October 8 - Further to our exclusive report in the September/October edition of HLPFI, it was good to see the recently relocated management team of Safmarine MPV flying the flag at the Breakbulk Americas event in New Orleans.
Pictured below from left to right, are George Janssen, Randy Jameson, Scott Bitely, Susan Castaing and Jorg Knuttel. (Not pictured, but part of the Safmarine MPV team in Houston is Janet Grubbs.)
According to Safmarine MPV's managing director, Jorg Knuttel: "2013 has been a significant year for Safmarine MPV which started with the AP Moller-Maersk Group's decision to establish the Safmarine MPV business as a separate and independent business unit within the Group, complete with its own dedicated third party agency network.
"Following the appointment of Norton Lilly International to represent Safmarine MPV as our third-party agents in the US, the logical next step - in view of the importance of the US-West Africa trade to our business - was to move our management team closer to the business."
Safmarine MPV's commercial director, Randy Jameson, relocated from Safmarine MPV's headquarters in Antwerp to his new base in Houston, where he was joined by industry veteran, George Janssen, previously with SE Shipping, Beluga Chartering, Jumbo Shipping and GenChart, as the new Safmarine MPV line manager for the US East Coast & Gulf to West Africa service.
Knuttel added: "Breakbulk Americas is an important meeting place for the key players in the heavy lift, project cargo and traditional breakbulk markets and the event provided the perfect opportunity for Safmarine MPV to introduce our new US management team."
Deploying a dedicated fleet of multipurpose vessels, Safmarine MPV connects the US, Europe and South Africa with the main oil and gas ports along the West Africa coastline.
The company's specialised multipurpose ships are purpose-built to carry project and breakbulk cargoes and are also able to load containers. Safmarine MPV currently offers four breakbulk services to West Africa, two from Europe, one from the US East Coast and one from South Africa.
