Andreas Sohmen-Pao keeps his shipping family guessing

Andreas Sohmen-Pao might bring together two of the most well-known names in shipping, but he is keeping an open mind on when or whether to get involved in his family's Hong Kong-based maritime dynasty. Sohmen-Pao's mother is the daughter of the late shipping magnate, Sir YK Pao. She married Dr Helmut Sohmen, who runs the family's World-Wide Shipping Corp. Hence the heavyweight name attached to their son, Andreas. Sohmen-Pao is currently working as an analyst in the London office of US investment bank Goldman Sachs, and says he is not sure what future path he will take. "I'm not currently engaged in shipping and I have no idea what my plans will be. I may or I may not become involved in shipping," he tells TradeWinds. He is obviously aware of the tremendous maritime tradition that runs in the family, but is fiercely independent, saying: "I do not aspire to be the son of my father, but to be a person in my own right." In at least one respect, however, Sohmen-Pao is already adopting the ways of his father, who avoids publicity and generally shuns interviews. Sohmen-Pao declined a request for a formal interview with TradeWinds, explaining that he didn't really know all that much about shipping. Through his mother, though, Sohmen-Pao could inherit part of his grandfather's large fleet, which at one time was the biggest privately owned shipping group in the world. Sir YK's entire estate was left to his widow, Lady Pao, and her four daughters - Anna, Bessy, Cissy and Dorean - when the shipowner died in the autumn of 1991. Son-in-law Sohmen took over the shipping operations while fellow son-in-law Peter Woo was to control the trading group Wharf. Like other tanker owners, World-Wide recently has found the going tough and has scrapped many of its older ships. Sohmen-Pao graduated 18 months ago from Oxford University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Asian studies, but is training as a corporate finance analyst with Goldman Sachs in London. The young graduate was educated almost entirely in Britain, but is planning to return to Hong Kong, to work in Goldman Sachs' office there. This will enable him to use his fluent Mandarin and conversational Cantonese Chinese language skills, he is quoted as saying in a Goldman Sachs recruitment brochure. "When I move to Hong Kong, I will be involved in a number of projects which include helping Chinese companies raise capital or form joint ventures with Western companies to expand their operations or market base," he said. The move could also prove to be the point at which Sohmen-Pao comes into contact again with the shipping fleet that made his grandfather one of the most powerful businessmen in the world.