Graham McAllen CALM, RESOURCEFUL and "eventually" determined. These are the adjectives that best describe Graham McAllen, the man charged with the duty as the general manager, to lead Hapag Lloyd Jamaica Limited into the new millennium. His appointment becomes effective on November 22, 2000 and he replaces Andreas Schorlemmer, who recently resigned from the company after serving for six years.
Hapag Lloyd Jamaica is the local office of Hapag Lloyd AG in Germany, which developed from the merger of two German Shipping Lines in the early seventies. The company has its foundation as a passenger line, but later developed into a major container line with 27 owned vessels in its fleet. The company established its own Kingston Office in 1994.
With a wide grin and laid-back personality, the 51 year-old who moved through the ranks of the shipping industry since 1966, said his appointment, while not being a strategic move on the part of the parent-company, could be considered as laying the foundation for Hapag Lloyd Jamaica becoming a "self-managing" company.
No major changes are expected at the local office under his leadership, but Mr. McAllen sees this as an opportunity to solicit more local and international business. "The main course is to operate, as we are without any major changes in strategy. Clearly, we want to do more business whether that be local - which has its limitation of course, or transhipment, which is a major part of Hapag Lloyd's business," he noted.
The shipping executive who is married and father of four children, intends to use his experience and knowledge to help motivate the staff under his direction during his three-year tenure as general manager.
"As a manager I have an open style in terms of enabling people to use their own aptitude, attitude and ability to complete their own particular job. My main function as a manager is to use my experience and knowledge so that they can develop themselves," he said.
"I am looking forward to maintaining relationships that Andy has created and naturally we want to continue to progress and improve the working relationships in whichever way we can," he remarked.
Mr. McAllen's humble beginnings as a dock runner in London started in 1966 and he has worked in various capacities in the shipping industry since then. To his credit, he has established shipping departments in known forwarding agencies as well as start up projects in sea freight divisions/departments.
"My initiation with shipping had started with breakbulk cargo, when they were still discharging the ships by hand. I've progressed from a dock runner... ending up with Hapag Lloyd, UK as a senior operations manager in 1994, he said.
Over the years, he has worked with eight companies within the shipping industry and served three years in the Royal Air Force.
