Bonheur strengthens its executive suite by appointing Bart Frits Koops as vice president of Fred Olsen Express
Fred. Olsen S.A. has restructured its executive board by bringing Bart Frits Koops on as the new vice president of the shipping group. The corporate move places Koops at the second tier of governance at the maritime company. The change comes within a broader reorganization of the group’s subsidiaries and equity instruments in the archipelago. In 2019, Koops had already taken on joint administration of companies linked to the entity’s equity structure, such as Quise S.A., replacing Gerardus Oudshoorn.
The board of directors of Fred. Olsen—Bonheur’s subsidiary, chaired by Gaute Gjelsten (pictured)—sets Almar Holtz as president, who also serves as a director of the commercial entity. The corporate governance body is completed by a panel of advisers made up of Theodorus Laurentius Gerardus Heemskerk, Bart Frits Koops and Olav Alexander Nergaard, shaping the executive leadership of the shipping company following its most recent corporate restructuring. The company secretariat is under the responsibility of Andrés Marín.
The appointment of Bart Frits Koops coincides with a period of high-impact strategic decisions for Fred. Olsen Express in the Canary market. The operator, which has spent more than half a century running inter-island routes, is facing an environment shaped by the breakdown of the alliance it maintained for connections with the mainland (Huelva) and the arrival of Baleària as a direct competitor after it bought Naviera Armas Trasmediterránea.
From the fleet operations leadership, headed by Juan Ignacio Liaño, the company told Atlantico Hoy that it will reaffirm its business plan focused on on-time performance, service reliability and passenger experience, playing down the impact of the new competitive landscape on inter-island and mainland routes. With the new vice presidency already confirmed, the group’s short- and medium-term roadmap for the Canaries has two priority focus areas: developing and consolidating its new terminal at the Port of Las Palmas, a key investment to optimize passenger and cargo operations in the Gran Canaria capital.
On decarbonization, the company advocates a pragmatic approach for high-speed maritime transport in the archipelago, ruling out for the time being options such as a 100% electric vessel, which it considers technologically unviable for the scale and requirements of its current routes. With Koops joining the vice presidency, Fred. Olsen is seeking to strengthen its position as an institutional and operational leader in the Atlantic, supported by a reinforced corporate structure to meet the dynamics of the commercial yachting sector in the coming years.
The article Bonheur strengthens its executive suite by appointing Bart Frits Koops as vice president of Fred Olsen Express was first published on canarymaritime.com.
