ASPO OYJ 
By ASPO Plc STOCK EXCHANGE BULLETIN January 8, 2013 at 16:00
Markus Karjalainen, Managing Director of ESL Shipping Ltd., part of Aspo Group, has announced that he will resign from his position. Lasse Rikala, M.Sc. (Econ.) (age 61) has been appointed as the acting Managing Director of ESL Shipping Ltd until further notice. Lasse Rikala is a board member of ESL Shipping Ltd. The recruitment process for a new Managing Director has commenced.
Lasse Rikala has solid experience in the shipping sector. He was the CEO of Crystal Pool Oy in 1995-2010 and has been the CEO of Navicon Shipping Oy since 2011.
ESL Shipping Ltd transports dry bulk materials, mainly in the Baltic Sea region; in 2012, it transported approximately 10.4 million tons. The cargo mainly consists of ore, coal and limestone. The steel industry's share of transport was 57 percent, and the energy industry represented 31 percent. At the end of 2012, the company's fleet consisted of 14 vessels, of which the company owned 12 in full. One was leased and one partially owned.
ASPO Plc
Aki Ojanen
CEO
Further information:
Aki Ojanen, CEO, tel. +358 9 521 4010
Distribution:
NASDAQ OMX Helsinki
Key Media
www.aspo.com
Aspo is a conglomerate that owns and develops business operations in Northern Europe and growth markets focusing on demanding B-to-B customers. Our strong company brands - ESL Shipping, Leipurin, Telko and Kaukomarkkinat - aim to be the market leaders in their sectors. They are responsible for their own operations, customer relationships and the development of these. Together they generate Aspo's goodwill. Aspo's Group structure and business operations are continually developed without any predefined schedules.
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Source: Aspo Oyj via Thomson Reuters ONE
