Mr Frank Bunte has joined the Management Board of the Rickmers Group as Chief Treasury and Risk Officer. Previously he was with HSH Nordbank AG, where he was latterly responsible for the bank’s entire domestic shipping company business, Exim News Service reports.

"Acting in concert with the existing management team, Mr Bunte will drive forward the consolidation and expansion of Rickmers Group’s risk management system and dovetail opportunity and risk information with planning," explained Mr Bertram R. C. Rickmers, Chairman of Rickmers Holding.

Mr Bunte commented on his new position, "The roots of Rickmers Group date back more than 175 years. I am looking forward to playing a key role in the mission to drive forward a company with such a long tradition, taking on the challenges that lie ahead in this fiercely contested shipping market.

"The industry is and remains extremely capital-intensive. The demand for capital—even in an organisation like Rickmers—just keeps on growing. Primarily, it’s a question of developing sustainable, future-oriented business models with as high a degree of stability as possible in revenue and return, clarity in organisation, structure and processes and, last but not least, a reliable risk management function.

"With this in mind, it will, in the future, also be a matter of giving ourselves the ability to determine our risk position at any time in order to draw conclusions from it for the actions we take."

Mr Bunte completed his bank training with the HSH Nordbank AG’s predecessor institution, Hamburgische Landesbank, in 1983 and then worked in the company’s various credit divisions. Following graduation in savings bank business management in 1994, he was responsible for parts of the bank’s international loan business from 1995 to 1999. During that year, he switched to the HSH Nordbank Group’s shipping division.

Rickmers Group is a shipping company with core activities in the fields of shipowning, ship management and liner shipping. The Group is based in Hamburg, Germany, and has more than 20 own offices and a widespread agency network in another 35 locations all over the world.

As a leading shipowner and ship manager, Rickmers offices in Hamburg and Singapore operate a fleet of some 120 containerships, multi-purpose vessels, car carriers and bulk carriers.

Rickmers-Linie is the world’s leading specialist in the global sea transportation of project and heavy lift cargo and maintains a global network of specialised liner services for the transportation of break-bulk, heavy lift and project cargo.