Board of Directors

Michael Hankinson has served as a Director of the Company since 20 June 2018 and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Compensation and Nomination Committee. Mike was appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors on 15 July 2020. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant (South Africa) in 1976 and after completing his articles at Deloitte & Touche, joined the textile industry as a financial manager. Mike moved up the ranks to the position of Chief Executive Officer at Romatex Limited in 1994. In 1997, he was appointed Chief Executive at Dunlop Limited, a tyre and rubber manufacturer listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, and held this position for ten years. Mike has also held numerous non-executive positions on various boards related to the textile, tyre and sugar industries as well as Transnet Limited. He was appointed non-executive director to the Grindrod Limited board in 2009 and appointed non-executive Chairman in 2014. Mike was the executive Chairman of Grindrod Limited, from August 2017 to November 2018, when he reverted to being non-executive chairman.

Stephen Griffiths has served as a Director and Chief Financial Officer of the Company since 7 November 2017 and was appointed as the Interim Chief Executive Officer on 1 May 2022. Steve qualified as a Chartered Accountant (SA) in 1985 and completed his articles at Hudson, Langham, Morrison and Co, after which he spent two years in London where he gained international experience in a number of accountancy and consulting roles. He joined the Reunert Group in 1989 where he was employed in a number of financial management roles. Steve joined Grindrod Limited in 2004 as Group Financial Manager responsible for all group services and was promoted to Chief Financial Officer of the Shipping Division in 2009. He was selected to serve on the Board of Directors because of his in-depth knowledge of the company’s financial structures, his strong financial background including corporate finance, accounting and capital markets, and his experience in the shipping industry.

John Herholdt has served as a Director of the Company since 6 November 2017 and is the Chairman of the Compensation and Nomination Committee and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee. John obtained his LLB degree in 1971 and, as a partner at Goodrickes from 1973 he specialised in maritime and commodities law. In 1979, he was appointed a director of Leo Raphaely & Sons, an international commodity and trading firm. In 1984, John joined Shepstone & Wylie as a senior partner in their maritime department and acted primarily for shipowners and P & I Clubs. In 1986 he opened the Shepstone & Wylie office in London and in 1987 merged the operation with Maitlands. From 1987 to 2012, John was a senior partner of Maitlands with offices in Europe, South Africa, North America and elsewhere and also served as a Director on the Boards of several of its subsidiaries, as well as remaining a partner of Shepstone & Wylie. He continued to consult to the Maitland Group (now a financial services group) until 2015. John was selected to serve on the Board of Directors because of his legal and commercial knowledge of the maritime and commodity sectors, as well as his valuable experience in mergers and business management.

Quah Ban Huat has served as a Director of the Company since 2 November 2017 and is the Chairman of the Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Compensation and Nomination Committee. Quah is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He specialised in financial services at Coopers & Lybrand London after qualifying and prior to joining Deutsche Bank. Quah then held various positions including Group Finance Director of IMC Group and Chief Financial Officer of City Gas Pte. Ltd. From 2006 to 2011, he was Chief Financial Officer at Rickmers Trust Management Pte. Ltd, trustee-manager of Rickmers Maritime, a container shipping trust listed on the SGX. Due to the slowdown in 2008, Quah spent two years restructuring its US$2bn debt. In 2011, he founded Primeur Cellars and also founded PRYME, a society focused on assisting less-privileged children in Singapore. Quah is currently a principal advisor at KPMG, advising a broad spectrum of clients across a range of industries and a board member of a number of companies. He was selected to serve on the Board of Directors because of his financial background and experience in fundraising, mergers and acquisitions and deal structuring, his key responsibilities at KPMG.

Mr. Paul Charles Over has served as a Director of the Company since 17 February 2022. Paul joined the London shipbroking company of Eggar Forrester ltd in 1976 after being at sea with Kristian Jebsen A/S. He then joined Jardine, Matheson & Co., Limited, working first for their London based shipbroking company, Howe Robinson, before transferring to Hong Kong in 1980 to the ship owning division of the group. Paul left Jardines in 1984 to join the Continental Grain Company in Hong Kong where he was responsible for their Far East and Australian freight activities. He joined Pacific Basin on its inception in 1987 as a founder and subsequent COO of the listed entity before retiring from that position in 2006. Paul has held INED positions within the Baltic Exchange as a Director, Vice Chairman of the main company and as Chairman of its Freight Futures subsidiary Baltic Exchange Derivatives Trading Ltd. He has also held INED positions with Carisbrooke Shipping Ltd., Runciman Investments Ltd., Epic Gas Pte. Ltd. and the London P&I Club. Paul is currently an INED of Asia Maritime Pacific of Hong Kong and a director of Taylor Maritime (HK) Ltd as well as being a current member of the Owners Board of the UK P&I Club.

Murray Grindrod has served as a Director of the Company since 21 December 2020. Murray graduated from the University of Cape Town, South Africa in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. From 1993 to 1996, he worked in the corporate finance and corporate banking divisions of The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited group. Since 1997 Murray has held various management roles within the Grindrod Limited group across its shipping, investments and freight logistics businesses. He is currently employed at Grindrod Limited where his responsibilities include treasury and investments and he is a director of a number of its subsidiaries including Grindrod Bank Limited. Murray has a number of years of experience in the Grindrod Shipping group, both prior to and after the spin-off and separate listing in June 2018, and therefore has a good knowledge of the Company and its operations.