Ottmar Gast
Dr. Ottmar Gast
Chairman of the Executive Board,
Hamburg Süd
Dr. Ottmar Gast is a member of the World Shipping Council Board of Directors and Chairman of the Executive Board of Hamburg Süd.
After studying Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Gast was employed as an engineer in the automobile industry before working as a research assistant, and subsequently as Head of Logistics at the Research Institute for Rationalisation in Aachen. From there, he moved to Mahle GmbH in 1987 as Director of Logistics, joining the Executive Board of Deutscher Paketdienst GmbH in 1991.
Dr. Ottmar Gast joined Hamburg In Süd in 1994 as a member of the Executive Board. Effective January 1, 2009, he was appointed to the post of Chairman of the Executive Board.
Since its establishment in 1871, Hamburg Süd has developed from a conventional shipping company into an internationally operating transport-logistics organization. Today, Hamburg Süd, a member of the Oetker Group, is one of the leading providers on the North-South trades. In the container-shipping business the Hamburg Süd Group is represented by two brands: Hamburg Süd as a German carrier and Aliança as a Brazilian shipping line with vessels sailing under the Brazilian flag. In addition to this, it is present on the oceans of the world transporting bulk goods and operating product tankers under the names Rudolf A. Oetker (RAO), Furness Withy Chartering and Aliança Bulk (Aliabulk).
Overall, the Hamburg Süd Group's fleet consists of more than 160 vessels. The Hamburg Süd container pool has 396,000 units. The global network includes about 40 liner services linking the continents, 4,100 employees and more than 300 offices at all key locations. In 2010 Hamburg Süd had a turnover of 4.5 billion Euros and 2.8 billion carryings.