The intent to establish a new shipping company was published October 16th last year. Now, seven months later, the company is ready to launch.
"We are confident in what we have built, and are eager to start. G2 Ocean is going to be a strong and customer oriented company", says G2 Ocean CEO Rune Birkeland. The new company will be present in 16 different countries on six continents. The headquarters of G2 Ocean is in Bergen, Norway. In total approximately 130 vessels will be operated by the pool. That includes open hatch, semi open and conventional bulk carriers. "The large fleet makes it possible for us to offer a high frequency and flexible service to our customers. Strong branch offices and our competent personnel will provide quality and efficiency. This new set up will benefit our customers early on", says CCO Arthur English. The process of building G2 Ocean has gone very well. The teams from Gearbulk and Grieg Star found a common ground and goal from the start. Most G2 Ocean offices will have personnel from both companies. On the open hatch side, three Vice Presidents have responsibility for three geographical areas. Carla Pontes will lead the South America trades from Rio de Janeiro. In Singapore Simon Baker will lead the Pacific trades. Both are former Gearbulk employees. Annette Thuen Hansen will lead the Europe and North America trades. VP for conventional bulk is Petter Mowinckel, and Terje Winther will lead Operations. The three latter are all former Grieg Star employees, and will sit in Bergen. Stephan Bergamin will lead the Finance Department. Knut Langeland is VP for Shared Services with a base in Bergen. Both come from Gearbulk. "The organisation is very strong, with highly competent people in all positions. I am looking forward to leading this crew" says Rune Birkeland. G2 Ocean will be present as a new company at Breakbulk Europe in Antwerp April 24th. The next possibility to meet the G2 Ocean people is at the International Pulp Week in Vancouver May 7th.