FedEx Express has announced appointments to two key positions in its Asia Pacific senior management team.

Karen Reddington, who is currently vice president, FedEx Express, South Pacific, will take up the role of president, FedEx Express, Asia Pacific, beginning January 2015. She is succeeding David L Cunningham Jr, who will return to FedEx headquarters in Memphis to become chief operating officer. Kevin O’Hearn will take up Reddington’s previous role as vice president, FedEx Express, South Pacific beginning in December.

Reddington will lead the overall planning and implementation of corporate strategies and operations across more than 30 markets and territories that make up the APAC region. O’Hearn will manage corporate strategies and operations in the South Pacific region, which is managed as a sub-division of APAC. He will oversee almost 6,000 employees across Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Ship spares logistics specialist GAC Marine Logistics (GML) has relocated its head office to Singapore. GML notes that the the Asia Pacific region is home to a large number of ship owners and ship management companies; by moving the company’s central hub from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Singapore, GML is placing itself at the heart of that growing market as well as in the same time zone, a company statement says.

“Our customer base in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan has increased significantly over the last years, and we have also seen positive growth in China,” says GML director global Jan Kielmann. “It therefore made sound business sense to get closer to those key markets.”

Kielmann is joined in the new office by Oshadha Warnapura, sales manager for Asia Pacific, who previously covered the Middle East and Indian subcontinent from Dubai.

Global legal practice Norton Rose Fulbright has announced the appointment of Jonathan Silver as a shipping finance partner in its Hong Kong office.

Silver joins from Hong Kong firm Howse Williams Bowers, where he was a partner. His practice is focused on shipping and ship finance, and covers loans, leasing, sale and purchase, building contracts, charter parties, guarantees, joint ventures, pooling and management.

“China will almost inevitably become the world’s leading maritime power over the next decade,” said Norton Rose Fulbright’s global head of transport Harry Theochari. “It is already the world’s largest importer as well as exporter of goods and dominates the economics of the shipping industry.”

Silver will work closely with the firm’s Singapore, Tokyo and Australia offices, as well as working extensively in China.

Clyde & Co has boosted its Asia Pacific marine practice with the appointment of Gerald Yee to strengthen the firm’s Singapore and Asia Pacific marine offering. Yee joined from Colin Ng & Partners, where he led the admiralty and shipping group. He will be concurrently a director with Clasis, the Singapore firm component of the Clyde & Co Clasis Singapore joint law venture. As a director of Clasis, he will represent clients in Singapore courts.

Dispute resolution lawyer Emma Day has been promoted to partner at Howse Williams Bowers in Hong Kong, where she specializes in commercial and shipping dispute resolution, with experience in both wet and dry shipping matters. She has extensive experience in charterparty, bill of lading and other contract of affreightment disputes, advising ship owners, P&I Clubs, charterers and freight forwarders. 

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