Chief Financial Officer – Transformation — Port And Terminal Operation

The mandate

This port and terminal operation has built strong throughput around a small number of carrier and cargo relationships. The concentration has supported utilisation and investment, but it now shapes berth windows, yard configuration, equipment and labour more than the broader market. Contract repricing, alliance changes or a shift in vessel and cargo patterns could affect earnings and cash before the asset base can adapt. Current reporting shows volume and EBITDA without fully exposing customer-specific capacity and capital dependence.

The group is creating a Chief Financial Officer – Transformation role to build a more resilient economic model. The CFO will own finance, planning, treasury, tax, controls, tariff and contract economics, capital allocation and transformation governance. Operations and commercial leaders own service and customers; safety, customs and security retain independent authority. The CFO must show where concentrated volume creates genuine network value and where it limits options or masks poor returns.

This planned new appointment is not a mandate to replace anchor customers indiscriminately. The board wants to preserve valuable relationships while improving contract quality, diversifying cargo and customer exposure and ensuring that new capital remains useful under several demand scenarios.

Scope and operating context

Based onsite in Dubai, the role influences approximately 1,650 employees and material partners across the United Arab Emirates and a wider international region. The perimeter includes commercial and operational finance, planning, treasury, tax, controllership, procurement finance, capital and transformation delivery. Interfaces span marine operations, yard, equipment, engineering, commercial, customs, security, property, technology and government stakeholders.

Terminal economics depend on more than annual throughput. Vessel calls, crane intensity, dwell, rehandles, storage, rail or road connection, reefer demand, dangerous goods, empties and peaks determine capacity and cost. Two customers with equal units can create very different contribution and asset requirements.

Long-lived capital raises the stakes. Berths, cranes, yard systems, power and automation cannot be redirected as quickly as a commercial portfolio. Investment must account for vessel and cargo scenarios, customer commitment, regulatory obligations, maintenance and alternative use.

First-year agenda

The first ninety days will establish customer-and-capacity economics. The CFO will connect contracts, tariff, discounts, service obligations, berth use, crane moves, yard dwell, storage, labour, equipment, energy, claims, capital and cash. Anchor, growth and difficult accounts will be traced through peak and normal conditions to identify cross-subsidy and constraint cost.

A concentration view will distinguish revenue, contribution, capacity, cash and strategic dependency. The board will see exposure to carrier groups, alliances, cargo types, routes and contractual renewal dates. Scenarios will include volume loss, schedule compression, vessel upsizing, alliance reconfiguration and delayed payment.

Contract and tariff governance will be reset. Minimum volume, take-or-pay, berth and equipment commitments, storage, dwell, peak service, indexation and investment recovery will be explicit. Strategic concessions will name reciprocal value and expiry. Renewal teams will enter negotiations with current cost and capacity evidence.

The CFO will create a diversification investment framework. New cargo or customers must use available capability or justify incremental capital, operational complexity and working capital. Projects will be assessed for contribution, seasonality, compatibility, security and downside. Revenue diversity that creates a second uneconomic operating model will not count as resilience.

Capital governance will use demand and option scenarios. Berth, crane, yard, gate, rail, automation and energy projects will show customer commitment, shared use, timing, maintenance, implementation and residual value. Stage gates will allow redesign or stop. Sunk design and visible construction will not justify full release.

Automation benefits will be tied to operating flow. Labour productivity, safety, equipment utilisation, yard density, energy, maintenance and disruption will be measured. The CFO will ensure transition cost and dual running are included. Technology milestones alone will not support benefit recognition.

Working capital and revenue assurance will connect operational events to billing. Moves, storage, reefer use, special handling, damage and service credits need reliable capture. Disputes will be analysed by tariff ambiguity, missing evidence and service failure. Customer deposits, advances and receivables will reflect concentration risk.

Resilience funding will remain protected. Maintenance, critical spares, cyber, power, safety and emergency response cannot be deferred to improve near-term return. The CFO will show lifecycle and outage consequence so the board can distinguish avoidable cost from essential asset stewardship.

By year-end, the terminal should have clearer customer and capacity returns, improved contract economics, a staged diversification pipeline and a capital plan robust to plausible anchor-customer change. Cash and reporting should better reflect actual operational events.

Leadership responsibilities

The CFO will report to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee, serving as independent steward of capital and portfolio truth. They will challenge customer and infrastructure decisions before commitment and ensure commercial urgency does not bypass authority.

They will build a finance team fluent in marine, yard and equipment operations. Business partners will spend time at the terminal while retaining challenge. Controllers, capital teams and commercial finance must reconcile one economic view.

The role will engage banks, auditors, tax and customs authorities, infrastructure financiers and selected customers. Concentration and covenant risks will be disclosed early, with practical mitigation rather than optimistic volume assumptions.

Measures of success

The board committee will track contribution and cash by customer and cargo, berth and yard utilisation, contract renewal, tariff recovery, billing, dispute, receivables and concentration. It will review capacity value during peak and normal conditions.

Capital measures include committed and deployed spend, utilisation, benefits, maintenance, residual value and projects stopped or redesigned. Controls cover event-to-bill integrity, asset records, tax, customs and reserves. Safety and resilience funding will remain visible.

Candidate profile

Candidates should bring 22–28 years in ports, terminals, logistics, infrastructure or another capital-intensive network. They must have held senior CFO or transformation-finance authority and managed customer concentration alongside long-life assets.

The committee will seek examples of repricing an anchor relationship, rejecting diversification with poor capacity fit and changing capital after a demand scenario. Candidates should understand terminal operations, tariffs, concessions, equipment, automation, working capital, infrastructure finance and controls.

The successful CFO will be commercially constructive and resistant to concentration comfort. They must engage credibly with customers and operators, quantify strategic value and protect necessary resilience investment.

Compensation and appointment terms

The annual base range is AED 1,600,000–2,200,000, supplemented by annual incentive and long-term participation. Reward will balance portfolio resilience, cash, capital productivity, control and leadership depth. Final terms will reflect comparable terminal scale and verified forfeited awards.

Confidentiality

The operation remains unnamed because customer contracts, traffic, capacity, tariffs and capital plans are sensitive. Detailed information will follow identity, conflict and confidentiality review. Applicants must not submit customer schedules, tariffs, security data or proprietary investment models.