Mercantile & Maritime expands shipping team with trio of new appointments

Singapore, 03 December 2020: The Mercantile & Maritime Group has today announced several new appointments to its shipping team.

Toby Forrest, who joined the team as Managing Director – Shipping earlier this year, leads the Group’s newly expanded shipping team. He is joined by Brian Robbins, Chartering Manager, and Irfaan Hashmi, Shipping Manager. The appointments follow the recent departures of Gavin Warner (Shipping Manager) and Alexei Kovgar (Trader) who left the business earlier this year, and no longer conduct business on behalf of the Group.

Toby has more than 20 years’ experience in the global shipping sector. Prior to joining Mercantile & Maritime, he served as Director LNG for Maersk Broker Asia and as General Manager Marine for Rio Tinto Shipping (Asia). Toby has also worked for Citi, Reliance Industries, Koch Industries and Vitol after beginning his career with BP.

Brian joins after twenty years with Shell Trading and Shipping, where he most recently served as Charterer and Freight Trader. Mercantile & Maritime is also pleased to announce the appointment of Irfaan Hashmi as Shipping Manager. Irfaan joined Mercantile & Maritime in September 2019 after five years as General Counsel & Shipping Executive with Dubai-based Tomini Group.     

Commenting on the appointments, Group CEO, Murtaza Lakhani says: “We are excited to welcome Toby and Brian to the Company, and congratulate Irfaan on his well-deserved promotion. Combined, their deep knowledge and experience in the shipping and chartering sector will be a valuable asset to our operations.”

Led by CEO Murtaza Lakhani, Singapore-based Mercantile & Maritime is an independent commodities trading business. For over a decade, the Mercantile & Maritime Group has specialized and excelled in the physical trading of oil and gas, shipping and logistics for crude oil and high-end consultancy services.

ENDS

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