“The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination.”
— Tommy Lasorda
Randall Brooks is an accomplished maritime transportation, international logistics, and commercial executive whose career has been shaped by the intersection of operational discipline, global commerce, relationship building, and strategic negotiation. With more than four decades of experience in the maritime industry—including 26 years trading chemical tankers in the international deep-sea market—Randall has developed a comprehensive understanding of how ships, customers, contracts, ports, cargoes, and commercial decisions come together to create profitable global transportation networks. His career has taken him from working aboard chemical tankers as a deck officer to managing major international trade lanes and sophisticated commercial relationships, providing him with a perspective that combines frontline operating experience with senior-level business judgment.
Randall’s foundation in the maritime industry was established at the State University of New York Maritime College, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Marine Transportation with a minor in Business Management. After graduating, he began his professional career at sea as a Third Mate with Atlantic Tankships, serving aboard U.S.-flag chemical tankers. He subsequently advanced to Second Mate, gaining firsthand experience in the safe and efficient loading, transportation, discharge, and tank cleaning associated with sensitive chemical cargoes. Working directly with vessels and their customers gave Randall an appreciation for operational precision, safety, timing, and accountability that would remain central to his approach throughout his commercial career.
His transition ashore broadened that operational foundation. At United States Lines, Randall served as a Stowage Coordinator at the Dundalk Marine Terminal in Baltimore, where he coordinated the efficient loading and unloading of container ships, worked closely with International Longshoremen’s Association labor, arranged specialized equipment for oversized cargo, and analyzed port and labor costs against anticipated budgets. Unfortunately United States Lines filed for Chapter 11 in 1986 and Randall took the opportunity to return to sea on chemical tankers, sailing on his Second Mate License.
A year or so after returning to sea, Randall was offered the opportunity to join Stolt-Nielsen (the largest chemical tanker owner/operator worldwide) in a shore-side ship operations position. His experience of sailing on chemical tankers and especially his knowledge in tank cleaning for specialized cargoes, was beneficial to Stolt-Nielsen operations and Randall’s new position. He was quickly promoted to Senior Ship Operator, serving as an important interface between chartering teams and shipboard operations. These assignments strengthened his understanding of vessel utilization, port efficiency, stowage planning, cost management, and the practical requirements behind successful commercial commitments. After two full years in operations, Randall’s career transitioned toward to the commercial side of maritime transportation as he entered ship brokerage, chartering, sales, and vessel trading at Stolt-Nielsen. In his new role, he became responsible for trading ships and managing contracts of affreightment and spot customers across international services connecting Asia, the United States, Europe, and Latin America. His responsibilities included contract management and negotiations for organizations such as Union Carbide, Arco Chemical, Olin, Chevron, and Bayer.
After approximately 8 years in chartering at Stolt-Nielsen, he joined Safe Harbour Tanker Chartering as Vice President of Brokerage, where he managed established accounts while developing new business in the highly competitive international freight market. His contributions supported more than $40 million in annual sales, and he secured a new Arco Chemical contract representing approximately $2 million in annual sales.
After 1.5 yrs working at Safe Harbour, Stolt-Neilsen offered Randall an opportunity to return to Stolt and run 4 ships of 40,000 dwt each in a world wide vegetable oil trade. Randall assumed progressively greater responsibility within the company’s global chemical tanker trading organization. Promoted as a Round Voyage Manager, he was entrusted with the commercial management of major international trade lanes and the optimization of chemical tanker fleets operating between South America, Asia, the United States, and other global markets. His responsibilities extended beyond simply finding cargo. He managed vessel schedules, cargo combinations, trade-lane economics, contract commitments, tonnage allocation, customer relationships, budgets, and P&L performance while continually seeking the most profitable utilization of available vessel capacity.
The scale and measurable impact of Randall’s responsibilities grew significantly. On the Brazil-to-Asia-and-return trade lane, he helped deliver a 29 percent net increase in sailed-in results over a three-year period compared with the preceding three years and secured a long-term contract valued at $22 million. He later managed a U.S. Gulf-to-Asia-and-return service representing approximately $500 million in annual sales, with responsibility for scheduling and trading chemical parcel tankers and optimizing their load programs for maximum trade-lane profitability. He also created an Excel-based long-range vessel planning tool and contributed ideas for reallocating tonnage between international services to improve overall trading performance.
As his career progressed into senior sales management, Randall continued demonstrating his ability to combine market knowledge with disciplined negotiation and strong customer relationships. Covering international freight markets for contract and spot chemical cargoes, he achieved the highest single-vessel trading result on a U.S. Gulf-to-Mediterranean service in three years, representing a 38 percent increase over the average of the preceding three years. He also negotiated the majority of 2015 contract renewals at increases ranging from 5 to 16 percent in a freight environment that was otherwise largely flat. Throughout these roles, he managed relationships with major industrial organizations including Dow Chemical, ExxonMobil, Chevron, LyondellBasell, Bayer, Cargill, Lubrizol, Invista, Olin, Louis Dreyfus and Noble.
In Q3 2015, Stolt-Nielsen relocated from Connecticut to Houston. Randall was asked to move with the company, but due to medical issues with his wife, he was unable to move from the area. Randall decided the best for his family would be to retire from Stolt and join Odin Marine, a local ship broker specializing in liquid bulk chemicals.
Randall joined as Manager of Contract Execution and Performance, where he applied decades of chartering, commercial, and operational experience to the management of contracts of affreightment. His responsibility centered on helping clients achieve smooth and effective ocean transportation while managing the realities inherent in complex shipping arrangements. Across his career, his capabilities have encompassed international bulk chemical logistics, freight and contract negotiations, commercial strategy, major-account management, vessel scheduling, budgeting, long-range tonnage planning, P&L management, marine operations, supply-chain logistics, business development, and customer expectation management. His professional reputation is further reflected in peer recognition across maritime, freight, shipping, transportation, logistics, and negotiation disciplines.
International exposure has been a defining element of Randall’s professional life. He has traded ships worldwide across routes connecting Brazil and Asia, the U.S. Gulf and Asia, the United States and Europe, South America and North America, Singapore, Australia, and other major maritime markets. Working across these trade corridors required more than technical shipping knowledge; it demanded an understanding of different markets, customer priorities, commercial pressures, operational constraints, and rapidly changing circumstances. This global perspective enables Randall to approach strategic questions with an appreciation for how decisions made in one geography or function can affect an entire transportation network.
At the heart of Randall’s career is an enduring enthusiasm for the human side of business. He has particularly enjoyed sales and marketing, meeting customers and company leaders, negotiating agreements, solving problems, making deals, and maintaining strong professional relationships. His approach recognizes that successful negotiations are not solely about achieving favorable terms in a single transaction, but about creating relationships in which credibility and performance can generate opportunities over many years. He is comfortable presenting and speaking with others and brings the ability to translate decades of specialized maritime experience into practical commercial conversations.
Having stepped away from full-time executive work, Randall sees board and advisory service as a meaningful opportunity to remain engaged with the business world while sharing the perspective accumulated over an extensive career. He is particularly interested in maritime-related and heavy industries, while remaining open to organizations of different sizes and stages of development. His experience could also be relevant to investment and asset-management organizations with exposure to shipping, as well as foreign maritime companies evaluating or developing a presence in the United States. He brings the perspective of someone who understands maritime assets not simply as ships, but as operating businesses whose returns depend upon customers, contracts, deployment decisions, market timing, cost control, and disciplined execution.
Randall’s personal interests remain closely connected to the water and outdoors, including sailing and boating, fishing, gardening, and reading. He has also contributed to his community through charitable meal-packing efforts benefiting children and families and previously volunteered as a girls’ lacrosse coach. As he enters a new personal and professional chapter, he is motivated by the opportunity to remain intellectually and commercially engaged while contributing his experience to organizations navigating growth, operational complexity, international markets, and strategic decisions. His career reflects the determination expressed in the motto he values: meaningful results become possible when experience is coupled with persistence, preparation, and the willingness to act.
Character:
Randall demonstrates character through a career built on accountability, trusted commercial relationships, operational responsibility, and a commitment to delivering on agreements in demanding international environments. He values determination, personal relationships, community involvement, and the responsibility that comes with representing customers and organizations in consequential business decisions.
Knowledge:
He brings deep knowledge of maritime transportation, chemical tanker trading, chartering, international logistics, vessel operations, freight markets, ports, supply chains, and contract negotiation developed from experience both aboard ships and in senior commercial roles. His understanding extends from the operational mechanics of loading and moving cargo to P&L management, global trade-lane optimization, customer strategy, and long-range tonnage planning.
Strategic:
Randall has repeatedly applied strategic thinking to vessel deployment, cargo optimization, commercial negotiations, trade-lane profitability, and long-range fleet planning. His ability to evaluate commercial opportunities alongside operational constraints enables him to consider both immediate financial performance and the longer-term implications of business decisions.
Communication:
A confident communicator whose career required continual interaction with customers, ship operators, brokers, commercial teams, executives, agents, and other stakeholders around the world. His extensive sales and negotiation experience allows him to communicate complex issues pragmatically, manage customer expectations, develop productive relationships, and work toward agreements that can be successfully executed.
