PORT Phillip Sea Pilots’ (PPSP) first chief executive, Thorsten Werges, will leave the company this weekend after the board decided not to renew his contract.
In correspondence seen by DCN, PPSP chair Captain Mike Hanson said Mr Werges joined the pilot-owned company “at a tumultuous time where his experience and expertise were invaluable in navigating our company through uncertainty and into a position today where our structure and governance hold us in a great position for the future”.
Capt Hanson did not give a reason for the decision to not renew Mr Werges’ contract, which he has held for four years: “The board will absorb Thorsten's workload in the short term and will announce the long-term strategy and any future appointments to fulfil the role in the near future.”
Mr Werges confirmed his departure to DCN, saying he believed he had managed to keep the 187-year-old business in the hands of the pilots as shareholders. “PPSP has driven from strength to strength despite the arrival of two private equity-funded competitors in Port Phillip Bay and Westernport/Hastings.
“With the Port of Melbourne as Australia’s largest container and general cargo port, and the Port of Geelong as the second largest in Victoria, this success is remarkable given the unique cut-throat market environment,” Mr Werges said.
PPSP first came under challenge from the Australian Pilotage Group – subsequently absorbed into Auriga – in 2016 and later, in 2022, the AMS-owned Poseidon Sea Pilots. Auriga’s main investor is Canada’s OPTrust while AMS is backed by Sydney’s Colinton Capital Partners. The competition between the three pilotage providers has been intense.
Capt Hanson said “I want to thank Thorsten for his commitment and work throughout the past four years and wish him all the best in his future endeavours. Thorsten has built relationships and a culture within our company and with our customers that has elevated our resilience and long-term sustainability to guide us into the next phase of our journey.
“Our core priorities remain unchanged: delivering exceptional service to our customers, supporting our people, and executing on our strategic goals. We recognise that leadership changes can bring uncertainty, and we are committed to maintaining open communication.”
Mr Werges told DCN he believed he had brought extensive experience from other critical infrastructure sectors into Australia, and “provided invaluable strategic insights combined with a hands-on approach to execution”. Thanks to his international background and some languages spoken fluently, he managed to enlarge the customer base and built strong ties to a variety of international stakeholders, he claimed.
Mr Werges holds a master’s degree in Sociology and Business Economics and has been supporting companies of any size in complex transformation and turnaround situations, he said, while also “identifying and implementing new revenue streams and implementing a collaborative company culture that has helped PPSP to elevate into a new era”.
In a letter to the industry, Mr Werges said “As the first CEO in the long history of PPSP, you can imagine that some grand expectations were communicated.
“Thanks to your open doors, your openness to listen and negotiate, your respect for our 24/7/365 on-demand service and your trust in our unmatched capacity, reliability and safety management, plus your great hospitality over these past 4.5 years, it was a great pleasure to be working and partnering with you. I will deeply miss this and all you wonderful people everywhere in the world.
“Whatever the next chapter holds in place, I am truthfully thankful for this very unique occasion and all the friendships that have evolved from this time.”
His departure comes at a time of increasing competition. It also follows a move by Victoria’s Department of Transport and Planning to shift regulatory management, licensing and oversight of pilotage from Safe Transport Victoria to Ports Victoria, effective 1 October.