Singapore-headquartered shipping line APL announced the revamp of its organizational and management structures to react faster to the “profound changes” in the industry.
APL, the container shipping unit of Neptune Orient Lines, said it will move from the current geographically organized structure to a functional one.
There will be five function areas: trade, commercial, operations, procurement, and planning and strategy.
“The container shipping industry is undergoing profound changes, characterized by low growth and intense competition,” said Kenneth Glenn, president of APL. “We recognize there is a need for APL to respond more quickly to the market and to our customers.”
He added that the company has improved its financial position by enhancing its operational efficiency, continuing to introduce large fuel-efficient ships, and returning expensive chartered tonnage.
“We want to now take our speed of decision-making, market responsiveness and cost management to the next level by adopting a function-led management approach,” he said.
Effective February 10, a newly formed management team will be heading the revised organizational structure.
The new team, led by Glenn as APL president, is composed of Peter Jongepier, chief commercial officer; Calvin Leong, chief trade officer; Nathaniel Seeds, chief operations officer; and Jason Wong, chief procurement officer.
The role of current regional and country heads will be organized into commercial and operations functional heads, a company release said.
It added that the realignment was implemented following a study of its current business model and road map, as well as based on customer feedback.
