Monday, September 21, 2009
'Father of shipmanagement' Vanderperre passes away
Bangkok: Captain Charles A J Vanderperre, the pioneer of third party shipmanagement, passed away in Thailand on Saturday, aged 87. The ‘father of shipmanagement’ as he was widely known was one of the greatest names in Hong Kong shipping circles for the past five decades. He founded Wallem Shipmanagement, before going on to create Univan Ship Management, a company he presided over right up until his death.
Many of today’s generation of leading shipmanagers owe their tutelage to Vanderperre. One such student, Kishore Rajvanshy, who now runs the 200-ship strong Fleet Management in Hong Kong, said of Vanderperre, "He was a truly a legend. It's the end of an era in the ship management industry. To me he has been both a tough boss and a mentor."
Among the many ventures Vanderperre created was a tanker jv with Fred Cheng called Vanship Holdings which controls six very large crude carriers.
Born in Antwerp Vanderperre’s peripatetic, exiting life saw him escape a Nazi concentration camp and be part of the victorious Allied forces that liberated his hometown. Towards the end of the Second World War he joined Compagnie Maritime Belge through to 1969 when he signed up with Wallem. In 1973 he founded Univan, which in its heyday had more than 100 ships under management. Univan now has just under 50 ships under full technical management.
Vanderperre will be buried near his home in Pattaya this week.[21/09/09]
