built 2008) and Eolus (built 2009) for $26m en bloc.

The two bulkers were bought from Sophocles Zoullas' Zenith Shipping Group, which acquired the bulkers in 2016 for $9.88m en bloc, sources said.