Women in Maritime Today: Marita Krems is a woman in MAN’s world

Patience pays off, says Marita Krems, MAN Energy Solutions’ senior vice-president for its global four-stroke marine and licence division.

And with good reason. Her division has just booked one of the most important propulsion contracts – an order from a major cruise line for 30 methanol-ready engines to be installed in no less than six ships. 

“This took a big effort and a lot of work to convince the customer of our technical concept,” she says. But as well as a breakthrough contract for the cruise industry, it is vindication of her and MAN’s commitment to a cleaner and more responsible shipping industry, a mission she has espoused for years.

“Green future fuels are the key to decarbonisation,” she explains. And with around 250 worldwide in her team covering the gamut of the four-stroke strategy – sales, tendering, licensing, system engineering, marketing and business development and digitisation – she is in the forefront of the often fraught transition to clean propulsion. 

Three years ago she promised her division would come up with “future-proof solutions” for MAN’s global customers in the form of green fuels for new and existing four-strokes, including methanol. And as latest orders show, she has been as good as her word.

Today, she sees her primary task as preparing MAN’s four-stroke strategy for a decarbonised future, albeit in the midst of significant regulatory and technical uncertainty. “This is a massive technical programme,” she explains. “It affects all product lines and all fuels. We are revising efficiency, emissions, and even fundamental aspects such as core engine components, turbochargers, injection systems etc.”

“Green future fuels are the key to decarbonisation”

Indeed, in MAN’s four-stroke division there is not much she is not responsible for. “It’s a vast market that encompasses cruise, ferry, naval vessels, wind offshore, LNG cargo, tugs, super yachts, as well as auxiliary engines,” she says.

Throughout this all-encompassing project she is in constant liaison with industry leaders. “We are in the process of developing our entire portfolio to suit current and future customer needs, enabling them to decarbonise via efficiency improvements, fuel flexibility towards bio and future fuels and improving the engines’ emissions,” she explains. “This is a major company effort in which we will showcase our technology leadership in each of the categories.”

Another recent deal exemplifies her global responsibilities. “I have worldwide responsibility for the profit and loss of this business,” she says. And right on cue, MAN’s four-stroke division has landed a contract with the Indian Navy for the supply of the main propulsion packages for five newbuild fleet support ships. With 12 MW of power per engine, they are the largest four-strokes delivered to the Indian Navy in the last half century.  

Married with two children, Ms Krems has risen steadily through the ranks at MAN. Equipped with an economics degree focused on industry and an MBA from Berlin, she was first introduced to the company in 2007 while working for the engine giant as a consultant, when she helped the enginebuilder introduce the practice of lean management. A substantial project, lean management requires a systematic overhaul of a business that emphasises continuous improvement, employee involvement, and a focus on optimising workflows to deliver products and services efficiently and effectively. 

“Her main goal is to help usher shipping into a cleaner future”

The project must have gone well because the client promptly hired the consultant full-time. “Since I started at MAN in 2008, I have had several positions, starting in production when I took care of lean management. Next, I moved to group strategy, and then human resources where I was responsible for a reorganisation,” she recalls. “It was after that I moved into the more operational business, where I headed our spare parts department in the aftersales division.”

The operational aspect of shipping obviously suits her talents. In fairly quick succession she took over the top job in the four-stroke, two-stroke and aftersales business in the Americas region before being appointed to her current position in 2021. It is a highly international position and Ms Krems is fluent in English and has a smattering of French and Italian. 

It is also a career path running through a largely male-dominated world and, asked what advice she would give to a woman seeking a senior role in a high-tech sector like engine sales, Ms Krems provides an answer she has obviously thought about. “Never give up, fight for your goals and believe in yourself and your capabilities,” she says.