Danish shipping giant Maersk Line and Oetker Group have presented the future management positions at the Germany-based Hamburg Süd, which would come into force following the effectiveness of the sale and purchase agreement between the parties.

After the closing of the transaction, which received approvals from Maersk Line and Oetker Group’s boards in late April, Hamburg Süd’s Ottmar Gast will retire as Chairman of the Executive Board to become the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Hamburg Süd, and Søren Toft, Chief Operating Officer of Maersk Line A/S, will become a member of the Supervisory Board of Hamburg Süd.

The company’s Arnt Vespermann will become the new Chairman of the Executive Board of Hamburg Süd and will in addition to his then existing responsibilities be in charge of Compliance, Corporate Communication and of Columbus Ship Management. He will be the coach for Region North America (RNA) and Region Caribbean & Latin America West Coast (RCW).

Additionally, Frank Smet will continue as member of the Executive Board of Hamburg Süd with responsibilities for Sales & Marketing, Customer Order Management and all Hamburg Süd parts of Operations, including Network and Logistics. He will be the coach for Region Asia Pacific (RAP) and of Region South America East Coast (RSE).

Furthermore, Jakob Wegge-Larsen, currently CFO of Maersk Line Operations, will join the Executive Board of Hamburg Süd to assume the responsibility of Finance & Accounting, Controlling and Information Technology & Services. He will be the coach for Region Europe (REU).

“We have strong confidence in the Hamburg Süd Management Board and like to thank Ottmar Gast for his continued and valuable involvement after closing. We also look forward to welcoming all our future colleagues into the Maersk family and together build an even stronger company,” Søren Skou, Chief Executive Officer of Maersk Line, said.

Maersk Line and Hamburg Süd will establish a joint team to ensure that business operations will continue seamlessly at and as of closing of the transaction. The team will be headed by Lars Mikael Jensen from Maersk Line and Michael Triskatis from Hamburg Süd. The company said that further team members would be announced shortly.

The announced changes are subject to the closing of Maersk Line’s acquisition of Hamburg Süd. Maersk Line expects this to happen in the fourth quarter of 2017. Until then, Hamburg Süd and Maersk Line will continue business as usual. The acquisition remains subject to regulatory approvals.