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PayCargo executive van der Walt resigns to focus on daughter’s surgery

Industry veteran helped payment platform achieve rapid growth

Eric Kulisch
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Lionel van der Walt (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Longtime airfreight industry leader Lionel van der Walt has stepped down from his role as chief commercial officer at PayCargo, a digital freight transportation payment portal, to deal with a family medical emergency.

In a LinkedIn post over the weekend, van der Walt said he resigned to devote all his attention to caring for his eldest daughter, who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and is scheduled to undergo surgery in February.

“With this in mind I have made a decision to step down from my current role at PayCargo in order to focus 100% on her as we start preparing for the procedure and in order to take care of her post surgery,” he wrote.

“I would like to thank [CEO] Eduardo [del Riego] and the PayCargo board for all their support and understanding with this change. It was not an easy decision for me and my family, but as I am sure you will understand, circumstances beyond our control have necessitated this unexpected step. I will always be PayCargo’s biggest cheerleader and will be supporting the team from the sidelines as they grow the company from strength to strength,” he added.


PayCargo is an online portal for shippers and forwarders to pay their air, ocean, trucking and rail transportation invoices electronically to carriers and obtain faster releases of their cargo. It processed about $10 billion in freight-related payments last year and has more than 67,000 active users that remit and receive payments on the platform. Last year it received a $125 million investment from a private equity firm.

Van der Walt joined the PayCargo board in March 2018 and became head of the Americas operation in July 2019 before being promoted to CCO 10 months ago.

A former officer in the South African Air Force, van der Walt spent a decade in various management positions at the International Air Transport Association. From December 2015 through 2017 he was president of Cargo Network Services, IATA’s U.S.-based cargo subsidiary that provides commercial settlements, business intelligence and advocacy for member airlines and logistics customers.

Van der Walt has received an outpouring of support from friends and industry colleagues on his LinkedIn account.


Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

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Eric Kulisch

Eric is the Supply Chain and Air Cargo Editor at FreightWaves. An award-winning business journalist with extensive experience covering the logistics sector, Eric spent nearly two years as the Washington, D.C., correspondent for Automotive News, where he focused on regulatory and policy issues surrounding autonomous vehicles, mobility, fuel economy and safety. He has won two regional Gold Medals and a Silver Medal from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for government and trade coverage, and news analysis. He was voted best for feature writing and commentary in the Trade/Newsletter category by the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He won Environmental Journalist of the Year from the Seahorse Freight Association in 2014 and was the group's 2013 Supply Chain Journalist of the Year. In December 2022, Eric was voted runner up for Air Cargo Journalist by the Seahorse Freight Association. As associate editor at American Shipper Magazine for more than a decade, he wrote about trade, freight transportation and supply chains. He has appeared on Marketplace, ABC News and National Public Radio to talk about logistics issues in the news. Eric is based in Vancouver, Washington. He can be reached for comments and tips at [email protected]