Seeing The World From Dry Land

Rodney Lunn has been CEO of Shoreham Port for the past decade. He talks about the port’s fascinating history, and what might be to come in the future.

- Martin Allen

On leaving school it was inevitable that Rodney Lunn would end up going to sea.

“The choice of my name was no surprise – my father was rescued by the World War II battleship HMS Rodney when his ship had been torpedoed!” Shoreham Port’s CEO laughs.

“And as a 15-year-old in the 1970s, when he was a River Thames pilot, my Dad would break all the rules by taking me with him, allowing me to steer ocean-going vessels into port.”

After five years in the merchant navy, Rodney moved to dry land, beginning a remarkable career in maritime management, initially with Oceanroutes, providing state-of-the-art weather information to ships, before moving to global shipping services company, Inchcape.

“Working on dry land for the shipping industry enabled me to see the world,” he says.

His 20 years with Inchcape, took him to Dubai as managing director responsible for the Middle East and East Africa, New York, in charge of North American business, and a stint running the European operation. Browsing a paper while on holiday after leaving Inchcape, he chanced upon an advert for the position of CEO at Shoreham. Now, ten years later, he remains at the desk which, he says, gives him a perfect view of his very own busy commercial port.

“I can watch the ships passing through the lock, monitoring the movement of the cargoes which are the port’s lifeblood.”