Following a 28 year career with Falmouth Harbour Commissioners (FHC), long-serving Harbour Master and Chief Executive, Mark Sansom, has announced that, at the end of 2020, he will be retiring from his role.

Explaining his decision Mark Sansom said:

"I am hugely privileged to have been employed in this role for such a long time. During my 28 years with FHC, I have been fortunate enough to be involved in many exciting projects and have worked with many incredible people.

"I feel the time is right though for me to make a change and adjust my work-life balance. I look forward to making myself useful in other ways in the future and will leave knowing that the organisation is in good shape and well placed to exploit upcoming opportunities."

Mark joined FHC as deputy harbour master in 1992 and was appointed harbour master and chief executive in 2000.

Under his tenure, Falmouth Harbour has significantly developed its facilities and hosted some major events.

FHC chair, Carrie Gilmore, said:

"All of us on the Board of Commissioners recognise Mark's achievements in developing and improving the organisation over the last 20 years. With Mark at the helm, FHC has grown as a business, despite occasionally being faced with some extremely challenging circumstances, and increased our value and contribution to our local community.

"He has also led our response to some extremely challenging incidents and situations over the years and has become nationally recognised for his expertise in handling ship casualty situations. We are proud of the substantial impact he has made."

"As an organisation, we have a proud history of developing our marine safety staff and I am delighted to be able to announce that Duncan Paul, who joined FHC in 2010, will be taking over the role of Harbour Master later this year.

"It is a testament to Mark's commitment to FHC, that he has given us such extended notice of his decision, and he is working with us to ensure a smooth transition to the new arrangements."

Recruitment of the new Chief Executive will commence in the coming months. FHC will also be recruiting a new Assistant Harbour Master.