Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS), provider of marine, cargo and supply chain solutions, has announced another key hire to its African regional management team as the company gears up for ambitious growth across the region in 2015.

Joining ISS on 1 January, Riaan Blom takes up the position of Vice President Sales, Africa and will be based in Nairobi. With a career spanning over 20 years, Blom brings to the role extensive ships’ agency experience with specialisms in project management, freight forwarding and large oil & gas contracts. His most recent appointment was as Regional Manager Oil & Energy, East Africa at DHL Global Forwarding, also based in Kenya.

Using his expansive industry knowledge, Riaan will be working across all of the company’s business verticals, expanding and enhancing the value proposition that ISS offers in the region.

Senior Vice President, David Mackay, said: “We have been strategically growing the company’s presence in Africa, which is a key growth platform for ISS. We have been able to consistently demonstrate our ability to deliver excellent levels of service to our customers measured against international standards in some of the world’s most challenging locations, which is one of the reasons why we have been able to attract some of the best talent in the business.”

Blom adds:“ISS has a number of exciting initiatives in the pipeline and I am delighted to join the company during this significant period of expansion. I look forward to engaging with ISS’s existing and future customers in the region and supporting them with the successful development of their own businesses.”

Inchcape Shipping Services is a leading maritime, supply chain and cargo solutions provider. With some 300 proprietary offices in 67 countries, and a workforce of over 3,900, the company’s diverse global customer base now includes owners and charterers in the oil, cruise, container and bulk commodity sectors as well as naval, government and inter-governmental organizations. ISS provides landside commercial and humanitarian logistics, transit, offshore support, informational and other associated marine services. The company also offers a growing range of outsourcing services including global crew and marine spares logistics; port hub agency management; and sophisticated Enterprise Resource Planning solutions through its subsidiary ShipNet.