Greater ChinaOperations

Coles wields the axe at Wallem

Frank Coles has wasted little time in stamping his authority at Hong Kong’s Wallem Group.

Coles, formerly with Transas, took over from Simon Doughty at the famous name in shipmanagement at the end of October last year. Since then he has hired people from his previous job and today decided to wield the axe on two well known names in the organisation.

Former V.Ships executive David Price, the managing director of Wallem Ship Management since 2015, has been given his marching orders as has Nigel Moore, the group’s director of sales and marketing. Moore has been with Wallem since 2012. His position is set to be taken on by Johan Gustafsson, who joined Wallem last month after 13 years at Transas. No replacement for Price has been revealed.

In a note to clients today and seen by Splash, Coles said the changes in the company were aimed at aligning and strengthening the Wallem Group’s organisational structure to ensure the company meets evolving customer needs.

Gustafsson’s new position is group chief operating officer, bringing together several functions including business development and sales, procurement, learning development and external Services.

In other changes announced today, Lee Whiteoak of the Wallem Hamburg office will take on responsibility of group head of safety and compliance.

“The changes we are announcing today will be implemented immediately. They are fundamental for the next phase of the Wallem Group’s transformation in support of our vision. The Wallem vision is to be the leading provider of technology driven maritime solutions in a customer centric and transparent manner. Alongside the management and structure changes is a focused structured digitalisation transformation of the business,” Coles said in a statement to clients.

In his first interview with the press on being unveiled as the CEO of Wallem Group, Coles told this site last year his initial priorities would be to raise the Wallem brand, as well as modernising the company, while remembering Wallem’s position as a “traditional, capable and competent” company.

“We live in a world that is changing fast and we need a new perspective,” Coles said at the time.

The Wallem Group, founded in 1903, has been controlled by UK national Nigel Hill since 2006.

 

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.
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