Svein Steimler is to step down as president and chief executive of NYK Group Europe after 27 years at the company.
In an extensive career in shipping spanning over 40 years, Steimler first came to prominence in helping build John Fredriksen’s shipping empire in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
He then went on to play a key role in internationalising NYK Line’s business from London.
NYK thanked Steimler for his “outstanding leadership, commitment and significant contribution” to the company in Europe and the group as a whole.
The Norwegian former Fredriksen right-hand man may have seemed an unlikely fit for the ultra-conservative Japanese shipping company when he joined in the 1990s — but it was a combination that proved to be a success.
By 2017 he was appointed chief executive of NYK Group Europe and, as an executive officer on the NYK board, became its most senior non-Japanese executive.
Over the past nine years, he has been an executive officer and on the board of NYK Line, the NYK Group’s ultimate parent company in Tokyo.
Steimler will be succeeded at the start of April as head of NYK Group Europe, which has nearly 10,000 staff, by Carl-Johan Hagman who stepped down as Stena Rederi chief executive in May last year.
Hagman also has experience in the ro-ro and car carrier trades as a former chief executive at Eukor Car Carriers in Seoul, Wallenius Lines and Hoegh Autoliners.
Steimler, who is 69, said he took to the Japanese company’s long-term strategy toward growing its business internationally.
“It’s been a fantastic ride, and it’s been hugely interesting. It’s a very different culture and really hard work, but the long-term thinking is unrivalled,” he told TradeWinds.
When he first joined NYK Line he was tasked with winning business for its car carriers which were returning to Japan from Europe largely in ballast.
Joint effort
In a joint effort between the London and Tokyo offices, Steimler went on to win business from all the leading European car manufacturers.
He was then instrumental in bringing NYK Line and Trygve Seglem’s Knutsen Offshore Tankers together to form the shuttle tanker company Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers (KNOT).
It was a key move in helping NYK Line to achieve its business plan to expand into the offshore market.
The latest evolution of the Norwegian Japanese partnership is Knutsen NYK Carbon Carriers which is planning to operate ships carrying liquified CO2 for the emerging carbon capture and storage market.
Steimler will step down on 31 March. He will remain on board of Knutsen NYK Offshore Tankers and Knutsen NYK Carbon Carriers. He will also remain as chairman of the Antwerp car terminal ICO Terminals and its ICO Windpark for at least a year, and will remain on the board of United European Car Carriers (UECC).
Steimler represented the Japanese Shipowners’ Association as a board member at the International Chamber of Shipping and received a doctorate in Maritime Operations from Solent University, Southampton in 2012. He was also a non-executive board member of TradeWinds.
