April 30 - Tommorow (May 1) will see the high profile Ron Widdows step down from his position as chief executive officer of Rickmers Group.
The surprise announcement was made as the German shipping group announced its 2013 results, earlier today.
In its official statement, Rickmers Group said that it is continuing to 'execute senior managerial changes as part of its journey towards a high-performing global maritime business'.
The company has decided to promote the current deputy group ceo, Dr Ignace Van Meenen, to the group ceo role and the current deputy cfo Prof Dr Mark-Ken Erdmann to the group cfo roles.
Ulrich Ulrichs will take over the Rickmers-Linie ceo position.
Widdows, who joined Rickmers in February 2012, will join the Advisory Board of Rickmers Holding and retain his role on the board of the Apollo Rickmers joint venture, called A. R. Maritime Investments Pte. Ltd. (ARMI) and based in Singapore.
The statement added that in making this change, the senior management team is also reallocating responsibilities across major activities that need to occur in the coming months.
In its results Rickmers reported revenues of EUR578.6 million (USD801.9 million) and EBITDA down to EUR191.8 million (USD265.8 million). Net income was EUR1.5 million (USD2.08 million).
