Shipowner Alfred Hartmann elected as a new President of the German Shipowners’ Association
Alfred Hartmann, owner of the Hartmann Group of Companies from Leer (East Frisia), is the new President of the German Shipowners’ Association (Verband Deutscher Reeder – VDR). As early as May 2014, the VDR Board of Directors had elected him as successor to Michael Behrendt (in charge of the Association since 2008) effective as of 1 January 2015. Captain Hartmann has been a member of the Board of Directors of the VDR since 1998 and part of the Presidential Committee since December 2013, VDR said in its press release.
“In the six years of his tenure at the helm of the German Shipowners’ Association, Michael Behrendt has implemented a comprehensive reform programme. The voice of the Association is being heard, its work is respected, and it has succeeded in accomplishing a great deal in difficult times for the shipowners and for Germany’s maritime sector as a whole,” said Hartmann about the presidency of his predecessor.
Michael Behrendt said: “I have no doubt whatsoever that in his role as an experienced shipowner and personality, Alfred Hartmann will enrich the work of the German Shipowners’ Association and make a decisive contribution towards fostering and shaping its development. I would like to wish Mr Hartmann all the best and every success for the task he faces and, of course, the necessary helping of good luck. But above all, I hope that as VDR President he will still witness a time in which his work will not be overshadowed by the shipping crisis – that would also be an absolute blessing for our industry as whole.”
To honour Behrendt’s accomplishments as President of the Association, the VDR has offered a scholarship of the International Foundation for the Law of the Sea (IFLOS), namely the “Michael Behrendt Scholarship”. Since 2007, the Foundation has organised a “Summer Academy” on issues relating to the law of the sea and maritime trade at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg. Some 35 legal high potentials from 30 countries take part in this Summer Academy each year. Starting 2015, the VDR will fund a full scholarship for one participant and will thus support this unique qualification programme across the globe at the seat of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg.
