Dr Ignace Van Meenen steps up to the position from hiscurrent post as deputy chief executive with immediate effect.
Widdows is also being replaced as chief executive of Rickmers-Linieby current chief operating officer Ulrich Ulrichs.
Widdows will shift to the advisory board of RickmersHolding. He will also remain on the board of the Rickmers joint venture withprivate equity firm Apollo.
Rickmers described the moves as “continuing to executesenior managerial changes as part of its journey towards a high-performingglobal maritime business”.
The changes come as the German owner reported revenues ofEUR 578.6m ($802m) for 2013, a year-on-year decline of 10.7%.
Although consolidated ebitda regressed to EUR 192m, group net income managedstayed positive to the tune of EUR 1.5m.
“The ongoing pressure onthe shipping market impacted all three of our business segments,” the shipownersaid.
At the end of the financial year 2013 Rickmers Group had 102 vesselsunder management of which 59 are owned vessels.
