ACL Airshop Announces the Promotion of James Harris to Chief Executive Officer
Greenville, SC – March 4, 2026 – The Board of ACL Airshop, a global leader in air cargo Unit Load Device (“ULD”) logistics solutions to over 200 airlines, air cargo carriers, and other transportation clients, is pleased to announce the appointment of James W. Harris as Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”). Harris joined the company in November 2021 in the role of Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), and in addition to transforming ACL Airshop’s finance function, he has developed a deep familiarity with the Company’s operations, business development and strategic initiatives.
The Company also sincerely thanks Bernhard Kindelbacher for his important contributions during his two years as CEO of the Company. During his tenure, he played a key role in strengthening ACL Airshop’s global footprint, expanding its full ULD management offering, securing key ULD management contracts across multiple markets, and advancing the Company’s digital capabilities through the Localization+ initiative. Bernhard will continue to support ACL Airshop as Senior Advisor during the transition period.
By way of background, Harris began his career as a Certified Public Accountant for over nine years with PwC, whereby he leveraged his valuable public accounting and tax expertise to industry roles. Notably, he was CFO of Forum Energy Technologies, which he helped grow from $25 Million revenues to $1.7 Billion through organic growth and more than 20 acquisitions. Forum was initially sponsor backed, and Harris was a key leader in taking it public on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”). Similarly, Harris was CFO of Pacific Drilling S.A., where he executed a capital restructuring, then merged the business with Noble Drilling. Harris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting and a Master’s Degree in accounting & taxation from Brigham Young University, as well as an MBA from Rice University.
ACL Airshop is a portfolio company of funds managed by Astatine Investment Partners (“Astatine”). Jim Metcalfe, a board member of ACL Airshop and CEO of Astatine, said: “we are excited to partner with Jim Harris on this important chapter of ACL Airshop’s growth story. In addition to his finance, capital markets and strategic planning capabilities, Jim brings a strong business development and operations focused mindset, which he has honed through his tenure at ACL Airshop and prior experience with sponsor backed businesses. We congratulate him on this promotion, and we look forward to collaborating closely with him to grow and enhance the business.”
Regarding this promotion, Harris remarked: “I have greatly enjoyed my time at ACL Airshop, working in an important part of the air cargo industry supplying critical equipment for freight transport. I am proud of our strong, global team dedicated to providing the most technologically advanced products and services for our customers. I am especially excited to continue partnering with Astatine in this new role as they have consistently proven to be supportive strategic partners during their stewardship.”
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ACL Airshop owns, maintains and manages more than 100,000 ULDs, including air cargo pallets and containers, issued from 55 airport hub locations across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America. The company currently maintains the largest independent inventory of lease-ready ULD assets in the industry for short-term solutions and has an array of longer-term multi-year ULD Management contracts.
For more information, please visit www.aclairshop.com.
Astatine is a leading, independent, mid-market private equity firm focused on infrastructure investments. Founded in 2005 as Alinda Capital Partners and rebranded in 2022, Astatine is one of the world’s most experienced infrastructure investment firms. Astatine targets investments in the digital, transportation, utility-related and essential services sectors.
For more information, please visit www.astatineip.com.
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