Solid demand for ships services in Central Europe as WSS appoints new General Manager for Belgium

Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) has appointed Romaine Romanet as new General Manager for Belgium.A seasoned executive, Ms Romanet brings many years’ experience from a number of multinational businesses in the areas of operation, finance, business development, change project management and people development.
Ms Romanet was formerly part of the senior management team at CMA CGM Group with responsibility for the development and administrative control of European agencies. Prior to this, Ms Romanet worked for 15 years with the SGS Group (testing, inspection and certification) as Country Chief Executive in the UK and Ireland and General Manager in France, Jamaica and Haiti.
WSS Belgium operates in Antwerp, Zeebrugge and Ghent with a team of 50 employees. The Antwerp office is equipped with a licensed warehouse, a workstation for safety equipment and liferaft service and certification and a new Regional Safety and Welding Training Centre.
Ms Romanet says:
"In 2012, our Belgium port operations supplied over $7m USD of marine products and chemicals and provided agency services to meet the demand of 1500 vessel calls. Our safety and technical services are in great demand - in particular our LRE service - and our facility in Antwerp along with its highly-skilled technical team is fast becoming a centre of excellence.”
Announcing Ms Romanet’s appointment, Terje Borkenhagen, Area Director Central Europe says:
“We are extremely pleased to welcome Romaine into the Wilhelmsen family. Her natural ability to inspire performance as well as her client-orientated, hands-on approach will be a huge asset to our operations in Belgium.”
Ms Romanet continues:
“Our Belgian customers appreciate our global and diversified range of products and services: Marine Chemical and Products sales account for 42% of the business, followed by Ships Agency (38%) and Safety Products and Services (20%). Our highly experienced and dedicated team in Belgium actively support our customers through the provision of premium solutions.”
Wilhelmsen Ships Service AS is part of Wilhelmsen Maritime Services, a Wilh. Wilhelmsen Group Company. It has the world’s largest maritime services network, with 4,500 marine professionals servicing 2,400 ports in 125 countries. Wilhelmsen Ships Service supplies safety products and services, Unitor products, Unitor and Nalfleet marine chemicals, maritime logistics and ships agency to the maritime industry. Last year the company made product deliveries to 25 000 vessels and handled 65 000 port calls.
Source: Wilhelmsen Ships Service