The Danish transport company has appointed its new CEO. 51-year old Søren N. Thomsen will replace the company’s founder and present CEO Kurt Skov
Søren N. Thomsen
Søren N. Thomsen
Kurt Skov will soon return to his role as executive chairman for Blue Water Shipping, which he founded in Esbjerg in 1972. He appoints the role as CEO to Søren Nørgaard Thomsen, who steps back from his present top management position at the shipping line Esvagt to enter his new role as CEO for Blue Water Shipping’s 1500 employees in 60 offices worldwide. Søren N. Thomsen is 51 years old and has a long career as manager within the shipping and shipping line business in the Maersk organisation – including 15 years in different positions in Ghana, China, Dubai and the United States. For the past seven years, Søren has held the position of Managing Director of the shipping line Esvagt in Esbjerg, during which period he has contributed to delivering magnificent results both financially and in respect of developing the business. He has contributed to exploiting the company’s potential to create growth as well as improving the contribution margin and bottom line. The organisation has been upgraded continuously in line with the development and close relationships have been developed with clients and partners. Experienced leader  “Søren N. Thomsen is an experienced and strong leader and through his career, he has shown that he is able to take the right decisions in his effort to improve the development and earnings. Søren has solid commercial and business competencies and has also been deeply engaged in the development and operation of the support functions: Finance, IT, HR, HSSEQ and Marketing”, says Kurt Skov. “Blue Water is a large company which covers widely both geographically as well as in its activities. By employing Søren, the foundation, competencies and experience in Management will be strengthened considerably. The aim is that we can create better stability in our business in the future – among other things through improved profits and a more focused strategy. With his comprehensive experience, I am sure that Søren can contribute to bringing Blue Water forward in the right direction and pace in close interaction with the rest of Management”, says Kurt Skov. Søren N. Thomsen looks forward to becoming the new top Manager for one of the largest transport and logistics companies in Denmark. “Blue Water is an incredibly exciting company with a unique and strong culture. It is impressive what Kurt has built up from scratch and I consider it an honor to be given the possibility of bringing Blue Water to the next level. I look forward to a good cooperation with a lot of competent and dedicated colleagues and to creating good results together with them. I hope I can bring stability and further profitable growth through a strong cooperation across the organisation and contribute to strengthening the team spirit further”, says Søren N. Thomsen who will start in his new role by further agreement. Large investments Throughout the previous years, Blue Water Shipping has experienced a considerable growth both in regards to the companies activities, turnover and number of staff. For the past two years, the bottom line has been moderate due to large investments in a new super terminal in Taulov, Denmark, new IT-systems as well as Nordic expansion. Further, the low oil price has affected the activity level and profits. “One of the primary tasks right now is to ensure that we benefit in the best possible way from our investments in terminal, IT-systems and organisational changes. This work will also affect our result for this year. We look positively towards 2018, where we seriously start and will see the revenue of our giant projects in Kazakhstan, where we for years to come have contracts with an overall value of around 5 billion DKK”, says Kurt Skov. Career: 2010-2017: Managing Director of Esvagt, Esbjerg. 2007-2010: Chief Operating Officer, Svitzer, Copenhagen 2002-2007: Managing Director, Maersk Ghana, Ghana 1998-2002: General Manager, Maersk (China) Shipping, Beijing 1995-1998: Operations Manager, Maersk UAE, Dubai