New Director For World Shipping Council

US – BELGIUM – The World Shipping Council (WSC), based in Washington and Brussels whose members are responsible for around 90 percent of the global liner ship capacity, over half of which is container movements, have appointed a new director, Mr. Morten H. Engelstoft, Chief Operating Officer of Maersk Line. Mr Engelstoft succeeds Mr. Knud Pontoppidan of A.P. Moller-Maersk who has served on the WSC board since its creation in 2000. The World Shipping Council is an association of liner shipping companies whose goal is to provide a coordinated voice for the liner shipping industry in its work with policymakers and other industry groups interested in international transportation issues.

Mr Engelstoft joined A.P. Moller - Maersk in 1986 as a management trainee and has over twenty years of experience in the container shipping industry. He has held functional, operational and commercial leadership roles with Maersk Line throughout the USA, Europe and Asia culminating in general management positions with responsibility for Italy, Singapore and subsequently for Maersk Line's Eastern Mediterranean region.

Mr Engelstoft also holds an executive MBA from IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland and his wealth of experience includes a spell in Singapore as Group Senior Vice President and Area Manager for Maersk Line's South East Asia region with responsibility for approximately 3,500 employees. He also held responsibility for Maersk Line's operational control in the South East Asia region, which included 260 weekly vessel calls and 28 weekly terminal calls.

The World Shipping Council (WSC) board reads like a who’s who of shipping industry heavy hitters. In addition to their newest member a complete list of board members is:

Mr. Ron Widdows, Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) (Chairman)

Mr. Philip Chow, Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL)

Mr. Thomas Crowley, Jr., Crowley Maritime Corporation

Mr. Rafi Danieli, Zim Integrated Shipping Services

Mr. Y. M. Kim, Hanjin Shipping

Mr. Joachim A. Konrad, Hamburg Süd

Mr. Ulrich Kranich, Hapag Lloyd

Mr. Rodolphe Saadé, CMA CGM

Dr. Sun Jia-Kang, COSCO Container Lines

Mr. Masakazu Yakushiji, Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL).