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42Maritime Reporter & Engineering News Sappio New President & CEO of Rickmers Americas The Rickmers Group ap-pointed Robert Sappio to theposition of President and CEOof Rickmers Americas. He will report to Ronald D Widdows, CEO of Rickmers Holding.Sappio will be responsible forall aspects of Rickmers Group?s business in the Americas: in- cluding Rickmers-Linie (Amer- ica) which is based in Houston, Texas, and the Maersk-Rickmers US Flag joint venture, which operates multi-purpose heavy lift cargo ships. For the Rickmers- Linie business, Mr Sappio will also report to Ulrich Ul- richs and Rüdiger Gerhardt, Managing Directors ofRickmers-Linie, who are responsible for the global op-erations of the Group?s heavy-lift and breakbulk busi- ness. Sean Carney, formally the head of Rickmers-Linie in the US will continue to have responsibilities within the heavy-lift/breakbulk business. New Bunker Trader with A/S Dan-Bunkering Oscar Obregon, 29, has been employed as Bunker Trader in A/S Dan-Bunkering Ltd.'s of- fice in Copenhagen, Denmark. Obregon is originally from Mexico, but has lived in Den- mark for some time. Further- more, he is in possession ofboth sales experience and a Master in Innovation and Busi- ness Engineering at the University of Southern Denmark. Smith Joins Global Diving & Salvage Global Diving and Salvage, Inc., Seattle, hired Ryan Smithas general manager for its GulfCoast Regional office, based in Houston, TX. Smith will be re- sponsible for the day-to-day op-erations as well as thedevelopment of business oppor- tunities and brings over 12 years of experience in the mar- itime industry in the Gulf Coast region. He comes from his previous position as the Vice President of Shipyard Representation at L&R Midland, responsible for man-aging the daily operations of the Shipyard Representa- tion group. Lehnert: New MD Transas Marine International Transas Group has appointed Ralf Lehnert as the new Managing Director of Transas Marine International (TMI). Lehnert has a seagoing background as an Officer in the German Navy and holds a Master Degree in Eco- NEWSPEOPLE & COMPANIES Retiring After 52 Years Larry Vauclin Bollinger Shipyards, Inc. announced the upcoming retirement of its Vice President Central Division, Larry Vau- clin. ?Larry has been a critical part ofthe growth of Bollinger over the past 16 years, and a mentor to many in the shipyard industry over his 52 year ca- reer,? said Bollinger Executive Vice President, Ben Bordelon. ?His attentionto detail, hard work and focus on client satisfaction have helped create a solid foundation for us going forward. Larry's stamp will forever be a part of the Bollinger family history.? Vauclin started his shipyard career in Houma, Louisiana in 1960 with MainIron Works working as a supervisor until leaving to help start Quality Ship- yard in 1969 as yard superintendent,working his way up to executive VP/GM for new construction and re- pair. Vauclin?s career at Bollinger started in 1996 as vice president andgeneral manager of the Larose facility and included additional Bollinger loca-tions in Amelia for new construction and repair operations. In 2006 Vauclin became the vice president central divi- sion which covered three of Bollinger?s central Louisiana repair and conversion facilities. MR#9 (42-49):MR Template 9/11/2012 2:08 PM Page 42