October 19 - A round of worldwide hiring in the heavy lift and project shipping sectors suggest that pressure on bottom lines around the world is easing.

Global forwarder Kuehne + Nagel has appointed John Hextall as president of its North America Region. Hextall succeeds Rolf Altorfer, who steps down at his own request and who will continue to serve Kuehne + Nagel in several key strategic project roles.

Maritime ship emergency response services provider Donjon-SMIT has appointed Paul Hankins as president. He formerly served as Donjon-SMIT's vice president of operations and has been with the organisation since 2005. He has more than 30 years of management and supervisory experience in the federal government and private industry, including more than 18 years in emergency response and marine salvage operations management.

Crowley Maritime has named Carl R. Fox as vice president of strategic initiatives and marketing for the liner and logistics business units. In this role, he is responsible for formulating strategic market and trade lane reviews for potential growth of Crowley's liner business, and developing and overseeing its ship and infrastructure replacement programmes. Fox previously worked for Crowley from 1987 to 1995, with responsibilities for business development and process improvement.

In Singapore, freight forwarder Damco has appointed Andy Lim as country manager for Cambodia. Lim will assume responsibility for all aspects of the logistics and freight forwarding business in Cambodia.

In Australia, Wilhelmsen Ships Service has appointed Nigel Goode has general manager Western Australia based at the company's Fremantle office.

He will be developing and growing the organisation's businesses in the region which has a strong shipping industry based on oil and gas, bulk cargo and mineral extraction.