The GCCDA
Jul 24, 2024
P&O Maritime Logistics chief executive Martin Helweg has announced he is resigning from his role, saying he is beginning "a new chapter"
DP World-owned businesses have seen two long-serving chief executives step down within a week
P&O Maritime Logistics chief executive Martin Helweg has announced he is resigning from his role. Taking to social media platform LinkedIn, Mr Helweg said he is beginning "a new chapter".
"After some incredible years as CEO at P&O Maritime Logistics, it is time for me to step aside and move towards new opportunities. My time in P&O has been filled with numerous highlights, and I am particularly proud of our team’s resilience. Despite the challenges in the world and our industry, we have consistently delivered beyond expectations, surpassing our targets every year without fail," Mr Helweg wrote.
Mr Helweg expressed gratitude to United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based DP World chairman and chief executive Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem for his role and credited the state-owned company’s "many achievements," among those listing "the strong sense of belonging and care" as the "most impressive and powerful one".
Mr Helweg also thanked his colleagues and workforce from P&O.
"Now more than ever, there are attractive and significant opportunities in our markets that look for the best platform to materialise, and I am determined to continue propelling our industry, companies, and colleagues forward," he wrote.
With more than four years in his role as chief executive and more than seven years as a top-level executive in the business that was known as Topaz Energy and Marine prior to its acquisition and rebranding by DP World, Mr Helweg is the second long-serving DP World business chief executive to resign in a week.
Unifeeder Group chief executive of 34 years, Jesper Kristensen recently stepped down from his role, saying on LinkedIn that he had "requested to be relieved" of his duties with Unifeeder as the Unifeeder Group chief executive and global chief operations officer for marine services at DP World.
Both Unifeeder and Topaz Energy and Marine were acquired by DP World during a concerted push into logistics by the UAE ports giant in 2018 and 2019 that saw P&O Ferries, P&O Ferrymasters and P&O Maritime Services brought under a marine services vertical business with Unifeeder, which Mr Kristensen ultimately oversaw as global chief operations officer. P&O Maritime Services was, in 2019, merged with Topaz Energy and Marine and rebranded as P&O Maritime Logistics.
The DP World marine services vertical became embroiled in a maritime employment law controversy in 2022 in the UK’s passenger shipping sector, when the P&O Ferries business, under chief executive Peter Hebblethwaite, employed a wage-cutting tactic known as ’fire and rehire’ that affected nearly 800 P&O Ferries’ crew members. Many of the crew who were made redundant were replaced by lower-paid agency workers during a period when DP World announced strong earnings and took UK government subidies. The UK Prime Minister at the time, Boris Johnson, was quoted as saying the company "probably broke the law" in using the tactic and avoiding negotiations with employee labour unions. After firing its employees and with new staffing in place, P&O Ferries saw multiple vessel detainments, with UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency finding crew familiarisation and training lacking during onboard inspections of two of P&O Ferries’ vessels and another vessel spending nearly two hours adrift in the Irish Sea with passengers on board after losing power off the Northern Irish coast.