December 28 - Denmark-headquartered specialist project cargo shipping line Combi Lift has appointed Eike Hemp as operations manager within its Australia team.

Hemp, previously emplyed by SAL, will commence his role on January 1, 2013. He will join project manager Micki Hellerup and Michael Warneke as Supercargo, all the Perth office of its Australian agent, Kestrel Maritime.

Readers will recall that Combi Lift opened a new office in Singapore in November, and said at the time that whilst Kestrel Maritime (Asia) is till acting as representatives for Combi Lift, the line has realised that there is a need to show local presence there. This is similar to the line's s presence in China, where it also has an agent and its own representative office in Shanghai.

In January 2012, Combi Lift revealed a contract with Schenker which has seen two of the shipping line's semi-submersible ships being deployed on the Gorgon LNG project in Australia. Hemp will assist Hellerup on this project.

The forwarder initially announced in January 2010 that it had won a contract from the Kellogg Joint Venture, a consortium under contract to Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, to provide integrated logistical services to transport more than two million freight tonnes to module production plants in Asia and/or directly to Australia.

The project involves the development of the Greater Gorgon gas field, subsea gas-gathering infrastructure and LNG plant at Barrow Island - an internationally significant nature reserve. Use of the Island is highly restricted - any cargo coming in must be cleansed and only 3,500 people are allowed on the island at a time.

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