Emanuele Grimaldi, managing director of the Naples-based Grimaldi Group, is set to become the next chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) in June 2022.

Grimaldi has served as ICS vice-chairman since 2017 and will take over from Esben Poulsson, who has held the position since 2016.

Grimaldi is a former president of Confitarma and ECSA, and will continue to work with the present chairman and secretary general, Guy Platten, on all ICS projects, including crew change, seafarer vaccinations and the reduction of GHG emissions in shipping.

Poulsson, an industry veteran, will be resigning after three terms as chair of ICS. He has held a variety of senior management positions in Hong Kong, London, Copenhagen and Singapore.

Under Poulsson’s leadership, ICS and other industry partners proposed the establishment of a $5bn global R&D fund that would help catalyse new technologies and zero-carbon fuels to decarbonise the industry. He has also been at the forefront of the ongoing crew change crisis.