Neptune Lines, a Greek car carrier owner headed by the president of the country’s shipowners association Melina Travlos, has announced creating a new division to branch out into onshore vehicle distribution as well.
The low-profile owner of pure car and truck carriers announced on Wednesday it has set up a new entity called Neptune Land Services (NLS).
“NLS will deliver logistics services to address customer supply chain needs, solutions to include storage, processing, and inland distribution for finished vehicles,” the company said in a post on its LinkedIn page.
This is the most eye-catching move announced by the company under Craig Jasienski, an Australian manager whom Travlos appointed as chief executive officer in September 2021.
Five months later Travlos, who remains president of Neptune Lines, was elected as the first woman at the head of the Union of Greek Shipowners (UGS).
In its statement on 18 January, Neptune Lines described the creation of Neptune Land Services as “the next step in [its]… growth strategy”.
Just as she did in the case of Jasienski, a former chief executive officer at rival Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Travlos picked an outsider to lead the new entity.
NLS is to be headed by Dror Noach, who had been for the last 17 years with CNH Industrial Group — a London-based company that specialises in equipment and services for agriculture and construction.
“With his vast experience in both European logistics of fast-moving consumer goods, as well as finished vehicle logistics globally, he is very well suited to drive our ambition,” Jasienski said in the statement.
Noach, who last had the title of vice president of global logistics at CNH, will operate out of Piraeus.
Neptune has benefitted from surging charter rates and ship values in its business.
The company announced in August last year that it took delivery of its fifth acquisition since appointing Jasienski, boosting its fleet by one-third in the process.
These acquisitions brought Neptune Line’s owned fleet to 19 vessels, “adding the necessary capacity to cope with the increased customer demands”, the company said at the time.
