Svein Steimler first made his name in the shipping industry helping to restructure John Fredriksen’s business after a particularly difficult time for the legendary shipping tycoon in the 1990s.

Having earned his spurs in the fast-moving Fredriksen empire, his next appointment in 1998 as an executive at the staunchly Japanese corporate culture of Nippon Yusen Kaisha’s (NYK) European offshoot was viewed as a career stopgap.