Freight forwarding and logistics company Damco has appointed Paul Gallagher (pictured) as the new chief executive of its UK & Ireland operations after two executives were dismissed over alleged financial irregularities.
As reported in the Sunday Times and on Fruitnet.com earlier this week, former chief executive Aron Newton and chief financial officer Shaun McLean had their contracts terminated at the beginning of February after auditor KPMG uncovered apparent irregularities at the closing of the branch’s 2010 accounts.
Mr Gallagher, who has almost 30 years’ experience within the shipping and logistics sector, has held a number of senior positions within Damco, working most recently as chief operating officer of Damco UK & Ireland and, before that, for more than 16 years as managing director of Damco Sea & Air.
Kim Hedegaard Sørensen, chief executive of Damco Europe, said: 'We are very glad to have Paul Gallagher appointed as our new CEO in UK & Ireland. We have been very thorough in identifying the right person, and Paul’s knowledge about our customers, company and the market was a key decision fact when offering the position to Paul Gallagher.”
Mr Gallagher told Eurofruit Magazine he planned to push forward with expanding Damco's activities within the reefer cargo business across the British Isles, an sector for which he held specific responsibility as COO.
“We’re very keen to develop our reefer business further,' he said. 'In fact it’s one of our key strategic objectives to build the reefer part of our business in the next couple of years'
He also underlined the group's commitment to the UK and Ireland, once again dismissiing rumours that any of its operations would be forced to close following the accounting scandal.
'We’re not closing any offices and there was never any intention of doing so,' he said. 'Damco is absolutely committed to providing the UKand Irish markets with freight forwarding and supply chain management services.'
Damco UK manages cargo logistics on behalf of a number of UK retailers, including Asda’s fresh produce category management division International Produce and Marks & Spencer.
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