H?egh restructures management

H÷egh restructures management H'egh Autoliners said Wednesday it is making personnel moves to better respond to its regional customer bases after the car carrier has opened new trade routes in recent months.
   Ingar Skiaker has been appointed head of the Americas region and president of H'egh Autoliners Inc. and will relocate to H'egh Autoliners' Jericho, N.Y., office. Skiaker has spent 25 years with H'egh, most recently in charge of capacity management since 2006.
   Meanwhile, James Butcher has been elevated to chairman of H'egh Autoliners Inc. after serving as president since 1999.
   'This restructuring is taken as part of a global process to make H'egh Autoliners quicker, smarter and better in servicing its customers,' said Carl-Johan Hagman, chief executive officer of H'egh Autoliners Holdings AS, Oslo, in a statement. 'We believe that in the long term prospects are good in our business segment and we will continue growing with our customers when the market recovers.'
   H'egh operates roughly 70 pure car and truck carriers and has 30 offices worldwide. Its primary customers are major manufacturers of new cars, heavy machinery and rolling stock, as well as shippers of pre-owned vehicles. In 2008 H'egh Autoliners carried about 2.1 million car equivalent units, making more than 3,000 port calls worldwide.