The Rickmers Group has appointed Robert Sappio to the position of President and CEO of Rickmers Americas. He will report to Ronald D Widdows, CEO of Rickmers Holding.
Mr Sappio will be responsible for all aspects of Rickmers Group’s business in the Americas: including Rickmers-Linie (America) which is based in Houston, Texas, and the Maersk-Rickmers US Flag joint venture, which operates multi-purpose heavy lift cargo ships. A familiar face in Washington DC, Mr Sappio also will be responsible for regulatory matters in the US trades.
For the Rickmers-Linie business, Mr Sappio will also report to Ulrich Ulrichs and Rüdiger Gerhardt, Managing Directors of Rickmers-Linie, who are responsible for the global operations of the Group’s heavy-lift and breakbulk business.
Sean Carney, formally the head of Rickmers-Linie in the US will continue to have responsibilities within the heavy-lift/breakbulk business.
Mr Sappio joins Rickmers Group from his previous position as a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Business Consulting in San Francisco. He has nearly 30 years of experience in shipping, intermodal transportation, logistics and supply chain management. He has served a broad range of clients across the US, Europe and Asia.
Prior to joining A&M, Mr Sappio was Senior Vice President for the leading container carrier APL where he served as a senior trade and marketing executive responsible for all of APL’s commercial activities in the Trans Pacific, Trans-Atlantic and Latin American trades. His career with APL spanned 29 years.
Mr Sappio has extensive experience in all aspects of containerized ocean and intermodal transport, with particular emphasis on the Asia Pacific and Americas region. He has spent considerable time working with major US exporters and US importers.
