David Field who has had a remarkable career spanning 40 years and counting. The maritime landscape has changed dramatically over the past 40 years and David Field was one of those executives who experienced, worked and succeeded through those changes.

He began his maritime journey in 1970 when he joined Swire’s Australian shipping group and in 1975 was appointed the Group’s Australian Manager of its 50/50 joint venture with the Korean Company Dong Young Shipping. In 1980 David was appointed General Manager of Dong Young Shipping in Seoul, where he and his wife Mary lived until 1984.

On returning to Australia he took up an appointment as Deputy Manager NSW of Nedlloyd Swire and in 1986 became General Manager.

The decade of the 90s was frenetic for David when he joined Blue Star Line and the Vestey Group of companies. At that time Blue Star Line was a conference operator in the Middle East Trade and an ‘outsider’/non-conference operator in the Japan/Korea Trade, through its major shareholding in Bridge Line.
Given David’s previous 20 years within conference lines and trades, his move was, in some quarters a great surprise.

He was appointed General Manager and subsequently a Director of Bridge Line and played a key role in the rise of Bridge Line as a serious and successful competitor to the various conference lines.

In 1992 he was appointed a Director of Blue Star Australia and Trade Director of Blue Star’s North America trade.

In 1996 he was appointed by the Late Sir Edmund Vestey to succeed the long serving Graham Lightfoot, as Managing Director and CEO of Blue Star Line and Chairman of Blue Star Asia.

Blue Star was sold to P&O Nedlloyd in 1998, and at the time of the sale, Blue Star Line Australia was engaged in three major container shipping trades – Australia and New Zealand to Japan/Korea/China, the Middle East and Sub continent and the east and west coasts of America.