Line Operations Supervisor

With over two decades of experience, OBT delivers trusted shipping and logistics solutions supported by strong partnerships across Africa and an international network of ship owners, operators and logistics specialists.

Looking for your next opportunity?

We are looking for an experienced Operations Supervisor to join our Shipping department and support the continued growth of our liner agency operations. This is a hands-on role for someone who understands liner shipping in depth, can identify operational risk early and has the judgement to decide what can be resolved directly and what genuinely needs to be escalated.

What success looks like

Success in this role means giving our local teams and management confidence that operational issues are being identified, prioritized and resolved at the right level. You will help strengthen consistency across our stations, improve adherence to SOPs and support the efficient setup of liner operations as OBT expands into new markets.

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day operational oversight across OBT liner agency activities and support local teams with practical resolution of operational issues.
• Review and prioritise high volumes of operational communication, ensuring urgent and high-risk matters are identified and acted on quickly.
• Investigate issues, gather supporting evidence and documentation, follow up on missing information and drive actions through to resolution.
• Resolve routine operational matters independently and escalate critical commercial, financial, regulatory, customer or compliance issues in line with agreed escalation criteria.
• Review shipping documentation and operational records for completeness, accuracy and compliance with company procedures.
• Review invoices and related operational expenditure, identifying discrepancies or matters requiring further investigation.
• Monitor operational KPIs and service levels, identify negative trends and follow up with the responsible teams.
• Ensure SOPs are understood and applied consistently across stations, addressing non-compliance and identifying gaps where procedures need to improve.
• Support the implementation and testing of new processes, systems and operational improvements.
• Support training, coaching and onboarding of local teams to strengthen operational capability and accountability.
• Support audits, evidence collection, corrective actions and follow-up where required.
• Support the operational readiness and onboarding of new countries and stations as OBT continues to expand.
• Travel to OBT stations to provide hands-on operational support, training and process implementation.

Requirements

• Minimum 5 years of direct experience within a shipping line or liner agency environment.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end liner shipping and agency operations. Experience solely within freight forwarding will not be sufficient for this role.
• Demonstrated ability to assess operational issues, identify critical risks and make sound escalation decisions independently.
• Strong knowledge of shipping documentation, operational controls, SOPs and the interaction between Customer Service, Operations, Sales and Finance.
• Good commercial awareness, including the ability to identify invoice discrepancies and understand the financial impact of operational decisions.
• Strong attention to detail with the ability to identify errors, missing information and gaps in process.
• Confident communicator who can follow up, challenge constructively and influence teams across different countries, including where there is no direct reporting line.
• Comfortable using Excel and learning operational systems. Experience with Magic Port would be an advantage.
• Strong written and verbal English. French would be a strong advantage.
• Willingness to travel regularly across OBT operations.
• Audit exposure and/or experience supporting new country or station launches would be advantageous.

Benefits

Why join OBT?

OBT continues to grow its liner shipping capability across international markets. This role offers the opportunity to work across countries, influence how our operations develop and play a practical part in strengthening the systems, standards and capability that support our growth.

If you are an experienced liner shipping professional who takes ownership, spots problems early and enjoys turning operational issues into practical solutions, we would like to hear from you.