BIMCO deputy secretary general Søren Larsen is expected to relocate to Singapore in the first quarter of 2022.

The organisation says the move is to facilitate its ambition to strengthen support to members and the wider maritime community in the region.

BIMCO’s Singapore office opened in 2016 with the aim of increasing services offered to members in the Southeast Asia region and strengthen collaboration with other regional maritime associations.

The office is headed by Maite Bolivar Klarup until summer 2021 when she relocated to Canada.

BIMCO is also present in Shanghai, opening its office in 2013 to better serve Chinese members and improve engagement with the country’s regulators and decision makers. The Shanghai office is headed by BIMCO’s regional manager of Asia, Wei Zhuang.

BIMCO secretary general and CEO David Loosley said, “I am delighted that Søren is relocating to Singapore to strengthen our global outreach and further develop our footprint in Asia. In addition to expanding our contractual expertise, Søren will be joined by Ashok Srinivasan, Manager, Maritime Safety and Security, to boost our technical knowledge in the region”.

Mr Larsen will retain his role as deputy secretary general, keeping overall responsibility of BIMCO’s contractual work.

Mr Larsen said, “I am truly excited to be part of the mission to increase BIMCO’s presence in the region and to build new relationships and strengthen existing ones. I also look forward to connecting the Asia region increasingly to all our activities, not least when it comes to contracts and clauses, which we know many of our Asian members value”.