Indian bulker owner Apeejay Shipping has tapped ship management giant V.Group for its new chief executive.
Sumant Ahlawat has joined as CEO in Kolkata, after 10 years at the UK-headquartered manager.
He was most recently operations director at V.Ships Asia, having previously been fleet director.
Apeejay said: “With 30 years of maritime experience, including 14 years in ship management, Sumant brings a wealth of expertise in fleet operations and dry dock management.”
Ahlawat was overseeing a diverse fleet of 45 vessels at V.Ships.
He holds a degree in marine engineering from the Marine Engineering and Research Institute in Kolkata and a diploma in shipping management from the Narottam Morarjee Institute of Shipping, Mumbai.
“As he steps into this pivotal role, we are confident that Sumant’s strategic vision will take Apeejay Shipping to new heights,” the company added.
Apeejay owns eight supramax and panamax bulkers. VesselsValue assesses the fleet as worth $102m.
The ships date from between 2004 and 2012.
Ahlawat was previously head of Malaysian group MISC’s tanker company AET’s Indian division for nearly five years.
Staff movements
He replaces Dhiraj Pahuja as CEO at Apeejay.
Pahuja left in August to become head of commercial and operations at shipowner Lila Global. He had been Apeejay boss for three-and-a-half years.
The loss of Ahlawat came after V.Group added another big name to its roster.
TradeWinds reported earlier on Wednesday that Maersk Tankers pools boss Jesper Bo Hansen has resigned to join the group as managing director.
Before that, Dimitris Patrikios, an experienced Greek executive who joined V.Ships as an adviser last year, moved up to head the ship management giant’s growing Greek office.
Best known in the market as a long-standing senior tanker manager at Onassis companies, Patrikios announced the news himself on his LinkedIn page on Tuesday.
