Thomas Jarde, Vice President of Norden and head of the carrier's two important vessel types in dry bulk, has stepped down Monday with immediate effect, as the carrier confirms to ShippingWatch.

Jarde has been with Norden for 15 years and spent four of those years as head of the carrier's US headquarters in Annapolis.

"We have restructured Norden's dry bulk division towards a flatter hierarchy with more teams, which have more power to make decisions and are more agile and specialized. Unfortunately it was not possible to find a suitable position for Jarde in the new structure and we thus agreed to part ways."

"It's always sad to bid farewell to competent employees and we thank Thomas for his contribution to the carrier," says Christian Vinther Christensen, who took office as Norden's head of dry bulk this January.

Norden wants "significantly" more dry bulk vessels in its fleet 

Jarde, who arrived at Norden in 2002 after several years with J. Lauritzen, held the title of Vice President, and until stepping down, he was also the head of Norden's two crucial vessel types, Handysize and Supramax, which make up the core business in the carrier's total dry bulk activities.

Exiting 2016, Norden operated a total dry bulk fleet of around 200 ships.

Although many circumstances indicate that improvement will come to the global dry bulk sector in 2017, the market conditions are estimated to still be extremely difficult for Norden as one of the world's largest dry bulk  carriers, along with the rest of the industry.

English Edit: Gretchen Deverell Pedersen

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