Michaela Steineker has worked since 2004 for global liner shipping company Hamburg Süd, part of the Oetker Group.The Oetker Group is one of the largest family-owned companies in Germany, with domestic and international business encompassing food, alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages, shipping and banking.

As part of Hamburg Sud’s Marketing & Sales Department, based at the head office in Hamburg, Ms.Steineker is responsible for coordination of the company’s activities in the reefer container segment, heading a team of reefer experts in the Group’s global set-up.

Previously, she spent five years as Head of Quality Assurance at Cargofresh Technologies GmbH, with focus on innovative transport technologies such as controlled atmosphere (CA) for fresh fruit and vegetables, research and best practices associated with the post-harvest handling and transport of sensitive reefer cargo.

During her time with Cargofresh, she helped develop logistic solutions for perishables and gained international experience and commodity expertise in key reefer cargo origin markets, including South America, Europe and Africa.

After qualifying as a Certified Food Chemist at the University of Hamburg, Ms. Steineker spent three years as Deputy Head of the Pharmaceuticals and Food Department at Dr. Fintelmann und Dr. Meyer Handels- und Umweltschutzlaboratorien GmbH.

She has experience in the analysis and legal assessment of pharmaceuticals and food and won the Unilever Research Award for Innovation (Innovationspreis der Union Deutsche Lebensmittelwerke) Award for her 1995 diploma thesis.