New department will strengthen Idwal’s transactional inspection services and customer focus

Idwal has announced the appointment of Frank Andersen, a shipping industry veteran with over 25 years of experience, to lead its new Transactional Services department. The creation of the department and Andersen’s appointment are the latest steps as Idwal continues expanding its services and customer focus.

Andersen joins Idwal from a distinguished career holding senior commercial and operational roles across the maritime sector. Having spent many years with A.P. Moller-Maersk, he managed over 20 different business activities and served as Managing Director of 5 offices across Asia. Andersen established new operations, built sales pipelines, grew profits, and motivated teams around the world. Later, at Klaveness, Andersen headed the Singapore office during a challenging market, building the brand in the container sector and cementing close customer relationships. Most recently, he has worked with several SaaS companies, resulting in wider adoption of emerging and developing technologies across the industry.

In his new role at Idwal, Andersen will leverage his breadth of maritime experience to focus on high quality inspection services for sale and purchase transactions, as well as financial transactions for banking institutions and investors. In addition, he will also be working with a wide range of players in the insurance industry to offer them better overview of the condition of their portfolio.

Andersen said: “I’m excited to join Idwal, known for high quality and innovation. With Idwal’s recent growth and further plans for new products and services using the strong competencies and large data sets from the many inspections, combined with an AI and technology approach, I found that that was a journey I really wanted to be part of.”

Idwal CCO George Haysom said: “Bringing Frank on board with his vast maritime knowledge is key for us. His appointment is the latest in a series of growth strategies as the business capitalises on its recent market gains, strong technology foundations, and lengthy maritime experience. Frank has a vast knowledge of the maritime sector and possesses the skills, dynamism and customer experience to help us drive the business. I look forward to introducing Frank to our customers over the next few weeks and months, and myself and the entire team here at Idwal are excited to work with him as we develop our offering further.”

Idwal has inspected 15 per cent of shipping’s global fleet since 2019 and, in 2023, 45% of all ships sold globally were inspected by Idwal. The company has performed more than 12,500 inspections across 100 countries, which contributed to an average of 15 inspection reports delivered every working day last year. Over the past five years, they have used the 10 million data points gathered over the past five years to provide grade analytics; benchmarking assets, vessels and fleets against global averages.