Pacific Basin has named Stanley Hutter Ryan as its new chairman taking over from long-serving incumbent David Turnbull. Ryan, already an independent non-executive director at the Hong Kong bulker owner, will take up the post on 18 April 2023 after the company’s annual general meeting. He will see his current director’s fee of HKD 800,000 ($102,000) per annum increased to HKD 1.56m to reflect his added responsibilities.

Pacific Basin said Ryan’s renumeration was agreed between him and the company and was “determined by reference to the levels of emolument of other senior executives of the company and in the market generally. The board and believes that his extensive commercial, strategic and operational experience in the commodities business, together with his knowledge of the company and its business, will enable him to provide leadership for the board,” Pacific Basin said.

In May 2022, Turnbull announced he was stepping down as chairman of Pacific Basin after 14 years in the role.

The 60-year-old US-educated Ryan boasts a 25-year career at Cargill, joining the commodities giant in 1989, according to Pacific Basin. During this time, he is said to have “developed extensive hands-on leadership experience across a range of asset and operationally intensive multinational businesses, particularly concentrated in the international commodities trade, cyclical industries and spanning both developed and emerging markets”. His time at Cargill took him from the company’s global headquarters in Minneapolis to stints in Brazil, Venezuela, the Netherlands, and Australia.

More recently, Ryan also served as an independent director at US-listed Eagle Bulk Shipping between October 2014 and June 2016 and stepped in as interim chief executive officer of Eagle Bulk between March and September 2015. Pacific Basin currently has 252 ships on the water, of which 115 are owned vessels comprised of 73 handysize and 42 supramaxes.

It recently announced that it is going for green methanol as its future fuel of choice after a feasibility study into how new vessels can be commercially viable.

The company has been developing a new generation of zero-emission bulkers and bunkering infrastructure with Japan’s Nihon Shipyard and Mitsui & Co, after agreeing a cooperation deal in May.