The chairman of one of the world’s biggest container terminal operators resigned Friday after his links to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were revealed this week.
DP World in a brief announcement said Group Chairman and Chief Executive Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem resigned from the Dubai-based company, effective immediately.
Essa Kazim has been appointed chairman and Yuvraj Narayan Group CEO.
Sulayem, of the United Arab Emirates, was instrumental in DP World’s $6.8-billion acquisition of P&O in 2006, and helped transform the company into a dominant operator with container terminals on six continents handling 1 million containers per year, as well as a network of supply chain services
In the U.S. it maintains logistics and warehouse operations at four locations.
Canada’s second-largest pension fund and a British investment fund this week announced they were suspending investments with DP World – the first business fallout from the Epstein scandal.
Quebec pension fund La Caisse and Canadian National Railway are partners on a major container terminal project at the Port of Montreal. A CN spokesperson in an email to FreightWaves said that the company had no comment. The Montreal Port Authority did not respond to emails for comment.
On Monday Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna revealed Sulayem’s identity among previously redacted Epstein emails released by the Department of Justice.
Sulayem maintained ties with Epstein for a decade after the financier was convicted of two child prostitution charges in Florida in 2008. The two discussed sex and business in thousands of emails, and Epstein helped connect Sulayem with high-powered individuals including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Find more articles by Stuart Chirls here.
Related coverage:
Lower freight shipments weigh on world container rates
Investors halt deals with DP World over CEO’s Epstein ties
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