Container Owners Association elects Chairman and Vice-Chairman

The Board of Directors of the Container Owners Association have elected Uffe Ernst-Frederiksen, Head of Cargo Management, AP Moller-Maersk, to the position of COA Chairman, effective 1 January 2020. He takes over from Brian Darnowski, Senior Vice-President – Operations, Triton International Ltd, who has completed his 3-year term of office.

The COA Board has also elected Paul Johnescu, Vice-President, Facilities & Equipment Engineering, Matson Navigation Company, as the Organisation’s Vice-Chairman. Uffe Ernst-Frederiksen was previously Vice-Chairman and has been a Board Member of the COA since 2014, while Paul Johnescu joined the Board in 2016.

“The container shipping industry continues to face challenging times for the foreseeable future,” said Ernst-Frederiksen, “but I am looking forward to working with the COA Board and our Members to provide tangible membership benefits, with the focus on promoting safe working practices, improving efficiency, developing common standards and promoting environmental best practices.”

He continued: “I would like to thank Brian Darnowski, our outgoing Chairman, for his leadership of the Association during a period of great change in the industry. The COA has continued to expand during his Chairmanship. I would also like to thank the COA Board for its support and trust in me to lead the COA forward, to expand and service the membership to meet their industry requirements.”

Johnescu stated: “The COA membership has continued to grow in recent years and now represents over 85 percent of the world’s container fleet. During the course of the coming year, we will be launching a number of initiatives, to provide improved benefits for our members. These will include new COA-recommended industry guidelines and standards, together with an innovative approach to our Conference and Work Groups Meetings, to ensure maximum value for our members.”

For more information visit www.containerownersassociation.org

7th January 2020