Maersk Line has appointed Lars Mikael Jensen as the regional ceo of its Asia Pacific business, covering Maersk Line’s day-to-day business operations in Southeast Asia as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Jensen will take on his new role from 1 September 2014 and be based in Singapore, the regional headquarters for Maersk Line, the container shipping arm of AP Moller-Maersk.

“I am looking forward to my new role as the Asia Pacific region is so diverse, with a combination of emerging, fast-growing markets and more developed markets. There are immense opportunities where we can partner our customers to further promote global trade and contribute to economic growth for this exciting region,” Jensen said.

Jensen joined Maersk Line in 1984 and has extensive management and trade experience from all over the world, including five years heading the Maersk Line organisation in Greater China.

He was supposed to head the defunct P3 alliance’s centralised command center, if the alliance between Maersk Line, CMA CGM and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) had not been blocked by Chinese regulators in June this year.

Jensen’s appointment also comes after Thomas Riber Knudsen, former chief executive of Maersk Line’s Asia Pacific region, was appointed on 1 July 2014 to become the Asia regional head for Damco, the logistics arm of AP Moller-Maersk.