John Foord named new director of UK liner agency JSA Global

Veteran UK shipping figure John Foord (pictured) has been appointed director at UK liner shipping agency JSA Global, part of Kestrel Group.

His appointment comes after the death of the previous director, the hugely respected John van Bergen, at the beginning of June after a short battle with cancer.

Mr Foord was most recently business development manager at Grange Shipping, and is president designate of FONASBA, the international ship agents and ship brokers’ global representative organisation, and chairman of its liner and port agency committee.

He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and a past chairman of its federation council, the FONASBA member in the UK.

Mr Foord has spent his career in shipping, both at sea and ashore. He first worked as a foreign-going officer and after returning to shore joined the shipping line sector in the City of London, then moving to ship agency as a representative of both liner and tramp owners.

He has been involved in container shipping since the mid-1970s, beginning in vessel operations and stowage coordination for a number of major Far Eastern carriers. Since then, he has gained senior management experience in the container, general cargo and freight forwarding trades, from the perspective of both the carrier and the agent.

Andy Thorne, Kestrel Group chief executive, said: “We were very sad to report the passing of John Van Bergen, he was a truly great man and will be sadly missed by us all. However, we have to move on and we are delighted with appointment of John Foord, whose experience in the industry will be invaluable, I am confident that JSA Global is in safe hands.”