NOL APL ship

Shipping and logistics company NOL group has announced Ng Yat Chung will take over the role of chief executive officer (CEO), replacing Ron Widdows who will retire from the role on 31 December.

According to a report in the Manila Bulletin Mr Ng is a former executive at Temasek Holdings and also held the role of chief of defence force in the Singapore Army.

NOL said his appointment had been brought forward as the company faces a difficult operating environment in the shipping and logistics sector.

NOL is the parent company to APL, the world's seventh-largest shipping company, and APL Logistics, which provides global supply chain management.

“We have completed the implementation of our executive succession plan and are moving ahead under Yat Chung,” NOL Chairman Cheng Wai Keung was reported as saying in the Manila Bulletin. “There are important decisions to be made that will affect NOL into the future, thus it is a good time to put our new management team in place.”

In a joint statement Mr Ng and Mr Widdows said they and other senior executives had been involved in a leadership transition process since the middle of the year.

“It has become clear that the environment has changed, that numerous important decisions need to be taken and that most of those will have an effect on our business and our company well beyond the end of this year,” the statement read. “As such, we both feel strongly that it is in the best interest of the company that the new leadership begins to drive the company and shape these important decisions now, and not wait until 2012.”