Rutledge jumps ship from Hapag-Lloyd

Rutledge jumps ship from Hapag-Lloyd    Peggy Rutledge has submitted her resignation as director of commercial and regulatory services at Hapag-Lloyd (America) Inc., according to two industry sources.
   A source familiar with the situation said Rutledge has been hired by Greenline Systems Inc., a software company that is working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection on the Advance Trade Data Initiative to collect diverse types of commercial shipping information from importers.
   Contacted at her office in New Jersey, Rutledge said she “can neither confirm nor deny” reports that she is leaving Hapag-Lloyd.
   Sources said Rutledge, who sent a message to several industry colleagues informing them of her decision, will probably step down as executive chairman and lead ocean representative on the Customs Electronic Systems Action Committee. CESAC’s next meeting is in mid November.
   Rutledge is credited with increasing CESAC’s visibility as an ad hoc trade group that continued to meet after ceasing to be an official Customs advisory committee in the late 1990s. Customs created CESAC in the early 1990s to receive advice on how to develop automated manifest systems for air, ocean and rail, but discontinued official recognition of the group in 1997. CESAC continued to meet four times a year to coordinate feedback from the trade on systems issues. Under Rutledge, the group in the past four years has provided recommendations to CBP on the 24-hour rule, advance manifest filing and the development of the Automated Commercial Environment computer system.
   Rutledge worked at Hapag-Lloyd for almost 12 years and before that worked at Maersk.