Soundview Maritime Announces Engagement Of Dr. Moritz Mittelbach As Strategic Advisor

Soundview Maritime, LLC, an owner and operator of mid-sized container ships for charter to leading global ocean and intermodal transportation companies, today announced it has engaged Dr. Moritz Mittelbach, a maritime industry veteran, as its exclusive strategic advisor.  In this role, Dr. Mittelbach will advise Soundview on the purchase, financing, and long term charter of container vessels as well as other strategic initiatives to grow and improve the company.
 
Littlejohn & Co. and Northern Shipping Funds (Northern) established Soundview Maritime in 2010 and have made equity commitments that enable the acquisition of between 10 and 20 containerships in the 1,000 to 4,000 TEU range. The Company seeks to create a world-class provider of container tonnage for leading container liner companies globally. Soundview has acquired three vessels to date – M/V Cove Island, M/V Shippan Island and M/V Louds Island – which are all on charter to top tier liner companies.  Prior to Dr. Mittelbach joining Soundview, Erling Sorhaug of Oslo Norway served as interim CEO.  Soundview is organized as a Marshall Islands limited liability company.
 
“After conducting an extensive global search, Littlejohn and Northern are very pleased that Dr. Mittelbach has agreed to advise Soundview on an exclusive basis.  He has had a very successful career in the maritime industry where he has combined his financial, strategic and commercial skills to build successful containership operators. His initial focus will be on refining Soundview’s strategy, advising on the acquisition of additional new and second-hand vessels, and further building management and operational capabilities,” said Edmund J. Feeley, a Managing Director at Littlejohn.
 
Dr. Mittelbach said, “Soundview represents an exciting opportunity to work with Littlejohn and Northern to create a company that is well positioned to capitalize on structural changes in the container shipping industry.”
 
Since 2001, Dr. Mittelbach served with Rickmers Holding GmbH, a diversified group with activities in liner shipping, shipowning, and ship management. He held a number of senior positions with the company, most recently as Partner and CFO since 2005.  During this time, Rickmers Maritime conducted an IPO in 2007 at the Singapore Stock Exchange.  Prior to joining Rickmers, he worked in the corporate finance department of Landesbank Hessen Thüringen (Helaba) in Frankfurt and began his career at Eurasia Shipping & Management Co., Ltd. in Hong Kong.  He studied law at the University of Munich and Tubingen and has a PhD degree in marine insurance from the University of Hamburg.

 

Source: Soundview Maritime