Former CEO of Maersk Becomes Unifeeders Chairman of Board

Maersk Pan-European feeder and shortsea operator Unifeeder has appointed Nils Smedegaard Andersen, former CEO of A.P. Moller Maersk A/S,  as new Chairman of the Board of Directors. Andersen succeeds former Hapag-Lloyd CCO Jesper Præstensgaard who instead takes up the position as Deputy Chairman. Born in 1958, Andersen joined Maersk in 2007 when he took over as the fourth Group CEO and Partner. Up till then, he had been on the Board of Directors. Nils S. Andersen graduated with an MSc in Economics from Aarhus University in 1982. Andersen works as a professional board member and strategic adviser to e.g. Nordic Capital Funds. He currently serves as Non-Executive Director at BP plc, Non-Executive Director at Unilever as well as Chairman of the Board of the international retail group, Dansk Supermarked A/S. The position at Unifeeder is his first directorship within the logistics & shipping industry after he left A.P. Moller – Maersk. ”I am excited by this opportunity. Unifeeder is a well-run company, fulfilling an important role as partner to both global liner shipping companies and industrial customers across Europe. Unifeeder has significantly expanded its network and service offering in recent years and I look forward to working with management to further strengthening Unifeeder’s market position by building closer customer relationships and developing the service offering, while considering entering into new markets, possibly through M&A, Nils Smedegaard Andersen commented. Under its present ownership, led by private equity investor Nordic Capital, Unifeeder has since 2013 grown to become the largest independent Pan-European feeder and shortsea operator with a network spanning 96 ports in Northern and Western Europe, the Mediterranean including North Africa and the Middle East as well as the Black Sea. This development has been supported by acquisitions and investments in new shared services centers, regional restructuring, various operational improvement initiatives as well as a focus on organic revenue growth, not least in the shortsea business, according to the company. In 2017, Unifeeder expects organic volume growth to exceed 10% with an even higher growth in earnings driven by economies of scale, high capacity utilization and process & IT optimization. Unifeeder benefits from market share gains and increased volumes into the commercial feeder markets as well as sustained high growth in the shortsea business.