The roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) industry has lost one of its most accomplished stakeholders following the passing over the weekend of William Hepplewhite, head of sales and country executive of Höegh Autoliners in South Africa.
William was a very private person who was most at home in the background of operations, where he applied himself with great skill and commitment to service excellence.
His long career in the ocean freight industry included working as a ship's representative for Phosfert Marine and distribution administrator at BHP Billiton.
According to his LinkedIn profile, his time at Höegh goes back to May 2005, when he joined the Norwegian vehicle carrier as a senior manager for Port Services in Johannesburg, followed by becoming the head of Port and Cargo Operations in Mumbai.
From 2012, he worked as a vetting superintendent of Compliance and Inspections in Oslo, still for Höegh, before joining the autoliner’s office in Durban.
“William was one of the first industry executives I had to interview when I joined Freight & Trading Weekly (Freight News’ pre-Covid title) in May 2018.
"I knew nothing about the ro-ro industry, but William graciously made himself available to patiently explain what was happening in this sub-sector of the liner trade, to the extent that I became very interested in the auto liner business," Freight News editor Eugene Goddard said.
