IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim Visits Hapag-Lloyd

TIN news:  Kitack Lim, the secretary-general of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO), recently visited Hapag-Lloyd in Hamburg. On his agenda: The Fleet Support Center, which has centrally coordinated and systematically optimized the operation of owned and chartered vessels since 2014.

Kitack Lim, the secretary-general of the United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO), visited Hapag-Lloyd in Hamburg on Monday, April 3. Lim visited the Fleet Support Center (FSC) housed in the Ballin House headquarters building, together with a delegation of high-ranking individuals, including: Uwe Beckmeyer, a parliamentary state secretary of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy as well as the federal government’s coordinator for the maritime industry; Frank Horch, Hamburg’s senator for economy, transport and innovation; and Alfred Hartmann, president of the German Shipowners’ Association (VDR).

Michael Behrendt, chairman of Hapag-Lloyd’s Supervisory Board, welcomed the delegation, saying: “It is a special day when Hapag-Lloyd can host so many high-ranking and prominent figures from several countries at the same time.” In addition, Behrendt emphasized the important role of the IMO, saying: “We know that our concerns are in the right hands here.”

Following the reception, Jörn Springer, Senior Director Fleet Support Center, provided Lim and the delegation with an overview of the FSC, which has centrally coordinated and systematically optimized the operation of owned and chartered vessels since 2014. “We offer the highly qualified crews a range of different route options from which they can then choose the best one,” Springer explained.

The FSC can merge a wide range of information and thereby compare, for example, weather forecasts with current data, Springer added, saying: “On this basis, we can then make adjustments.” Volumes of data are thereby translated into information that can be used both on board the ships and within the company in order to make good decisions regarding events lying in the future.

Lim immediately turned his attention to the new THE Alliance, which could also benefit from the operational advice, asking: “Can Hapag-Lloyd share the information with its partners?” Springer responded by saying that this was possible to a certain degree on the operational level, but not from a commercial point of view.

On the next day, Tuesday, April 4, Lim attended the 10th National Maritime Conference (NMK), along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen.