Could you share an overview of your career with OOCL?
I’ve been working with OOCL in Australia for 23 years, but my employment with OOCL goes back as far as 1991 when we started the liner-owned office in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1996 OOCL asked me to move to Copenhagen to set up our OOCL-owned offices in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. This took about two years. Prior to my relocation to Sydney, I was running the OOCL office in Rotterdam for three or four years.
Have you always been interested in, or working in shipping?
It may sound a bit strange, but I have always had the ambition to spend a career in transport, whether it was in trucking, forwarding, short-sea or deep-sea shipping or even in the air freight industry. Ultimately, I started working for the third-party agent of OOCL, until I joined Maersk in 1988 for three years when OOCL started its own offices in Antwerp and asked me to rejoin them. I accepted straight away.
How have you seen the industry change during your time in it?
In the first 20 to 25 years of my time in shipping, I’m inclined to say that hardly anything changed. It is only since around 2005 that we have seen the industry change by leaps and bounds. We have noticed strong developments towards “vertical integration” by terminals, logistics companies, shipping lines, airlines and so on. Vessels have more than doubled in capacity, from some 10,000 TEU to well over 24,000 TEU. We went through a very tough Covid-19 period. It allowed this industry to shine and keep cargo moving around the world, whereas initially everyone feared the world economy would come to a standstill. Let’s not forget that some crewmembers spent 11 months onboard ships without setting foot on land!
You’re planning to retire at the end of 2024. What kind of legacy do you hope to leave?
There will be no personal legacy, as it is the shipping industry itself and OOCL that have the long-lasting impacts on everyone involved, from colleagues and suppliers to customers and everyone else who works with or moves cargo. I can count on two hands all the “bad days” at work over the last 42 years. The only credit I can take is that my colleagues have adopted many good ideas, solutions, processes and new approaches since I first arrived, but more important is the pride I feel when they are the ones fine-tuning and improving those same ideas and processes. They deserve the credit for their accomplishments and the company’s achievements.
Would you have done anything differently if you had your time again?
Nothing much in terms of how I have run OOCL in this country, as I still like to think that we have achieved great results considering our size. The focus has largely been on OOCL and our customers, but in hindsight, I should maybe have spent more time as a Shipping Australia board member to bring the views of all industry bodies in Australia’s maritime industry a bit closer together.
Are there any areas where you believe the maritime industry could be improved?
One aspect that involves our industry, and which I take personally, is respect for the efforts the Australian Border Force, Australian Federal Police and immigration officers make each day to prevent narcotics, drugs and illicit cargo from entering the country. Shipping lines, airlines and other players are already helping those efforts considerably, but we can still do better. The implementation of blockchain solutions, further digitisation of shipment details and greater sophistication and exchange between all parties involved is definitely an area where we need to look for constant improvement.
Do you have any hobbies?
Up until now I have always considered shipping and OOCL as my one and only hobby, and my family, friends and colleagues as my passion. I have two grandkids in Vancouver. This might be a good time start transferring my major hobby to them.
Do you have any travel plans for your retirement?
With parents, a brother and sister living in Belgium and our own kids and grandkids in Vancouver, my main travelling activity will likely be round-the-world trips.
What advice would you share with younger people starting out in the industry?
I understand that working for the same company and in the same industry is not really “done” anymore these days in the younger generation, but if you’re “on a good thing” it’s not a bad idea to stick to it.
This article appeared in the December 2024 | January 2025 edition of DCN Magazine
