Maritime interim executive · Operating partner

I have run the business, not advised it.

Twenty five years in maritime, in the operator's seat. When a business has no position, a P&L in the red, or a gap at the top, I take the mandate for a fixed term and run it in person until it stands on its own. For owners and investors who need the result before the permanent hire.

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25 years, most of the seatsForwarding, liner, tramp and liner agency, bunker trading, marine tech, trade finance

250+ portsPhysical supplier network contracted from a standing start

200+ peopleThree-country P&L in the Gulf across agency, husbandry and liner

Two companies founded and exitedOne built from EUR 3,000, acquired by a competitor

The pattern

Every mandate has the same shape.

No position, a P&L in the red, or a leadership gap.

I take the seat and run it in person.

A business that stands on its own.

What I take on

The mandates I take, not a menu of services.

Four situations where an owner or investor needs someone in the seat now, not a report.

Regional P&L, on mandate

A country or a region losing money, or a commercial operation with no direction. I take the seat, fix the pricing and the customer mix, rebuild the reporting so the owner sees what is really happening, and hand back a team that can run it.

Market entry and commercial build-out

A region where you have no position, or a product with no channel. Mapping, network, supplier and partner agreements, first revenue, then the structure that keeps running once I leave.

Working capital, unlocked

Margin here is set by credit, not by price. I get the commercial engine and the counterparty discipline to where the business is fundable, and I bring the right funders and insurers in. I make it fundable. I do not sell you the facility.

Leadership gap and post-acquisition

An acquisition to integrate, a departure to bridge, an investor who needs someone in the chair while the search runs. A defined role, with scope and an end date agreed at the start.

Track record

The same move, seven times, in seven markets.

Different sectors, different continents, one pattern. Figures are from roles I held directly.

+65%Port calls grown while running agency operations across West Africa and the Western Mediterranean

+120%Trading desk output after rebuilding and training the team, running an own book alongside it

25Ministries of Defence served by a company founded with EUR 3,000 and one partner, no external funding

200+People led across three Gulf countries, turning a loss-making unit back to profit

+50%Sales grown in under twelve months for a technology supplier to shipping, across EMEA

30+Strategic ports opened for port decarbonisation infrastructure, from zero

USD 50m+Working capital and credit-insured facilities put in place for the businesses I ran

4Offices opened on four continents: Madrid, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Miami

Complex and defence logistics

The part almost nobody in commercial maritime has actually done.

I co-founded a defence logistics company with EUR 3,000 and one partner and grew it to serve 25 Ministries of Defence with no external funding, opening offices in Madrid, Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Miami and building partnerships across 25 countries.

The work was husbandry and supply to naval fleets, government flights and European training missions, including operations in Mali and the Central African Republic, and support to the Spanish Navy. The company was acquired by a competitor in 2019, and I led it through that process from the inside.

I have also lectured in logistics and supply management to Spanish Armed Forces officers at CESEDEN.

Commercial maritime and defence procurement are different languages. I speak both.

How I work

Diagnostic, mandate, handover.

Scope and fee agreed before anything starts. No open ended engagements and no deck factory.

Step one

Diagnostic

Four weeks, fixed price. What the business actually has, what it can reach in twelve months, and a clear call to proceed or to stop. If there is no business, I say so and it ends there.

The seat

Mandate

Full time for six to twelve months, or four to six days a month with cover in between. Fixed fee, plus a variable tied to the margin actually collected.

The exit

Handover

Every mandate ends with people who can run it without me. If that is not the plan, it is not a mandate I take.

Who this is for

If you recognise yourself here, we should talk.

Owners and boards taking a maritime business into a region where they have no position.
Technology and equipment suppliers to shipping whose product works and whose commercial engine does not.
Physical suppliers and traders capped by working capital rather than by demand.
Investors and funds that need a maritime asset assessed before they buy it, or run after they do.
Companies selling into defence and government, or trying to start.
Boards and investors facing a leadership gap, who need an operator in the seat now, not a six-month search.

How I operate

Three rules I do not move on.

Two or three clients at a time. Not ten.

Scope and fee agreed before anything starts.

I work inside the team, not above it. I have carried the bag in every market I have opened.

About

Fernando Tirado

Twenty five years in maritime, and I have sat in most of the seats. Freight forwarding for a global logistics group, container lines, tramp and liner ship agency, bunker trading on my own book, marine and port technology, defence logistics, and trade finance. I have opened offices on four continents, hired and led organisations of more than 200 people, held country and multi-country P&L, founded two companies and sold one, and been through an M&A process from the inside rather than reading about it.

What I actually do, every time, is the same thing. I go where the company has no position or a broken one, and I build the commercial side until it stands on its own.

West Africa GCC and Middle East Iberia and Mediterranean Northern Europe Singapore Americas

Lived and worked in Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, the UAE, Bahrain, Switzerland and the United States.
Languages Spanish native, English professional, Arabic conversational.
Education Master in International Business Operations (MIBO), Seville Chamber of Commerce. Master in Business Administration and Management, Pablo de Olavide University. BA Marketing, University of Lapland, Finland. Board and Institutional Leadership, San Telmo Business School. Crude Oil Trading, Instituto Marítimo Español.

Contact

Tell me the market, the problem and the timeline.

I will come back quickly on whether I am the right person and what it would take. If I am not, I will say so and point you at who is.

Emailfernando@fmtirado.com Book a callPick a time LinkedInConnect