After 30 years, Jan Kleijn is leaving the heavy-lift specialist Mammoet. The Chief Operating Officer (COO) and former CEO will step down on 1 February. No successor has yet been appointed.
For 15 of the past 30 years, Kleijn has held senior positions at Mammoet, including as CEO and COO. He will be leaving the company – which is also very well known in the shipping industry – on 1 February, Mammoet has announced.
No specific reason has been given for his departure. CEO Joost Goderie simply said: “Jan has always been convinced that management decisions must be taken with a view to the long term. In line with this conviction, he believes that now is the right time to pass the baton to the next generation of leaders.”
Mammoet is working on a new organisational structure
It is apparently not yet clear what will happen regarding the COO position. “In the coming period,” according to the official statement, Mammoet’s management intends to focus on “ensuring a careful and effective handover of responsibilities”.
The Dutch logistics company, which also has a presence in Germany, maintains a large fleet of heavy-lift equipment and is well established in the maritime industry – for example, through work in ports or on offshore projects. The Utrecht-based company is part of SHV Holding, which is also Dutch. The heavy-lift specialist sold its own fleet of vessels to the Spliethoff Group in 2000, thereby withdrawing from the shipping business as a shipping company. The acquisition of ALE in 2020 created the world’s largest provider of technical heavy-lift and transport services.
There are warm words of farewell for Kleijn: “Jan’s career is a remarkable example of what is possible at Mammoet. He started in operations and logistics and, after holding various management positions, became the first CEO to be promoted from within the company and later the COO.” During this time, he played a key role in “making Mammoet the world-leading company in heavy-lift and transport that it is today.”
Jan had served as COO since 2017 and helped to position Mammoet as the market leader in heavy-lift and transport. Particular emphasis is placed on his commitment to staff: “He has consistently invested in talent development and strengthening the corporate culture, whilst also creating opportunities for the professional development of others.” His decision to hand over responsibility to a new generation of leaders reflects the long-term mindset that has characterised his entire career.
“As we continue to serve our customers and expand into new sectors, we are building on the strong foundations that leaders such as Jan have played a key role in establishing,” said CEO Goderie.
