Danish offshore vessel owner Esvagt has promoted two senior managers to take over from chief executive Peter Lytzen.
The company said Lytzen has retired after being in the top job for six years.
The new co-CEOs, Kristian Jakobsen and Soren Karas, start work today.
Jakobsen was previously deputy CEO at Esvagt, a role he has held since 2018, while Karas has been chief strategy and commercial officer since 2017.
Esvagt is owned by 3i Infrastructure and claims to be the world’s biggest owner of charter-backed service operation vessels for wind farms.
The fleet of 42 offshore support ships includes eight wind farm vessels.
Esvagt chairman Jakob Thomasen said: “I am delighted that we have strong CEO successors within Esvagt in Kristian and Soren who know the business well and are advocates of our values and culture.
“The shared CEO role has a great fit with our strategy and operating model and will help us drive further growth through our offshore service solutions,” he added.
Jakobsen and Karas said: “We thank Peter for his strong leadership of Esvagt and for being an excellent colleague.
“We are committed to accelerating our international growth, while continuing to deliver excellent operations and services for our customers and partners, as well as providing an attractive workplace for our employees.”
Everything has its time
Lytzen added: “My time at Esvagt has been a tremendous journey but everything has its time. I have concluded this is the right time to retire and I am delighted that my colleagues Kristian and Soren have accepted to take over the helm.”
Esvagt says it pioneered the SOV concept back in 2010. It is headquartered in Esbjerg.
In January, the owner returned to Cemre Shipyard in Turkey for its newest SOV.
Esvagt said it was planning a newbuilding after winning a deal to work for Vestas on Ecowende’s Hollandse Kust West offshore wind farm off the Netherlands, which will be commissioned in 2026.
Last July, Esvagt clinched a deal with energy group Orsted to build the second in a groundbreaking series of wind farm ships.
In 2022, the pair ordered the world’s first methanol-powered SOV at Cemre. The vessel is due to begin operations this year off the UK east coast.
The second ship is due in 2026, backed by a 10-year contract for the same site.
