Bimco deputy secretary general Soren Larsen is set to relocate to Singapore early in 2022 following the departure of Maite Bolivar Klarup in August.
He is expected to arrive during the first quarter to facilitate Bimco’s ambition to strengthen support to members and the wider maritime community in the Asian region.
He will be joined in the city state by Bimco’s manager for maritime safety and security Ashok Srinivasan to boost the trade body’s technical knowledge in the region.
“I am delighted that Soren is relocating to Singapore to strengthen our global outreach and further develop our footprint in Asia,” said Bimco secretary general David Loosley.
In addition to being Bimco’s point man in Singapore, Larsen will retain his role as deputy secretary general, keeping overall responsibility of the organisation’s contractual work.
“I am truly excited to be part of the mission to increase Bimco’s presence in the region and to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones,” said Larsen.
“I also look forward to connecting the Asia region increasingly to all our activities, not least when it comes to contracts and clauses, which we know many of our Asian members value.”
Bimco’s Singapore office opened in 2016 with the aim of increasing services offered to members in the South East Asia region and strengthen collaboration with other regional maritime associations.
Klarup headed up the office until she relocated to Canada in August to join husband Jesper Klarup, who left Singapore-based BTS Tankers to join Montreal-based Fednav as its vice president of supramax chartering in February.
Klarup, who was previously head of public relations for Thome Ship Management before joining Bimco, has joined technology company e1 Marine as commercial director.
e1 Marine is a joint venture between clean energy technology developer Element 1, tanker operator Ardmore Shipping, and provides flexible financing solutions and newbuilding contract support specialists Maritime Partners.
Bimco’s only other representation in Asia is in Shanghai, where it opened an office in 2013. The office is headed by Bimco’s regional manager of Asia, Wei Zhuang.
The office was established to better serve Bimco’s Chinese members and improve engagement with the country’s regulators and decision makers.
