Sappio takes helm at Rickmers Americas

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012 — The Rickmers Group has appointed Robert Sappio to the position of President and CEO of Rickmers Americas. He will report to Ronald D. Widdows, CEO of Rickmers Holding.

Mr. Sappio will be responsible for all aspects of Rickmers Group’s business in the Americas: including Rickmers-Linie (America) which is based in Houston, Texas, and the Maersk-Rickmers U.S. Flag joint venture, which operates multi-purpose heavy lift cargo ships. A familiar face in Washington, D.C., Mr. Sappio also will be responsible for regulatory matters in the U.S. trades.

For the Rickmers-Linie business, Mr. Sappio will also report to Ulrich Ulrichs and Rüdiger Gerhardt, Managing Directors of Rickmers-Linie, who are responsible for the global operations of the Group’s heavy-lift and breakbulk business.

Sean Carney, formerly the head of Rickmers-Linie in the U.S., will continue to have responsibilities within the heavy-lift/breakbulk business.

Mr. Sappio has nearly 30 years of experience in shipping, intermodal transportation, logistics and supply chain management and joins Rickmers Group from his previous position as a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Business Consulting in San Francisco.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Sappio was Senior Vice President for the leading container carrier APL where he served as a senior trade and marketing executive responsible for all of APL’s commercial activities in the Trans Pacific, Trans-Atlantic and Latin American trades. His career with APL spanned 29 years.

Mr. Sappio has extensive experience in all aspects of containerized ocean and intermodal transport, with particular emphasis on the Asia Pacific and Americas region. He has spent considerable time working with major U.S. exporters and importers.

At APL, he held various executive positions both in Asia and in the United States. Key executive roles included Senior Vice President of the Transpacific Trade, Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing for the Americas Region and Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Marketing and Fleet Deployment based in Singapore at the headquarters of APL and its parent company, the NOL Group.

Mr. Sappio’s other management responsibilities have included Vice President and Managing Director for Central Asia, responsible for Greater China, based in Hong Kong; Vice President and Managing Director, Eastern Region in North America based in New York; and Southeast Asia Regional Manager for Sales and Marketing in Singapore.

“Bob brings a breadth and depth of experience serving customers and managing  large and diverse organizations in Asia and the Americas that is critical to the Rickmers Group as it grows its business in this important region,” said Mr. Widdows.