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Former Captain takes over Hapag-Lloyd fleet management role

Silke Lehmköster has been appointed MD of the Hapag-Lloyd fleet following her meteoric rise from an apprenticeship in 2005 to Captain in 2018.

Nick Savvides, Europe correspondent

April 2, 2024

1 Min Read
Silke Lehmköster, Hapag Lloyd
Photo: Hapag-Lloyd

From 1 April Lehmköster will head the world’s fifth largest container line’s fleet management division and will be in charge of innovation and technology, chartering and newbuildings.

Hapag-Lloyd COO Dr. Maximilian Rothkopf said: “Next to maintaining the highest standards and ensuring the continuous safe and compliant operation of our vessels, one of her big challenges will be to further advance the decarbonisation of our fleet, helping us to achieve our goal of being climate-neutral by 2045.”

Rothkopf added that he wanted to thank Lehmköster’s predecessor Richard von Berlepsch, who will now focus on selected projects and committee work.

“We would like to thank Richard von Berlepsch for his passionate and highly professional commitment over the last 40 years”, Rothkopf said.

Two years after her promotion to Master Lehmköster took an onshore position as Senior Director of marine HR before moving on to become Senior Director fleet management in April 2022.

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Hapag Lloyd

About the Author

Nick Savvides

Europe correspondent

Experienced journalist working online, in monthly magazines and daily news coverage. Nick Savvides began his journalistic career working as a freelance from his flat in central London, and has since worked in Athens, while also writing for some major publications including The Observer, The European, Daily Express and Thomson Reuters. 

Most recently Nick joined The Loadstar as the publication’s news editor to develop the profile of the publication, increase its readership and to build a team that will market, sell and report on supply chain issues and container shipping news. 

This was a similar brief to his time at ci-online, the online publication for Containerisation International and Container News. During his time at ci-online Nich developed a team of freelancers and full-time employees increasing its readership substantially. He then moved to International Freighting Weekly, a sister publication, IFW also focused on container shipping, rail and trucking and ports. Both publications were published by Informa. 

Following his spell at Informa Nick joined Reed’s chemical reporting team, ICIS, as the chemical tanker reporter. While at ICIS he also reported on the chemical industry and spent some time on the oil & gas desk. 

Nick has also worked for a time at Lloyd’s Register, which has an energy division, and his role was writing their technical magazine, before again becoming a journalist at The Naval Architect for the Royal Institution of Naval Architects. After eight successful years at RINA, he joined Fairplay, which published a fortnightly magazine and daily news on the website.

Nick's time at Fairplay saw him win the Seahorse Club Journalist of the Year and Feature Writer of the Year 2018 awards.

After Fairplay closed, Nick joined an online US start-up called FreightWaves. 

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