Dr. Max Johns is professor at HSBA Hamburg School of Business Administration for Maritime Affairs and Business Development and former senior advisor  for labour and social affairs at VDR – German Shipowners’ Association. Previously he had worked for 15 years as VDR’s communications director and managing director.

His roles include

• Chair Shipowners’ Group at ILO and chief negotiator ILO minimum wages 2016, 2018.
• Executive board member  WMU World Maritime University and Chair Investment Committee WMU.
• Board member HFRC Hamburg Financial Research Center.
• Advisory board member CBS, Copenhagen.

His publications include

• The Evolution of Modern Ship Finance. With Wolfgang Drobetz. In: Cullinane, Gong (ed.): Funding International Logistics and the Supply Chain. Elsevier, 2018.
• Seafarers and digital disruption. The effect of autonomous ships on the work at sea, the role of seafarers and the shipping industry. Study prepared for the International Chamber of Shipping. Hamburg/ London: October 2018.

Max’ focal areas are CSR in shipping, innovation, digitalisation & automation, ship finance and shipping policy.

Before entering the shipping industry, Max had a career in the media industry, where he was CEO of ZDF.newmedia and SVP of New Media at public broadcaster ZDF in Germany. Max graduated from universities in Montpellier with a Master in Archeology, from Leuven with an MBA and did his PhD in Tuebingen.