Shippingtelegraph: Former BW Group chairman Helmut Sohmen dies in Hong Kong

The former chairman of the shipping giant BW Group with a huge footprint in the tanker segment passed away on October 26 in Hong Kong.

Born in Austria in 1939, Dr Helmut Sohmen was a businessman, lawyer, and long-time chairman of the World-Wide Shipping Group and later BW Group.

Dr Sohmen studied law at the University of Vienna, Southern Methodist University, Northwestern University, and as a Fulbright Scholar at Wesleyan University.

Sohmen joined the family shipping enterprise in the early 1970s and became chairman of World-Wide Shipping in 1986. He was a board member of HSBC Holdings, president of BIMCO, chairman of ITOPF, and chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowner’s Association, amongst others.

He later oversaw the formation of BW Group, a company which controls a fleet of over 450 vessels transporting oil, gas and dry commodities, with its 200 LNG and LPG ships. In BW Group, he served as a chairman for 28 years until 2014.

Beyond business, Dr Sohmen served as a Member of the Legislative Council, chairman of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, and in multiple other civic roles. He also established multiple scholarship programmes and endowed chairs at leading Hong Kong universities.

“Dr Sohmen was an avid hiker, and loved nature. He is survived by his wife Anna Pao Sohmen, his children Michèle Marshall, Andreas Sohmen-Pao, and Philip Pao Sohmen and their spouses James, Doris and Candace, and nine grandchildren,” BW Group said in its statement on Oct. 27.