Søren N. Thomsen has taken over the management of the company from its founder Kurt Skov
Last autumn, Blue Water Shipping announced the name of the company’s future CEO, Søren Nørgaard Thomsen. In early February, the 51-year-old top manager took up his post after founder Kurt Skov who will now concentrate on his role of executive chairman in the Blue Water Group.
“I am pleased to entrust the day-to-day management of Blue Water to Søren who is an experienced and competent top manager. Søren has the right values that fit perfectly into Blue Water and also, he has contributed to creating strong development and high earnings in his previous jobs. With Søren at the helm, the foundation of the management board will be strengthened and I am sure that Søren will, jointly with the of other members of the management board, create better stability and growth in our business” said Kurt Skov.
Søren N. Thomsen is 51 years old and has a long career within the shipping industry in the Maersk organisation – including 15 years in different positions in Ghana, China, Dubai and USA. For the past seven years, Søren has performed the function of managing director of the shipping line Esvagt in Esbjerg, during which period he has contributed magnificent results both financially and in respect of developing the business.
“I have been looking forward to becoming part of Blue Water which is a very interesting company. Its development over the years is very impressive and Blue Water has a strong foundation in the industry – in Denmark as well as worldwide. From the first day, I felt Blue Water’s strong culture and team spirit and I look forward to creating results together with my many competent and dedicated colleagues”, said Søren N. Thomsen.
In recent years, Blue Water has grown considerably in terms of turnover, staff and activities. Big investments in the organisation and IT systems have, however, affected the bottom line which has also been influenced by a drop in the level of activity due to the low oil price.
“In general, the transport industry is a very competitive line of business – with regard to price as well as quality. Every day, our employees work very hard to deliver versatile solutions to the clients. This we can and shall be very proud of. However, In recent years our financial results have not been satisfactory and dispite the fact that the result for 2017 is not yet made up, we will have to realise that it is going to be disappointing.
"Over the past year, we have, however, introduced a number of changes and initiatives that contribute to a positive development. In 2018, we will also see increased earnings from our huge project in Kazakhstan for which the total contracts for the next years amount to DKK 5 billion,” added Kurt Skov.