Ocean Network Express will reorganize its regional structure across Asia-Pacific and Africa, consolidating its East Asia and South Asia operations under a new Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore and bringing management of its East, West and South Africa markets together in Dubai from April 1, 2027.
Headquartered in Singapore, the container shipping line formed through the consolidation of Japan’s K Line, MOL and NYK will merge functions currently handled from Hong Kong and Singapore into the new Asia-Pacific headquarters. The new organization will oversee operations across 15 markets and will be led by Louis Tang as regional head for Asia Pacific.
ONE is currently ranked sixth among the world’s container carriers. The company operates more than 280 vessels, with total capacity exceeding 2.2 million TEUs, and serves customers in more than 120 countries.
The carrier will also transfer management responsibility for its East, West and South African markets to its Dubai regional headquarters. London, meanwhile, will continue to oversee Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa.
According to ONE, the restructuring is designed to bring regional decision-making closer to customers and individual markets, while supporting faster growth and additional investment across Asia-Pacific and Africa. The company said local teams will remain customers’ main points of contact throughout the transition, with existing services, contracts and day-to-day operations continuing without changes.
ONE Chief Executive Till Ole Barrelet said Asia-Pacific and Africa represent important growth regions for the carrier. He said the new structure is intended to speed up decision-making while preserving the company’s commitments to local markets and employees.
Tang said the combined Asia-Pacific organization would provide ONE with a broader regional perspective and create a single team for customers shipping cargo between East and South Asia. The transition will also allow the carrier to further align functions and responsibilities within the newly consolidated organization.
In Africa, Dubai already oversees a significant share of the region’s trade links with Asia, India and the Middle East, according to Sundeep Sibal, ONE’s region head for West Asia. Bringing the African markets under a single management structure, he said, will help ONE coordinate service and capacity planning across the corridor.
The changes form part of ONE’s “ONE 2030” strategy, which is focused on sustainable growth and strengthening the carrier’s position among the world’s leading container shipping companies.
Implementation will take place in phases. Existing teams will initially remain in their current roles before further organizational alignment is introduced as the new regional structures are established.
