Global Shipping Liner
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afmarine has sailed a long way since it was founded in Cape Town, South Africa on 21 June 1946. The global shipping line active on North-South trades offers sea transportation of freight both on fully containerised vessels for general and refrigerated (reefer) cargo and non-unitisable (break bulk and project) cargo vessels. Safmarine’s hallmark and signature strength is its strong, extensive and growing presence across the African continent serving more than 20 ports in West Africa alone. This advantage places the almost 70-year old carrier in a premier advantageous position for maritime trade between Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent and other regions. Following its acquisition in August 1999 by the Danish Maersk Group that owns Maersk Line, the world’s largest shipping company, Safmarine is now able to leverage its strengths and robust marketing and service competencies in tandem with Maersk’s global reach and capabilities. In June of this year, the Maersk Group announced that its long-time, Shanghaibased Maersk Line East China manager David Williams was to replace Grant Daly as chief executive of the company’s African specialist Safmarine Line on 1 July 2015. Williams, a South African, with a good track record, has had a stellar 24-year career with Safmarine-Maersk, in which he rose through the ranks to eventually take on this apex position. Now with a change of guard and the new incumbent in charge, David Williams has his work cut out for him. Logistics News Middle East spoke exclusively and expansively with the Copenhagen-based Williams, CEO, Safmarine, on a wide range of issues on his recent visit to Dubai, his first to the region since he took over at the helm on 1 July 2015. Enunciating what he calls a ’90-day priority programme’, Williams has been ‘out at sea and on the road’, travelling extensively, meeting and acquainting with colleagues (Safmariners as they are fondly and popularly called) and importantly customers on the frontlines in key markets to articulate and emphasize the Safmarine vision articulated in his own words—“to be the carrier of choice for existing and future customers”. In the three months that he has been in his current positon, he has travelled on familiarisation trips to South Africa, where the carrier was founded and which continue to be one of its biggest markets, India, East Africa, Germany and now the UAE. These official visits, in a manner of speaking,
16 | Logistics News ME | November 2015
DAVID WILLIAMS
CEO, Safmarine International David Williams has worked for the Maersk Group for the past 24 years. He first joined Safmarine in 1986 as a booking clerk in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, until 1990. He then worked in sales and the European Trade Department Office in Johannesburg and Cape Town in 1991. In 1997 he moved to Hamburg, Germany as the Commercial Manager for the Safmarine and Deutsche Afrika Linien (DAL) joint venture for container services between Europe and Southern Africa. After three years in Germany and the acquisition of Safmarine by the Maersk Group in 1999, Williams returned to South Africa in 2000 as the National Export Manager for Maersk Line, based in Cape Town. In 2002 he was promoted to sales and marketing manager before moving to Walvis Bay to lead Maersk Namibia in 2004. In 2007 Williams assumed the role of Maersk Southern Africa Cluster manager. He then became the Managing Director of Maersk China in Shanghai until June 2015. On 1 July 2015, Williams embarked on his role as the new Chief Executive Officer for Safmarine, based in Copenhagen, Denmark. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of South Africa and completed the Executive Development Program at the Graduate School of Business (University of Cape Town).