Global ship-management company V.Group has appointed Bjoern Sprotte as the chief executive of its ship-management division.
Sprotte will be based in Hamburg and replaces Franck Kayser, who has held the position for the past two-and-a-half years.
He joins from OSM Maritime Group, where he spent four years in a number of senior roles including the most recent one of chief executive in Singapore.
Sprotte will report to Rene Kofod-Olsen, who took over as chief executive of UK-based V.Group from industry veteran Graham Westgarth on 1 November 2020.
Kayser, who has headed V.Group's ship-management division since June 2018, will assume a new position as V.Group's managing director for Denmark.
He is expected to focus on “strategic growth opportunities in this important market,” Kofod-Olsen said.
Career path
Since early 2017, Sprotte has worked with Norwegian ship-manager OSM, where he was made chief executive in October 2019.
He originally pursued a career at sea with the Rickmers Group, where he rose from nautical officer to chief executive of Maritime Services over a period of 15 years.
From there, he moved to the position of vice-president at Carnival Group, where he was responsible for the development and delivery of its ship-management strategy.
Kofod-Olsen said Sprotte was an experienced maritime professional who “possesses the commercial, technical and operational skills and knowledge to deliver sustainable benefits to our customers”.
“Having both Franck and Bjoern in V.Group adds significant leadership strength, which will serve us well as we continue to develop the group,” Kofod-Olsen said.
Germany has grown in importance for V.Group in recent years after its private-equity parent Advent acquired the fleet of container shipping company Norddeutsche Reederei H Schuldt and merged it with its own operation in Hamburg.
Its goal since then has been to develop the German office as V.Group's centre for container shipping expertise.
Commenting on his appointment, Sprotte said: “The global maritime industry is in a transition towards decarbonisation, while response to Covid-19 continues to influence safe and efficient ship operations.”
