Delta Air Lines taps Peter Penseel to lead cargo division

Dutch national headed airfreight for Ceva Logistics

Close up two tails on aircraft painted in Delta blue and red.

Delta Air Lines cargo revenues fell 31% last year to $723 million. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Peter Penseel is leaving Ceva Logistics, where he is chief operating officer of the airfreight division, to become president of cargo at Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL), effective June 1.

Photo: (Delta Cargo)

The veteran air cargo executive will replace Robert Walpole, who led Delta Cargo for three years. Delta Cargo quietly announced Penseel’s hiring on Wednesday. Walpole’s LinkedIn page shows his employment with Delta ending in February. Delta spokesman Drake Castaneda confirmed Walpole is no longer with the company. (Reached over the weekend, Walpole said he resigned.)

Penseel joined Ceva Logistics in mid-2020 after serving as vice president of cargo sales and network planning at Qatar Airways, the world’s largest cargo airline by volume. Ceva is the 12th-largest air forwarder by metric tonnage.

His departure follows parent company CMA CGM’s Feb. 29 acquisition of Bolloré Logistics, another large third-party logistics provider based in France, for $5.2 billion. Ceva Logistics officials could not be reached to comment on whether his departure is connected to any corporate integration.


Penseel, a native of the Netherlands, has spent more than three decades in the logistics industry, including stints at DHL Global Forwarding and UTi Worldwide. At Ceva he led the launch of in-house cargo capacity through the partnership with CMA CGM Air Cargo, a 3-year-old airline launched by the ocean shipping giant CMA CGM.

He will relocate to Delta’s headquarters in Atlanta.

(This story was updated to reflect new details about Walpole’s departure.)

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper articles by Eric Kulisch.


Contact Reporter: ekulisch@freightwaves.com 

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