The world’s leading ULD manager, Unilode Aviation Solutions, must find a new boss. Yesterday (17NOV21) its current helmsman Benoit Dumont submitted his resignation to the supervisory
board at the Zurich, Switzerland-based service provider. At Unilode, nobody was available for a statement.
Incidentally, Dumont’s move happened simultaneously to Turkish Cargo’s decision to appoint Unilode for the maintenance and repair of TK’s entire ULD fleet under a three-year
agreement.
“Personal reasons”
Dumont’s step comes as a surprise. At least externally, there has been no indication so far that the manager would leave the company. Internally, "personal reasons" are mentioned behind closed
doors. However, his resignation coincides with the closing of the Unilode sale in Q3/2021, announced 02JUL21 by London-based investor Basalt Infrastructure Partners that acquired the ULD manager
from Stockholm-headquartered equity company EQT Partners AB. Basalt said that Unilode would become a main asset in its flagship fund “Basalt III”. The closing of the deal was planned for
Q3/2021.
Uncompleted plans
Only recently, Dumont had praised the cooperation with Basalt during the negotiation process: “I have enjoyed working with Basalt throughout this mission and believe we have a shared
objective for the next phase of Unilode’s development. I see substantial further growth potential in the years to come driven by a new outsourcing wave currently emerging and supported by our
pooling synergies and state-of-the art digital infrastructure.”
Now, his successor will have to take care of these tasks.
Unilode loses an innovator
The French national became Unilode CEO in 2017, succeeding former President and CEO, Ludwig Bertsch. Before joining Unilode, the graduate of the University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne, where he
earned a master’s degree in International Finance, has worked several years as an analyst for McKinsey focusing on the transport and logistics sectors. From there Dumont joined the DHL Group as
Director of Operations becoming several years later their Managing Director, Senior VP of Operations, and CEO Germany, Alps & Nordics. In these positions, Dumont implemented new commercial
strategies, performance measurement and engagement models, and achieved significant revenue growth. His sudden departure from Unilode surprised the ULD market insiders.
Heiner Siegmund
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