The three top staff on Oldendorff Carriers’ cargo desk have resigned, TradeWinds has learned.
Slawomir Ratajewski, Cedric Weber and Thomas Hansen handed in their resignations at the German owner-operator’s head office in Lubeck on Wednesday.
Ratajewski, the desk’s managing director, is departing after just over 14 years at Oldendorff, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Weber leaves as director of the desk and Hansen as senior chartering executive.
The three head up a key part of Oldendorff’s business, developing and maintaining relationships with the owner-operator’s cargo clients.
The client book includes major names in commodities, particularly within iron ore and coal, including traders and mining firms.
Oldendorff’s focus on being a cargo operator as well as a vessel operator and owner has been one of the pillars upon which the modern organisation has been built.
Ratajewski declined to comment when approached by TradeWinds. Weber and Hansen could not be contacted and Oldendorff did not respond to requests for comment.
The trio are not the only well-known staffers to have left the German shipping giant in the past couple of years.
Perhaps the most notable departure was its then CEO Peter Twiss, who abruptly retired in March last year.
He was succeeded by Patrick Hutchins, who at the time was promoted from head of Oldendorff’s capesize chartering activities and relocated from London to Germany for the new role.
Yannis Efstathiou, Oldendorff’s Copenhagen-based head of chartering, retired at the same time.
Rumours have been circulating that Twiss has been working to set up a bulker operating platform of his own and that the three outgoing staff from Oldendorff’s cargo desk are joining him.
Twiss, who spent almost 30 years with Oldendorff, declined to comment on his plans when contacted by TradeWinds.
Sources with knowledge of the matter told TradeWinds that the ex-Oldendorff trio have not left to join Costamare Bulkers, the operator set up in late 2022 by senior chartering staff from Oldendorff.
About 30 staff are understood to have left Oldendorff to join Costamare Bulkers since it was established.
The platform is backed by bulker and boxship owner Costamare and its principal, Konstantinos Konstantakopoulos.
Oldendorff is one of the biggest names in the dry bulk business globally. It has grown from a fleet of less than 30 ships in 1980 to about 750 owned and chartered vessels today.
