Klaus Jepsen, Group CEO of Shipco Transport, has been named Person of the Year by the New York/ New Jersey Foreign Freight Forwarders and Brokers Association. Jepsen will be honored at the 98th annual association dinner on February 5, 2015 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York.
Shipco Transport is one of the world’s leading neutral NVOCC’s, providing a comprehensive portfolio of neutral export and import ocean and airfreight services. Shipco, founded in 1988, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Scan-Group, an international shipping and transportation company, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Shipco has more than 70 offices worldwide and over 2,000 employees. “This is the first time in 98 years that our association has honored one of our own members” said Charles Riley, President. “NVOCCs are among the leading shipping sectors and in many cases, the largest customers of the ocean carriers. It is time for us to honor the contributions to world trade by the leaders of the forwarding, brokerage and NVO industries and Klaus Jepsen is a credible way to begin.” Jepsen, born in Copenhagen, has been with the Scan-Group since 1975. Having completed his apprenticeship with the Group, he moved to Singapore in 1979 to establish operations there for Scan-Shipping. Following his tenure in Asia, he relocated to the U.S. in 1981 where he launched Scan-Shipping’s New York office. In 1983, he moved back to Copenhagen to take on the position of Assistant General Manager/Vice President at the parent company. Identifying an opportunity to become more involved in the NVOCC side of the business, in 1988, Shipco Transport - spearheaded by Jepsen - was established in New York, becoming one of the first neutral NVOCC’s in the U.S. Jepsen, together with his family, has remained a resident of New Jersey now for the past 26 years. As well as being CEO for the Group, Jepsen also serves on the Board of Scan-Group. In 2007, led by Jepsen, the highly respected Shipco launched the WorldWide Alliance, an association of the world’s top NVOCCs. This further expanded the company’s global footprint and established Shipco and its WorldWide Alliance partners as best-in-class service providers in the LCL realm.