No. 84
House Magazine – also distributed to customers and business relations
April 2007
THE BLUE WATER FOUNDATION
Talkshow with Gorm and Kurt
21 April 2007 was a historic day for Blue Water. It was the day in which the future of the company was presented to the employees at a party on Tobakken in Esbjerg.
Officially, the event was a delayed sixtieth birthday party for owner Kurt Skov. The actual occasion, however, was to present the news to those involved – i.e. Blue Water’s employees.
Visit our brand new website www.bws.dk
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The Foundation Board of Directors - left to right Ole Frie, Gyrithe Skov, Anne Skov, Niels Kaalund, Morten Petersen, and Kurt Skov. Unfortunately the mayor, Johnny Søtrup, could not participate in the event, but introduced himself and his new role in the Foundation Board of Directors on a video. The news was delivered as a talk show between Kurt Skov and Gorm (well known for his many years with the Danish national te-levision and radio). Gorm (or Hans Georg Møller) was also present at Kurt’s fourtieth birthday party in which he guided Kurt through “Presenting your Life” in a hilarious and fun way. At Saturday’s show the most important news was Kurt’s speech as below: In the last few years, I have of course given the future of Blue Water considerable thought. Today, Blue Water is the largest transport company in Denmark still on private hands – and we have built an interesting company with a good name and healthy financial viability. Not surprisingly, many companies have contacted me with offers
to buy Blue Water – even for large sums of money. I have, however, never been tempted to sell. Because Blue Water has never been for sale – no matter the price! Blue Water is my life’s work, and it is important to me to preserve the continued existence, independence and identity of Blue Water – and to safeguard that spirit of Blue Water which we still have after all – even though there are many of us today. Blue Water is a worldwide company. This development must continue – but it is my wish to keep the company on Danish hands with headquarters in Esbjerg where our roots are imbedded. We will continue to be in control of our own development – and not just be controlled and measured on finances, turnover, share price and the clever people at the stock exchange. I have considered involving executive employees as share holders. It
The present from the staff was presented by Dan Nissen is, however, not that simple technically and financially. Also, it worries me that in this way these shares – not tomorrow – but in the future – may be subject to disagreements between the share holders, something that may very well lead to the sale of the company. Following many considerations and discussions in the family with solicitor and accountant on the future structure, I have thus reached
the conclusion that the best solution to secure the future of Blue Water is to set up a commercial foundation. I thus transfer 75% of the shares to the members of the Blue Water Foundation, and in this way also the controlling shareholding in the company. The remaining 25% will remain with the Skov Family in Kurt Skov Holding. My small family led by Gyrithe and
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The Board of Directors - left to right Jørn Bøllund, Dan Nissen, Carsten Steffensen, Bent Rasmussen, Carsten Eskildsen, Allan Junge and Kurt Skov. and 4 external members – while the operational board of directors apart from myself (Kurt Skov) will be composed of 4 external members: solicitor Niels Kaalund, financial adviser Morten Petersen as well as the new members mayor Johnny Søtrup - adding the local Esbjerg touch – and Ole Frie, who, following a brilliant international career, has just stepped down as managing director of DFDS Tor Line.
Jørn Bøllund was the evening’s toastmaster. Anne are all happy with this decision. Neither Anne nor I wish for her to take over the demanding position as overall manager of Blue Water. Anne does, however, very much enjoy her job with Blue Water – and is eager to be part of the future development. The foundation board of directors will be composed of 3 Skov family members (Gyrithe, Anne and Kurt)
There are no changes to management which will still be composed of Kurt Skov, Jørn Bøllund (Marketing, HR, Insurance and Claims), Carsten Eskildsen (Blue Water Shipping), Dan Nissen (Blue Water International), Carsten Steffensen (Blue Water Transport), Bent Rasmussen (Smyril Blue Water), Allan Junge (Group Financial Director). I have no plans whatsoever to re-
tire – quite on the contrary – and I will be chairman of both boards – but if I don’t behave – or am mentally incapable – the external board members can remove me, as the family is a minority on the foundation board. Of course I hope that this won’t happen. I still have a lot of good years left in me, and I still want to run with all you younger and older colleagues – and, based on sound and business-like principles, social involvement and responsibility, develop Blue Water to be an even better place to work while continue to strengthen our market position. It is, however, a serious decision I have made – setting up and transferring share majority to the Blue
Water Foundation is an irrevocable decision – one that cannot be regretted. But I hope for the understanding and back-up of all Blue Water employees, as my sole reason for this action is to secure the continued independence, existence and growth of Blue Water. It was a superb evening with the participation of nearly 400 Danish employees and foreign office managers, all invited to Esbjerg to celebrate the occasion. Apart from the most important news of the evening, Esbjerg Music Hall’s Show Choir and singer Trine Gadeberg delivered excellent entertainment. To round of the evening, a band from Esbjerg Music Academy had everyone dancing until late.
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Blue Water Group Outline
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STATUS 2006 All Blue Water offices report on hectic activity in 2006. Among the most important events of the year we can mention: 1.3. was the silver anniversary of Blue Water’s Rotterdam office. The happy event was celebrated with a sail on board “De Majesteit” - an old paddle steamer - in the port of Rotterdam. In March, Blue Water took over the US activities of Transglobal and their staff of 11 people in Copenhagen, Rotterdam, New York and Los Angeles. The Emirates is a very important hub in the Middle East. Blue Water has therefore been represented with its own office in Dubai since 1991. In March we increased our activities with a small office (160 m2) and warehouse (600 m2) in the strategically important port and free zone, Jebel Ali, situated between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. As our client, the cruise line, Holland America Line, wished to outsource its warehouse and logistics activities in Florida, they invited tenders for these functions. We won the contract and established an office in Fort Lauderdale - the base port of the cruise ships of Holland America Line in Florida. As our road and intermodal traffic
between Denmark/Scandinavia and Italy is experiencing rapid growth - and to control and strengthen this development - we established an office in Milan, Blue Water Shipping Italy, in September. In connection with the continuous development of our European traffic, new initiatives are launched all along. We offer weekly departures between Denmark and Turkey and our Turkish partner is ICL/Intercombi Transport & Logistics with head office in Istanbul. The Austrian activity has increased heavily and 15 trucks have been put in on the service, on a round trip basis, between Denmark and Austria. Blue Water offers - in co-operation with Logi Trans, Stavanger - daily departures by road between the two oil cities Esbjerg and Stavanger. We have entered into an agreement with BLG (Basler Lagerhaus- und Speditionsgesellschaft) covering the traffic between Denmark and Switzerland. The efforts on the traffic to the central part of Eastern Europe have been increased with special focus on the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary - now operated with our own
trucks on a round trip basis. The first year of the freight company, Smyril Blue Water, based on the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Denmark was successful and extremely busy. We had our big break as international project forwarder with interesting oil and energy related jobs in Singapore, Baku, Aktau, Houston, Holland, Spain, France and Denmark. Due to hectic activity with project cargoes in Spain - in particular windmills from Denmark to Spain - we established a department in Barcelona in August - Blue Water Projects - sharing the office with Blue Water Shipping España. The new department is in charge of the many projects through the different ports of Spain and the development of the project activity in Spain.
We have experienced a heavy workload in the port of Esbjerg with windmills, various project cargoes, ro-ro and container vessels, offshore base and terminal activities. At the turn of the year Blue Water employed a total staff of 705 people at 42 offices in 22 countries. 2006 was a financially good year for the Blue Water Group with a turnover of approx. DKK 2,3 billion - and a result of approx. DKK 25 million before tax. The net capital as of 31.12.2006 was approx DKK 110 million and the budgets for 2007 look promising. Kurt Skov
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Blue Water’s new Website is on the Air On 11 April, our brand new and long-awaited website was finally launched. In close cooperation with Blue Water IT, Blue Water’s
webmaster, Dorthe Snow, has worked intensely on having the site ready on time.
Further to a new and modern design, we have put emphasis on making the new website more user friendly. It is our goal to constantly update www.bws.dk with the latest news, campaigns, vacant positions etc. The communication of news has priority with the latest news added continuously. You should always be able to keep up with what happens at Blue Water. For our faithful readers of Blue Water News, we can refer to “News & Press”, under which you may find all previous editions of Blue Water News dated back to 2004.
Triple A
Blue Water was awarded the highest credit rating according to the credit rating scale of Soliditet, AAA (Triple A), for the sixth year in a row. In 2006, triple A, was awarded to 9562 companies in Denmark, which is the equivalent of 6% of the 160,000 accountable Danish companies.
As a further service, you may find miscellaneous useful information within the freight forwarding and transport business as well as laws, rules and other announcements as PDF.
www.bws.dk
Of course the website will continue to be developed, so that we may always offer the best possible service to our clients.
Periodical Audit of ISO Certification
During 2007, an update of our entire selection of marketing material - based on our new web design - will take place.
The annual audit of the management system of Blue Water Shipping and Blue Water International took place on 15-16.1.2007 - and we passed brilliantly.
BLUE WATER ARENA
Esbjerg Industry & Trade Award
EFB - Esbjerg’s football team playing in the SAS League (the top league in Denmark) - will in the future be playing their home games at the Blue Water Arena in Esbjerg. Blue Water has made a five-year contract with option for another two years with EFB Elite A/S securing the right of using the EFB home ground for our national promotion and marketing. The name Blue Water Arena indicates that Blue Water is not an Es-bjerg Company, but a Danish owned company based in Esbjerg.
When Kurt eventually arrived (after delays in Greenland) at his 60th birthday which he celebrated in Tenerife with his family, he got a big surprise; a telephone call from the mayor of Esbjerg, Johnny Søtrup. The mayor congratulated him and informed that he was nominated for the Esbjerg Industry & Trade Award 2006. Each year, the award of Esbjerg Industry & Trade Centre (which name has now been changed to Esbjerg Industry & Trade Development Council) is presented to the nominee at the New Year’s reception which is held at “Musikhuset” (Music hall) in Esbjerg (this year’s presentation took place on 11.1.2007). In his speech, the chairman of Esbjerg Industry & Trade Development Council, John Lesbo, quoted from the nomination list the following hallmarks of Kurt Skov; “humorous, honest, informal, straightforward, persistent and successful. He is known as an energetic and hard-working man who has managed to transform Blue Water from a small newly established company in 1972 into an enterprise that both
With 11 branch offices throughout Denmark and 45 offices in 24 countries, the company is both national and worldwide and the new stadium name will in particular be used for national marketing purposes. Blue Water and EFB have a lot in common. They have both worked hard to obtain their present position. Solidarity and team spirit are important values which contribute to keeping and developing new talents so that both EFB and Blue Water will have the best teams.
Masterplan of the Blue Water Arena in Esbjerg.
Esbjerg and Denmark can be very proud of. Blue Water has become worldwide and this proves Kurt’s abilities to keep his finger on the pulse and create contacts in the global market”. With the prize, a pewter dish with inscription, came DKK 10,000 which were immediately passed on to the staff club as - like Kurt said in his speech of thanks - the loyal and competent staff is the company’s foundation stone. A recognition we are naturally very proud of.
At the presentation of the Esbjerg Industry & Trade Award; Kurt Skov and the chairman of the Council John Lesbo.
7 Blue Water Sweden At the turn of the year, Blue Water established an office in Sweden - more precisely in Gothenburg. Björn E. Jensen - who is an old acquaintance of Blue Water (see also New Employees) - is appointed general manager of the office. As Björn has been on his own during the start-up phase, he has been working from his home base. However, on 1.3. the office became reality and we have now moved to the following address:
Blue Water Shipping
Furthermore a forwarding assistant, Janne Ekholm, has joined Björn at the office and to start with the team will offer road traffic to/ from Denmark and the UK as well as general freight forwarding. We are pleased with the many inquiries for worldwide transport which we have already received from clients in Sweden. Sales and service to the other Blue Water offices worldwide will be important activities for the Gothenburg office.
Sydatlanten 6, Skaniahamnen SE-40336 Gothenburg Sweden Tel: Fax: Cell phone: E-mail:
+46 31 76 44 880 +46 31 53 30 50 +46 70 22 08 068 bwsgot@bws.dk
Blue Water’s Activities in Germany On 1-12-2006, Blue Water established a representative office in Bremen under the management of Ralf Poppe. Ralf has many years of experience in specialised transport and goods to/from the short sea lines in the North German ports. Shortly after the opening Blue Water entered into an agreement with Norsk Hydro covering transport of aluminium to Eastern Europe. Norsk Hydro has shipments out of Norway and Russia, among other places, and uses Rostock as transhipment and distribution hub for Eastern and Central Europe. The goods are trucked from Rostock to the prospering car industry in Eastern Europe. Our contract with Norsk Hydro is very big and
Blue Water, Gothenburg.
Expansion of Blue Water UK and Ireland Blue Water in England wishes to strengthen its road services to/from Scandinavia and in this connection the new Gothenburg office will be playing a pivotal role. In general Blue Water England wants to take over the entire logistics chain on the markets we today consider our core areas. These markets include Russia, the Baltic states, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Czech Republic and not least Ireland where Blue Water recently replaced its former agent by a re-established department for road traffic at our own office in the heart of Dublin. Here our Danish colleague, Lars Højen, is attending to our clients in the local area which has resulted in a high level of service for our clients and a close co-operation with our
sub-contractors. Blue Water offers daily departures to and from Ireland with 2 to 4 days’ transit. At Blue Water Ipswich and Manchester, a staff of 24 is involved in the daily operation as well as two salesmen. As from April, our sales organisation will be strengthened by another salesman, specialised in sea and airfreight, who will contribute to securing Blue Water England additional market shares in a market with a yearly increase of 15 to 20 per cent. Blue Water England has recently - together with the Oil & Energy department in Esbjerg and Blue Water Aberdeen - established a regular service between Esbjerg and Aberdeen servicing the offshore industry in the two cities.
New Airfreight Agent in Paris We are pleased to inform that Blue Water in France has entered into co-operation with Oceanair Freight situated in Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Oceanair Freight was established in 1991 by Yvan Joret, who still owns the company which today employs six people. The company’s primary activity is airfreight, however, they do also handle sea freight. Over the summer, Oceanair will be moving into brand-new premises with ultramodern warehouse facilities.
The first Norsk Hydro aluminium activities at Rostock.
we expect to transport close to 5,000 tons (100-200 loads) every month to Poland and the Czech Republic. Ralf Poppe is commercially and operationally involved in the contact to the major companies in Northern Germany and quite a number of new businesses have already been established in respect of both road and sea transport.
Blue Water and the client attending the first loadings. Left to right: Nadine Michels/Ahlman-Zersen (port agent), Aage-Einar Berntsen/ Manager Port Operations, Norsk Hydro, Ralf Poppe/Blue Water Bremen, Morten Lindborg/Quality Manager, Norsk Hydro and Thomas Johansen/Blue Water Copenhagen.
Blue Water opens its third office in Greenland Blue Water opened a new branch office at Ilulissat (Jacobshavn) on 1.4.2007. Ilulissat is situated at the Disko Bay and is, according to a lot of people, “the real Greenland” with the world’s biggest calving glacier, icebergs and fantastic scenery We have for many years been servicing the town through an agent, but we found that now was the time to attend to the activities in Ilulissat ourselves. The establishment of the office is primarily due to the fact that Ilulissat is experiencing a violent process of changes in connection with which tourism and the construction industry are prospering. We expect to increase our activities to include discharge operations, removals etc. as with the Blue Water
offices in Nuuk and Sisimiut. With the opening in Ilulissat, the total permanent staff of Blue Water Greenland A/S has reached the number of 15 as well as a number of casual labourers who will be called in in connection with ship’s calls and discharging operations, explains Ole Ulriksen/ Business Development Manager for the North Atlantic. To serve as base for the activities we have rented the old fire station which has been restored: Kenneth Birk Jørgensen is appointed in charge of the daily operation (see also New Employees) and was on the spot ready to attend to his duties in connection with the first call on 7.4.2007.
BLUE WATER GREENLAND A/S
Left to right: David Fleury (Operations Manager), Cyril Harrant (Airfreight), Nathalie Ferlay (Sales Manager), Yvan Joret (Owner), Nathalie Kuhn (Accounting) and J.P. Devos (Sea Freight).
Aron Mathiesenip Aqqutaa 9, Postboks 380 3952 Ilulissat
Blue Water’s third office in Greenland - the old fire station at Ilulissat.
Tel: +299 942210 Cell phone: +299 520810 Fax: +299 942280 E-mail: kjoergensen@bws.dk
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Summit in Esbjerg
FIA GT Dubai
A summit was held at Blue Water’s headquarters in Esbjerg on 11-12.2. The items of the agenda included future strategy for Blue Water’s activities in the oil and gas segment and at the table were colleagues from the Blue Water offices around the world who have this very niche as their speciality. After an update from the individual offices, future target areas and positioning were discussed so that there will also in future be a basis for proactive growth.
November is a very intense month for the racing enthusiasts in Dubai. In connection with the annual FIA GT race on the Dubai Autodrome, we were together with our agents, CTM and MSK in Germany, entrusted with the transport of the car models; Aston Martin Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette and other exciting models. The entire job included both sea and airfreight as well as local customs clearance, distribution, emptying and packing of 30 x 40` containers which, direct after the race, were ready in the pit for reforwarding of the expensive cars to another race in Bahrain or back to Europe. It was indeed a very interesting challenge which, combined with
The participants of the different Blue Water offices.
New Drilling for ALTINEX OIL Everybody was very excited when the drilling for Altinex Oil (former Denerco Oil) started in late March as the operation will take place in the Danish sector - Siri Fairway, block 5604/23. The jack-up rig “Noble George Sauvageau” has been chartered to perform the expected 23-45 days’ drilling operation. The drilling will be performed under the existing base contract for which DanCopter,
Odfjell Drilling, Catch Fishing, Esbjerg Safety Consult, Esbjerg Tubular Services and Mærsk Contractor among others are sub-contractors. Blue Water is responsible for the co-ordination of supplies and personnel to the offshore installation. The supplies will be delivered to the rig “Noble George Saugaveau” by the supply vessel “Boa Fortune” for which Blue Water is also acting as agent.
Aircraft Charters for Ocean Rig In the last week of January, our Aberdeen office completed two aircraft charters from Doncaster to St. Johns for their client Ocean Rig. The two AN12 aircrafts were each loaded with five tether reels which were required for a rig down situation on the rig “Eirik Raude”. The weather conditions in St. Johns did not make the operation simple as snow storm and high winds were experienced at destination - but fortunately both aircrafts made it in and away leaving the client happy.
Claes-Ascan Craseman/CTM, Ham-burg, Claus Laursen/Blue Water Dubai and Franz Spanner/ MSK Munich.
UAE Desert Challenge 2006 Blue Water Dubai has - together with our agent in Germany, MSK - arranged transport of racing cars for the racing team of the VW factory and the private BMX team, X-Raid. Racing cars, assisting cars and spare parts for use during the UAE Desert Challenge, were sent by air from Germany to Dubai where the last preparations were made in the Liwa camp which is also known as “Empty Quarter” - a desert area bigger than the Sahara. After the race, the cars were air-
freighted back to Germany for the last adjustments before the important race, Paris Dakar Rally.
Race in the desert - in the background Dubai’s seven-star hotel Burj Al Arab.
Upgrade of Horns Rev 1
Loading of the big reels on board the AN 12.
Part Charter from Singapore Blue Water Aberdeen have in cooperation with Blue Water Esbjerg completed the charter of two bundles of chain from Shanghai to Aberdeen for their client Viking Moorings. The two bundles - weighing 359 tons - were loaded directly on to the vessel by a floating crane in Shanghai. The journey was completed on 8 March in Aberdeen. This was a tricky movement as the tails on the chain had to be made the correct length for the loading and unloading from the vessel.
the different teams and Dubai Autodrome, became a success for the parties involved, reports Claus Laursen/Blue Water Dubai.
Discharging of the chains for Viking Moorings.
In connection with the upgrade of the 80 windmills of the Horns Rev 1 windmill farm - which on a clear day can be seen from our main office in Esbjerg - Blue Water is awarded the contract for base facilities and services by a joint venture, consisting of the Danish company E.Pihl & Søn and the two German companies Hoch Tief and Weservind, who have been awarded the contract for the actual upgrading by Vattenfal. The project is estimated to take 6-9 months and includes renewal of the access platform, surface renovation of the windmills and foundation work. Blue Water’s part of the project will include supply of office facilities, outdoor storage area, reception of 80 platforms divided into half sections, stevedoring in connection with shipment of equipment and material as well as crew mobilisa-
tion. Furthermore we expect to be taking care of the handling of a large amount of cargo for the sub-contractors who are involved in the project. The project team is located at the address of Tværkaj 4 and the offshore operations started on 1.3.
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Calling on our Agent in Finland On 1.2., our agent for road traffic between Denmark and Finland, Kauko, celebrated the official opening of their new office, warehouse and logistics terminal in Helsinki. With the new facilities, Kauko is now able to offer their customers an even better service and the new facilities are just another proof of the great progress Kauko have experienced on the Finnish market. A traffic meeting was held in connection with the reception during which new objectives and initiatives were decided. It was a great pleasure to see that our common traffic between Finland and Denmark has been making rapid progress during recent years.
Left to right: Henrik Madsen/Blue Water Aarhus, Tarja Saari, Claus Gutfeld/Blue Water Copenhagen, AnneVepsalanien, Esa Hovatov/ Weber, Marja Raikka, Ari Malvela and Poul Aarre/Blue Water Aarhus.
New Co-operation Express Door-Door Courier to Riga for a few seconds, but we soon reOn 23.2., Thomas Dam Larsen and with Weber laxed when he started laughing and Søren Riis/Blue Water Copenhagen Weber’s biggest markets include Denmark, Sweden and Norway. During recent years these markets have experienced great success and the success has gradually spread to include most European countries in connection with which Weber has made a transport agreement with Blue Water. Finland is another big market where Blue Water is also involved. Weber is booking successfully via our internet portal which offers the opportunity of printing bar code labels. Weber are manufacturers of quality barbecues and they are in particular famous for their globular barbecue which - in Denmark as well as in many other parts of the world - has become the favourite tool within the barbecue world. Naturally we hope that our good co-operation will increase to include other Weber markets in future.
Left to right: Henrik Madsen/Blue Water Aarhus, Kim la Cour/Blue Water Esbjerg, Warehouse Manager Paw Sørensen and Logistics Manager Kenneth Bindslev/Weber and Jesper F. Kassow/Blue Water Aalborg.
New Agent on Road Traffic to/from France As from 16.3., Blue Water officially changed partner - to Mory Team - on road traffic to/from France. Mory is one of the strongest distributors in France with 7600 employees and 150 offices, 70 of which are national and part of the French domestic network. Mory handles more than 50,000 shipments per day in France with track & trace facilities and offers two distribution systems in France.
Regular transport “Mory Regular”
After arrival at terminal in France, Mory guarantees delivery within 24-48 hours (however, mountain areas up to 72 hours). For import 24 hours must be added.
Express Transport/Service ”Mory Gold”
Guaranteed delivery within 24 hours throughout France.
were sent, with lightning speed, to Riga on an emergency. “The Ford Transit was packed and off we went to PonPower to load a courier shipment consisting of six parcels of ship’s spare parts which were urgently needed in Riga. We proceeded to Karlshamn in Sweden and took the ferry to Klaipeda in Lithuania where we arrived 16 hours later. Here we suffered our first culture shock. We were waved to the side by not only a customs officer, but an unfriendly police officer, and started getting nervous. Having showed our passports, registration certificate and customs documents, the turn came to the small cargo compartment. The spare parts were packed in six long wooden boxes and when examining our luggage, the policeman furthermore found various vitamin tablets, he looked and said: “Boys, no guns and no drugs !!!”. Our hearts were in our mouths
wished us a pleasant drive”, Søren reports. “Then the long drive towards Riga started. The infrastructure was frightening as the main roads we drove on were merely gravel roads. After four hours’ bumpy ride through Lithuania and Latvia, however, we arrived in the port of Riga. Security check took 4-5 hours before we were permitted on board. The renovation of the old and rundown ship took place in minus 25 degrees. Despite language problems we succeeded in having the CMR documents signed. We stayed overnight at a hotel and the next day we drove the long way (26 hours) back again”. This was a very interesting and complex project proving that Blue Water is the “Best in Town” and that we really make an effort to concentrate on the needs of our clients and do our utmost to solve any kind of forwarding problem.
The Chief Engineer of the vessel and Thomas Dam Larsen. In the background you can see the six parcels which we delivered in Riga.
New Agent in Portugal Blue Water has entered into an agency agreement with Rangel in Portugal as from 10.11.06. Rangel is one of the strongest and most sales determined actors in the Portuguese market - in respect of both road, sea and air as well as domestic transport - with 18 offices/terminals covering the whole of Portugal with four international hubs in Porto, Lisbon, Sveiro and Covilha. Due to its wide national network in Portugal, Ragel is able to offer track & trace of all shipments with a transit time of 24/48 hours
throughout Portugal after arrival at Portuguese terminal. Rangel has a staff of 700 and is working together with the Hellmann Group on sea and airfreight. Furthermore Rangel represents FedEx due to its national distribution network. Blue Water and Rangel have just made a joint sales campaign. In cooperaton with Rangel, Blue Water offers several weekly departures in both directions to/from Portugal - both groupage and part and full loads.
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Cargo Partner calling on Blue Water Copenhagen On 17.3., Blue Water’s Scandinavian department in Copenhagen received a visit from our agent Cargo Partner in Norway - 14 forwarders from Oslo, Trondheim, Stavanger and Bergen respectively. Furthermore Blue Water representatives from our Norwegian departments in Odense and Aarhus participated in the joint meeting at our office in Copenhagen where our guests were taken on a tour of our fine office facilities before Henrik Dam Larsen gave an introduction of Blue Water and Reidar Hagelund told about Cargo Partner. The remaining part of the day’s programme included small “workshops” and a quiz which put a smile on everybody’s face. Afterwards they all spent the evening at Big Bowl in Valby, bowling to their hearts’ content (we bet a couple of
our Norwegian guests have been practising at home ...), dining and having a good time together in the nightlife of Copenhagen.
Blue Water has acted as Lloyd’s agent in Greenland for a number of years. Now Smyril Blue Water is appointed Lloyd’s agent on the Faroe Islands looking after their interests in connection with surveys etc. from the office in Torshavn. Hedin Joensen/Smyril Blue Water, Torshavn has been to London to learn the routines and procedures. In the picture he is together with Sonja Flink/Lloyds of London.
Compass Web Booking System Blue Water’s basic strategy has always been focusing on the clients’ wishes. For this reason we want to be close to our clients in a co-operation based on confidence and personal relations. As a consequence the IT department has developed a brand-new transport booking system which is in the process of being introduced to the clients. The Compass Web-booking System is designed to make our clients workday easier. The system is simple, user-friendly and ensures complete overview. Send your bookings direct via the internet - any time of the day - without delay. You will be able to follow the ETA (expected time of arrival). Previous bookings will be filed in
the system together with invoice amount, which makes it possible, at all times, to retrieve these and other relevant transport information - and not least without any paperwork. Other advantages of Blue Water’s Web Booking System include: • No waiting time • Guarantee for correct information • Possibility of notifying consignee • Print of proforma invoice • Print of labels • Booking documentation • Security / Access Control If you are interested, please call your contact for an introduction.
Visiting Cobelfret, Belgium The big Belgian shipping line, Cobelfret N.V., has since January 2006 operated a service between Esbjerg and Zeebrugge, based on a weekly departure, with a ro/ro ferry. A large amount of containers on mafi trailers are shipped in both directions between Denmark and the Continent/ UK as well as a number of new cars to Denmark. Blue Water acts as port agent and stevedore for Cobelfret in Esbjerg where the handling takes place at Blue Water’s new ro-ro terminal at Sydhavnen (South Port). Furthermore we sell and promote the service on the Danish market and hope for increasing volumes between Denmark and the Continent in particular, which will create a basis for more calls. In February, Blue Water paid a visit to
Cobelfret in Belgium together with Esbjerg Havn (the Port of Esbjerg). Esbjerg Havn was represented by Sales and Marketing Director Søren Clemmensen and from Blue Water Claus Bæk, who is in charge of sales, and Kurt Skov participated. We spent a couple of interesting days in Belgium. The programme included a very friendly reception by the top management of Cobelfret at their impressive headquarters in Antwerp, followed by a constructive talk about freight with the management of Cobelfret Containers in Bruges, where a new impressive head office is under construction. Finally we enjoyed an - for shipping people - extremely interesting and fascinating guided tour in the port of Zeebrugge. The port is really bursting with new activities and facilities.
Cobelfret N.V., Antwerp - left to right: Søren Clemmensen, Mike Gray, Christian Cigrang (Man. Director for the entire group) and Kurt Skov.
Left to right: Ruben de Baets and Bruno van Assche are busy with the Scandinavian traffic at Cobelfret Containers.
Cobelfret Containers, Bruges: Claus Bæk standing between Freddy Brauwers and Yves Strube.
Cobelfret Ferries, Zeebrugge: Martin Storme standing between Søren Clemmensen and Kurt Skov.
Closing-time Seminar 40 customers accepted an invitation to a seminar which was held at Blue Water’s office in Esbjerg at 4 p.m. on Wednesday 21.3. The headlines of the seminar included Incoterms, liability rules of the transport business, Insurance and What to do in case of damage. Jørn Bøllund told about the trading parties’ agreements of risk during transport and the carriers’ many exemptions from liability and limitations of liability. He was in particular very careful in emphasizing the shipping lines’ special possibilities of rejection of liability and the cargo owner’s risk of contribution to salvage expenses etc.
After these very serious subjects, the participants were, however, relieved again as it is possible to take out a transport insurance of goods which indemnifies the cargo owner for the full value from door to door. The last half hour of the seminar was an introduction of claims procedures and handling of claims as well as answering questions from the many interested customers. The last item on the afternoon’s programme included sandwiches, beer and soft drinks. The large attendance made us consider repeating the seminar not only in Esbjerg, but also at our other offices..
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Seatrade Miami 2007 In March, Blue Water participated in the Seatrade Cruise Exhibition in Miami. This year we were for the first time represented as Blue Water Shipping, Ft. Lauderdale. The exhibition was a great success and we had a lot of interesting meetings with the suppliers and contractors of the cruise industry as well as agents and cruise lines - among others Holland America Line and Disney Cruise Line. In keeping with tradition, transport and co-ordination of the stand material for the members of Dansk
Eksport Forening (the Danish Exporters’ Association) and Wonderful Copenhagen etc. were performed via Blue Water. Blue Water’s stand was manned by representatives from the Blue Water offices involved in the cruise activities; Kurt Skov/Blue Water Esbjerg, Amadeu Outeiro/Blue Water Barcelona, Zaida Pena, Torbjørn Pedersen (sent to Florida for a three months period) and Rasmus Øllgaard/Blue Water Ft. Lauderdale as well as Fred and Bette Ann Rogacki from our local partner IWS.
Logistics Manager Sunne Kim/Holland America Line between Rasmus Øllgaard and Zaida Pena/Blue Water Fort Lauderdale.
Betty Ann Rogacki/IWS together with Zaida Pena and Rasmus Øllgaard/ Fort Lauderdale.
Fred Rogacki/IWS and Kurt Skov.
Cruise Ships calling at Barcelona Hanstholm - New Cruise Destination ? In May 2007, the cruise line, Disney Cruise, starts calling at ports in the Mediterranean. Blue Water Shipping España will in cooperation with American CruiseAid Logistics, Cape Caraveral be in charge of logistics and warehousing in connection with the calls at
Barcelona. Therefore Amadeu Outeiro and Kurt Skov paid a visit to Disney Cruise in Orlando where they were given a very interesting guided tour on board the cruise ship “Disney Magic” at Cape Canaveral.
Visiting Disney Cruise - left to right: Ana Norris/Logistics Manager of Disney Cruise, Janne Meinertz/President of American Cruise-Aid Logistics, Amadeu Outeiro and Kurt Skov.
The German cruise line, AIDA, appointed Nordshipping (associated company of Smyril Blue Water) port agent for their new vessel calling at Hanstholm on her maiden voyage on 20.3. The 650 passengers spent the day on a sightseeing tour of the local area. After the successful call, we expect AIDA’s cruise vessels to be calling at the port of Hanstholm at regular intervals to the great delight of the whole region. No - sadly this is only a fantasy ........ True enough the vessel is new, but she was only having her trials before she was to be delivered to the owners. 650 workmen spent a week on board testing all equip-
ment. The captain had asked us to arrange crew change of three crew members, on the roads, 3-4 nautical miles off Hanstholm. The ship “Aida Diva” was built at Meyer Werft in Papenburg as the first of four sister ships. The three other ships will be delivered in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The “Aida Diva” will be put in on the Mediterranean service during the summer months and on the Caribbean during the winter season. According to the captain, the ship is equipped with a high degree of innovative thinking - among other things tropical recreational bathing facilities (2000 m2). For further information please visit www.aida.de.
The “Aida Diva” on her trial cruise in the North Sea.
12 Shipment to the Galathea 3 Expedition
In early January, the airfreight department in Esbjerg arranged a shipment to New Zealand for the local company, Nyhavns Vod og Trawlbinderi - supplier of trawl to the Galathea 3 Expedition. Before departure, a big trawl was installed, but during the expedition, a smaller boom and trawl were nee-ded and ordered for delivery in New Zealand. Most Danes have heard about the Galathea 3, which was an expedition with participation of various scientists and other good people,
who during the eight months’ worldwide expedition (39,000 nautical miles) called at many interesting and great places. The expedition started in August 2006 and ended on 25.4.2007 in Copenhagen. The press was also represented on board the “Vædderen” to cover the expedition as there were also royal visitors on board - the Crown Prince on the Galapagos Islands and Prince Henrik through the Panama Canal to the Virgin Islands.
Job Fair in Kolding Blue Water Kolding participated in the local job fair in January together with 50 other companies. The fair was arranged by Business Kolding and the target audience included both Danish and German job hunters. The very impressive number of 1500 Germans found their way to the fair, some by bus from Meckelnburg-Vorpommern and Frankfurt and some by private car from Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. People crowded around our stand and many of them were interested in a job with Blue Wa-
ter - in Denmark or at our offices abroad. It was indeed an interesting and hectic day for our two colleagues Sanne Andersen and Peter Ankersborg.
In November, Carl Hjort/Blue Water Aarhus and Ole Haahr/Blue Water Billund paid a visit to our partner in Hong Kong and China - Cargo Services. In Hong Kong meetings were arranged with the relevant contacts for our large traffic from/to China followed by visits to Cargo Services’ offices in the Guangdong province - Shenzhen and Guangzhou. The very region north of Hong Kong at the mouth of the “Pearl River” is one of the fast-growing areas. Here we visited the new airport in Guangzhou, among other places, where Cargo Services have established an office to be part of the rapid growth. After some interesting and profitable days in South China, we proceeded to Shanghai and called on more clients as well as the Cargo Services headquarters in mainland China and their container depot and secured stores at the Pudong Airport where handling of valuable textiles to/from Europe takes place. The visit also included a trip to Suzhou where a group of Da-
nish companies have established themselves. On the tour we were accompanied by Arne Iversen/Blue Water China (Qingdao) who co-ordinates our activities in China. Part of the time Arne is stationed in Shanghai where he, among other things, is helping our Danish clients during their visit in China.
Cargo Services • HQ in Hong Kong • 26 offices in China and Hong Kong • 22 new offices in China within the next 2 years • At present 1800 employees • All necessary licences in China - A-licence, customs clearance, domestic distribution, bonded warehouse etc. • Primary market: Europe - sea and airfreight • Specialists in domestic distribution
Humanitarian Aid to Bosnia
Reception in Vatry The biggest airline operating out of Vatry Airport - Avient - gave a reception in the airport on 1.2. during which the General Manager, Andrew Smith, announced the purchase of the airline’s third DC10. In 2006, Avient has among other things flown 4700 tons fresh fish in from Uganda - to many of
Visiting our Partner in China
Blue Water’s clients among others, several of whom participated in the reception. Combined with a new warehouse (inaugurated in April), the new aircraft will result in an increase of the activities of the airport, predicts Paméla Cherrier/Blue Water Vatry.
Blue Water Esbjerg has once again helped Esbjerg Kommune (the municipality of Esbjerg) with transport documents in connection with a transport to Esbjerg’s co-operation town in Bosnia, Prijedor. Esbjerg Kommune participates - under the management of Henning Kristensen - in the humanitarian co-operation project with the municipality of Prijedor for the reconstruction of the war-stricken country in order to improve the conditions for the local people in Bosnia. This time Falck in Esbjerg (ambulance service) had donated an am-
bulance and a fire engine. The two vehicles left the ambulance station in Esbjerg on 29.1. and the head of the station, René Sigvartsen, and Henning Kristensen were behind the wheels during the whole long journey. Blue Water has previously helped with transport documents when the municipality arranged transport of refuse containers and a refuse collection lorry donated by Marius Pedersen. In addition voluntary organisations and private companies have donated effects such as clothes, bicycles etc. - 130 tons in total have been sent from Esbjerg.
René Sigvartsen and Henning Kristensen ready for the long drive to Bosnia.
13 Team Building on the Faroe Islands
Blue Water Danish Open - Squash
Our partner, Smyril Line, arranged a team building course for the senior staff of Smyril Line, Smyril Blue Water and M/F “Norrøna” in the autumn of 2006. The course took place over two days in the beautiful surroundings of Vagar on the Faroe Islands. The programme included both process-focused teamwork, cordial discussions about the daily co-operation between passenger/ freight department and vessel and not least big challenges and adventures in the beautiful scenery of Selvik. Bent Rasmussen reports:
The annual squash tournament, Blue Water Open, took place in November. Blue Water was main sponsor and 116 teams - divided in 3 ladies’ series and 5 men’s series - played 220 matches and the courts of the Odense Squash Club provided a magnificent Blue Water setting. In the ladies’ series, the long-time Danish champion, Ellen Hamborg, once more came out the winner. In the men’s series, Kristian Frost proved that the old saying “like father, like son” still holds and that, in both badminton and squash, you need to know how to handle a racket.
“After half an hour’s walk from Sørvåg, in the rocky landscape, we reached Selvik and were divided in two competing teams. The competitions covered a wide field; theoretical and practical tasks, golf, throwing the javelin, treasure hunt and cooking. In the final analysis, the results were evaluated by the course directors, the Gram brothers, and the best team was declared the rightful winners. When we returned very tired to the hotel, the competitions of the day were lively discussed”.
Snowstorm in Denmark On 21.2., half Denmark was surprised by a snowstorm which paralysed the northern and eastern part of the country. The winter had been very mild, but suddenly it began to snow so heavily that Blue Water’s
offices in Aarhus and Aalborg had to stay closed for a couple of days - however, staffed for emergencies - as the Police and the Road Directorate advised against driving if not absolutely necessary.
Transport for Dolly Parton Blue Water became involved in a very interesting new niche activity when Dolly Parton, for the first time in many years, was on tour in Europe - which also included Horsens, Denmark on 6 and 7 March. Blue Water Aalborg has during the last couple of years been working closely together with NNR Global Logistics in the USA who are specialists in transport of IT equipment. When NNR got the contract for transport of the equipment for Dolly Parton’s concert tour, they chose Blue Water to be their Danish partner. Kenneth Skovbjerg Pedersen/ Blue Water Aalborg was assigned to the task and sent to Kastrup to supervise the reception of the three LD7 containers which were com-
ing through Blue Water’s terminal in Copenhagen. Delivery took place on 4.3. at Forum in Horsens where Dolly Parton’s crew was ready to take over. All in all a great success for both NNC Global Logistics, USA and Blue Water. Having proved that we can handle this kind of job, we hope we have managed to open the door to a generally very closed business.
Esbjerg Forwarders’ Cup The annual Forwarders’ Cup of the Esbjerg Forwarders’Association took place on Saturday 17.3. Scan Shipping and Blue Water were in charge of the planning of this year’s tournament. It was indeed a tremendous day with lots of goals, people and cheers and laughter in the sports centre. The
evening’s party was held at Esbjerg Højskole and the programme included delicious food, stand-up comedy and live music. 14 companies divided into 28 teams and 256 players participated - and moreover BWS came out the winner in both the old boys series and the men’s series !
Harley Davidson Fatboy
Blue Water has become strongly represented in the USA. Our interests and business areas cover a wide field - from ordinary industrial cargo to food products and project cargoes. Maybe we should also mention transport of automobiles and motor cycles ! One thing is for sure, we do have great success when our clients need our assistance to realize their dreams ! A local policeman contacted our sea freight department in Esbjerg because he had fallen in love with a 1450 cc Harley from South Carolina. He bought the 300 kilo bike and we took contact to the seller
in order to arrange co-ordination in the USA. We arranged that the Harley was secured in a solid wooden box, insured and shipped in a 20’ container to Esbjerg. In line with expectations, a big crowd appeared for the stripping of the container - revealing the Harley without a scratch - and testing of the engine. This interesting job led to another transport of the same Harley model and for the very same person. When the forces of law and order calls, we naturally respond readily to them - however this does also apply for you if you have the same dreams .... Give us a call and we will give advice, indicate a price and find the perfect solution for you. Helle Glass Tlf. 79 134004 E-mail: hgl@bws.dk Kim Thue Andersen Tlf. 79 134027 kta@bws.dk
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Visiting Benin, West Africa Mogens Nielsen/Blue Water Brest was invited to Benin in West Africa in January by one of the good clients of Blue Water France, Casco (Jacky Hamon) in Lamballe. Blue Water’s offices in Brazil, Ireland and France have a co-operation with Cajaf Comon through Casco. The occasion was the inauguration of Sebastian Ajavon’s brandnew professional football school in Cotonou “Cifas - Benin”. The school can take 200 talented young people who, parallel with their schooling, will get the chance to develop their talents and maybe some day get a professional football career abroad. More than
Change of Address - Odense
1000 guests participated in the celebration with the government of Benin at the head as well as former professional French football stars, food suppliers and local friends. The Cajaf Comon Group is the biggest importer of frozen food products in Benin. The group imports mainly from Europe and South America, but also frozen fish products, caught and frozen on fish trawlers off West Africa. Naturally Mogens also seized the opportunity to call on the headquarters of the Cajaf Comon Group during his stay in West Africa.
Blue Water Odense looks forward to moving into brand-new facilities - 1600 m2 office and 4000 m2 warehouse - as from 14.5.
In Esbjerg we have made an agreement with the West Jutland Academy of Music. The barter includes entertainment - a small closing time concert on our grand piano - by students of the academy the last Friday of every month for the next year. In return we lend a helping hand - both financially and in terms of transport - for instance in connection with a big event in the spring “Children and Big Band” with the aim of making children interested in big band music.
Blue Water Tbilisi New telephone and fax details: Tel. + 995 3243 9388 Fax. +995 3243 9389
At the first concert in January, Blue Water’s staff enjoyed listening to Anna Ilsøe singing accompanied by Kaare Nyborg on the grand piano.
Tel: 66 13 06 33 Fax: 66 14 75 70
Visiting Puerto Montt, Chile
Sales Force in Music while Denmark we work In late February, Blue Water’s entire sales force gathered in Esbjerg for one of its five annual meetings. The purpose of the meetings is exchange of experience across the offices as well as updating of the company’s many activities and services. During recent years, several new colleagues have joined our sales team and therefore the meeting was extended to include a social evening gathering - fun bowling (no one plays to win) - and dinner at the local Mexican restaurant.
Blue Water Shipping A/S Emil Neckelmanns Vej 20 5220 Odense SØ
Instead of an office Christmas party, Blue Water Vilnius made an excursion to Anyksciai - a famous Lithuanian tourist site boasting beautiful scenic landscapes with cultural and historic monuments. Left to right: Egidijus Petrenas, Saulius Lagunas, Jovita Daniene, Gintare Mileniene, Saulius Majauskas, Virginija Slavinskaite and in front Evaldas Mankelevisius.
During the weekend of March 1011, Blue Water France went on their annual skiing weekend - this time to Andorra in the Pyrenees. As usual our colleagues enjoyed themselves with good food, a few drinks and most of all a lot of fun.
In 2006/2007, Blue Water arranged several shipments by sea and air to Chile for our good client, Billund Aquakultur Service - manufacturer of fish farming plants with water recirculation and recycling. During a trip to South America, Frank Madsen of the deep sea department in Esbjerg therefore paid a visit to Billund Aqua’s office in Puerto Montt in Chile where also a very large part of the Chilean salmon farms are located. Technical Director Ole Sørensen and Director Marcelo Varela Feliú gave a very interesting guided tour of the fully operational plant which is situated at the foot of the volcano Osorno in the beautiful Chilean scenery. Billund Aquakultur Service expects more projects in Chile and other places around the world where Blue Water is also playing an active part.
Left to right: Marcelo Varela Feliú and Ole Sørensen with the volcano Osorno in the background.
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Jubilees 10 years Helena Zabrodina started with Blue Water Baku back in 1997, helping Samed as a cashier and working with account books in the old-fashioned way. Today Helena performs the function of deputy chief accountant using modern sophisticated group accounting programs and controlling a huge amount of account paperwork, international and local invoicing, cash flow and other duties of utmost importance. On the home front, Helena is bringing up her 14year-old son, Ruslan, and supporting her mother and younger sister. Zahir Rzaev started with Blue Water Baku in June 1997. Zahir has a professional university background as a transport engineer and has in the past worked for the company, Tamin Transport. Zahir forms part of the operations department, looking after the very important and complicated activities transport by rail and ferry. Zahir is an expert in oversized, out of gauge loads by surface and his field of responsibility includes HSE control of the warehouse and the domestic trucking department. Zahir has a wife and two sons aged 17 and 19.
Anette Bay - Team Manager of the continental department at Blue Water, Odense - will be celebrating her 10th jubilee on 1.5. Anette has a wide knowledge of the various types of transport and has, over the years, been involved in many different activities and destinations. Anette lives in the little town of Fraugde close to Odense with her family; her husband, Ole, and their twin girls, Sarah and Camilla. Anette is especially pleased with the location of the new office facilities in Odense as this means for her less than one kilometre’s ride to work.
20 years Dan Nissen will be celebrating his 20th anniversary on 1.7. Dan has been with Blue Water through his entire career - from trainee to director of the division called Blue Water International covering the major part of our branch offices abroad. Dan has received all-round shipping and transport training and education. Mainly involved in sea freight, he is furthermore overall responsible for sea and airfreight of the entire Blue Water Group. Indeed a whole-time
Births On 17.11., Carsten Seeberg/Blue Water Kolding became a father of a big girl (4.3 kgs/52 cm) who is going to be named Emilie. Søren Jørgensen/Blue Water Odense and his wife, Anja, increased their family by another girl (3 kgs/50 cm) on 12.12.06. Another proud father is Martin Terndrup/Blue Water Odense, whose son (3.9 kgs/57 cm) was born on 28.12.06. Björn E. Jensen/Blue Water Gothenburg and his wife, Annabel, became parents for the third time on 20.1. when little Leon Kristján (3.9 kgs/52 cm) first saw the light of day. Scott Western/Blue Water Aberdeen became a father for the first time on 21.1. when his wife was delivered of a little boy who will be named Lyle Scott Western.
On 30.1., Claus Simony of the marketing department in Esbjerg and his wife, Jane, increased their little family by a set of twin girls (each weighing 3.2 kgs and measuring 49 cm). The family also includes big sister, Laura, who is two and a half years old. Claus Clemmensen / stevedore foreman became a first-time father on 21.1. when his wife gave birth to a little boy (3.2 kgs/50 cm). Another proud first-time father is Maichael Karmark/Blue Water Aarhus whose little son (3.4 kgs/52 cm) was born on 22.3.
job in connection with which heavy demands are made on him. However, Dan tackles the job head-on and manages brilliantly supported by his family - his wife, Charlotte, and the twins, Line and Mikkel - despite the fact that he is often away on business or working late.
25 years Mogens Nielsen/Blue Water Brest will be celebrating his silver jubilee on 2.8. Mogens started as trainee at Blue Water Esbjerg and after a period of postings in Copenhagen, Manchester and Lorient respectively, an agreement was made for a one-year posting as General Manager of Blue Water France. One year followed after another - and Mogens has now been in France for 20 years and is responsible for our offices in Brest, Lorient and Vatry as well as our South American branch office in Sao Paulo, Brazil. ”C’est la vie” !! Jan Vesterbæk/warehouse, Esbjerg will be passing a milestone on 28.5. - 25 years of employment at the Blue
Water Terminal in Esbjerg. Whether it is the many loading/unloading operations (minimum 50,000) which have made his hair turn grey, we do not know. Jan’s characteristics - his temper, speed and indispensable control of the situation - are still intact, however, his sharp tongue has become softer which is also in accordance with his present appearance. We hereby thank Jan for his efforts and contribution until now. On 12.5., Kim Beier will celebrate his silver jubilee with Blue Water. The first 20 years of his employment, Kim was involved in a number of different activities including airfreight, oil & gas and ship’s agency with postings in Norway, Greenland and Kazakhstan. After his return from Kazakhstan in 2001, Kim was appointed in charge of HSE ( Heath, Safety and Environment), based on the Esbjerg office, but also across the offices in connection with worldwide projects. Kim was, in 2004, the ”string-puller” behind the certification of our Quality and Environment System.
New Employees Aalborg As from 11.12.06., we have taken on Dennis Jensen - 26 years old as forwarder in the department for North Atlantic sea freight. Dennis served his apprenticeship and was employed with PR Shipping, Esbjerg for four years during which he was involved in deep sea ship-
Dennis Jensen Another new member of the North Atlantic sea freight department is 27-year-old Louise Mortensen who joined the department as assistant on 12.2. Louise was previously employed as temporary replacement at Blue Water’s office in Kolding, but has now moved north - to Frederikshavn - with her family.
Louise Mortensen
Esbjerg 36-year-old Dorthe Snow is employed as marketing assistant as from the turn of the year. Dorthe’s previous employment was as marketing co-ordinator at Vrøgum Vinduer and in the past she has also been involved in all kinds of office and secretarial duties. Furthermore she has lived overseas with her family for two years. Dorthe’s new field of activities includes maintenance of our website - which is being redesigned for the time being - and assistance in connection with marketing jobs in general.
Dorthe Snow We have taken on a new warehouse trainee, 17-year-old Andreas Jensen - as from 20.1.
Andreas Jensen
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New Employees Claus Glass - 40 years old - is the newcomer at our terminal. Claus’ primary responsibility is container trucking at our RO/RO terminal. Claus used to work for Roland Munch as a truck driver for 22 years.
Claus Glass At the same day, Christian Nielsen - 47 years old - started as stevedore foreman. Christian is originally a fisherman, but decided, in 1990, to supplement his skills with a superstructure of education and took his master’s certificate examination. During the recent eight years, Christian has worked for Rohde Nielsen as master of various engineering vessels.
As from 1.3., we have taken on two new trainees in the accounts department: 20-year-old Louise Storm Jensen who will be involved in accounting matters for Smyril Blue Water and 19-year-old Pernille Hebsgaard Jensen has become part of the creditor department.
Louise Storm Jensen
Pernille Hebsgaard Jensen On 12.3., Jannik Beiter - 33 years old - joined our stevedore team. During the last ten years, Jannik has been working offshore as rigger in the Norwegian and Danish sector of the North Sea - the recent four years as rigger foreman for Semco Marine.
Christian Nielsen The 26-year-old accounting assistant, Linda Tosti, joined our creditor department on 1.1. Linda was already familiar with Blue Water as she, from 21.9.06 and till the end of the year, was employed as replacement during maternity leave. Linda served her apprenticeship with ND Revision and has furthermore worked for the trading company Jørn Bolding A/S.
Linda Tosti Torben Nyborg - 27 years old joined the forwarding department on 2.1. Torben served his apprenticeship with Kurt Beier and has also been working for DFDS - three years in Esbjerg and in Copenhagen since 2006.
Torben Nyborg
Jannik Beiter On 1.4., we welcomed Steen Hartvigsen back in “the family” - more precisely in the project department At first however, Steen will lend a hand to our offshore base department. Up to 1999 Steen formed part of our agency department where he also completed his apprenticeship. Since then he has tried different things - also outside this business and his latest job was with Esbjerg Offshore Base.
Steen Hartvigsen As from 26.3., we have engaged 32year-old Heins Christensen as supporter in the IT department - primarily involved in operation/support. Heins has 12 years of experience within this field, the recent 5 years from Berendsen in Copenhagen.
Heins Christensen
As from 27.3., Tania T. Sørensen - 30 years old - forms part of the customs department as assistant. Tania has just finished her maternity leave, but was previously employed with Peppercorn, Team Freight, GLS Danmark and JP Salmon.
Tania T. Sørensen Another familiar face - 50-year-old Aase Bjerregaard Christensen - has returned to Blue Water and a job in the HR department. Last year (after 7 years with Blue Water) Aase decided to try her knowledge of the HR field in a job with Syddanske Medier. However, when the opportunity arose, she decided to come back and now we all look forward to her maintaining and looking after the soft values of the HR department.
Aase Bjerregaard On 10.4., Lisen Kandilis - 30 years old - started, directly after her maternity leave, in a combined job in the HR department/reception. Lisen served her apprenticeship as an office assistant at the SAS headquarters in Kastrup. Half of the day, Lisen will look after secretarial duties for the HR department and the other half day she will attend to the switchboard and other duties in the reception.
Lisen Kandilis As from 16.4., an old acquaintance, 39-year-old Peter Lauridsen - is back in the business. Peter served his apprenticeship with Blue Water 14 years ago and then “took a break” and started his own business on the island of Fanø. Peter has now joined Blue Water Transport’s Norwegian department which recently moved from Padborg to Esbjerg.
Peter Lauridsen
Jeanette Søndergaard - 40 years old - started as administrative assistant in the oil & energy department on 1.5. Jeanette received her training and education as a forwarder at DFDS, Copenhagen where she was employed for 8 years. Furthermore Jeanette has gathered experience from TotalFineElf and Vik Team and her latest job as export assistant with Arovit.
Jeanette Søndergaard Hanstholm Last summer we brought an article on the take-over of Nordshipping in Hanstholm, but regret to admit that we did not bring any staff information, which we hereby remedy: As from 1.11.06., the former owner and director of Nordshipping, 49year-old Peter T. Olsen, who joined the company in 2001, became part of the Smyril Blue Water team where he performs the function of manager of the shipping department.
Peter T. Olsen As from the same date, Frank D. Poulsen - 48 years old - also joined Smyril Blue Water. Frank has worked for Nordshipping for four years and continues as assistant in the shipping department.
Frank D. Poulsen Kolding On 8.1., Henrik Berg Lucas - 19 years old - started as trainee at our terminal/logistics warehouse.
Henrik Berg Lucas
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New Employees In Kolding we have a couple of “not quite new” employments: Since 1.9.06., Kurt Mickinn - 56 years old - forms part of our logistics warehouse where he mainly looks after the storage for our client Sioen. Kurt has a long experience as a truck driver.
Ulla Outzen - 41 years old - started as assistant in the forwarding department on 15.1. Ulla’s previous employment was with Easy Food, Ødsted.
Ulla Outzen
Kurt Mickinn As from 25.9., we have taken on two terminal workers; 43-year-old Verner Hansen (afternoon) and 58-year-old Kurt Johansen (export terminal).
Verner Hansen
As from 1.3., we have taken on Kenneth Duedal - 21 years old - as new trainee in the German department. Kenneth used to work as substitute at our terminal, Obviously he must have left a positive impression as he, after a tour around the world, is back ready to take on new challenges at the office.
Kurt Johansen
Sine Myrnes Benkjær As from 8.1., Xhavit Hasani - 27 years old - is employed as forwarder in the Eastern Europe department. Xhavit was previously employed with DSV, Horsens where he also received his training. As Xhavit speaks several languages fluently - among others Albanian and Serbo-Croatian - he has the linguistic qualifications needed for this specific area.
Xhavit Hasani
Sandra Jul Jensen Another trainee, 24-year-old Frederik Brink Jensen started in the UK/Ireland department on 12.3.
Kenneth Duedal As from 1.2., we have employed Stine Stouby Grønkjær - 31 years old - as trainee in the Benelux department.
As from the turn of the year, 31year-old Sine Myrnes Benkjær joined our storage logistics department. Sine’s previous employment was as transport responsible at Riis Retail, Kolding. Sine served her apprenticeship with Haugsted, but has furthermore been employed at Blue Water, Copenhagen where she was involved in administrative matters in the Germany department.
Sandra Jul Jensen - 28 years old - is engaged as sales secretary. Sandra started as temporary replacement back in November, but her status has now changed to permanently employed. Sandra is also a qualified export technician and has been involved in sales and marketing in her previous job with Dansk Data Display. Furthermore she has gathered experience from her trainee periods at DFDS and Delfi Technologies.
Stine Stouby Grønkjær Preben Skov - 51 years old - is appointed new logistics manager as from 1.4. Preben has a long career as logistics manager with Dalum Papir, Odense. In addition to being responsible for the logistics warehouse in Kolding, Preben will look after various matters across the division as well as the development of Blue Water’s overall solutions in the area.
Preben Skov Copenhagen On 1.2., Louise Nordsted Jacobsen - 21 years old - started as trainee in the Scandinavian department.
Louise Nordsted Jacobsen
Frederik Brink Jensen A new salesman, 44-year-old Kent Cyril Larsen - joined our sales team on 1.12.06. Kent served his apprenticeship with Samson back in 1984. He has furthermore been employed as manager of the Benelux and development department at DFDS and later as division manager responsible for the Scandinavian traffic for the same company in Horsens. Kent’s latest job was a 5-year employment as sales manager of Combifragt, Hvidovre.
The sales team was increased by another salesman, 46-year-old Carsten Rasmussen, on 1.5. Carsten is a skilled shipbroker trained and educated in Holbæk and has furthermore been involved in groupage sales at DSV before he, three and a half years ago, changed to DPD. Carsten’s field of activity will mainly include road transport.
Carsten Rasmussen
On 1.5, 21-year-old Jens Lillebæk Nielsen, started as trainee in the road transport department.
Jens Lillebæk Nielsen
Another trainee, 26-year-old Tenna van der Sman - joined the sea freight department on 1.5.
Tenna van der Sman
Odense As from 1.12.06., Brian Nielsen 37 years old - joined our terminal team.
Kent Cyril Larsen On 2.1., Katja Kowacz - 35 years old - joined the East European department as administrative assistant. Naturally Katja, who originally comes from Poland, speaks fluent Polish and consequently her field of responsibility includes communication with the East European drivers and service to and searching for new hauliers.
Katja Kowacz
Brian Nielsen
At the turn of the year, 43-year-old Leif Argjum started as warehouseman. Leif used to work for DLF, Odense.
Leif Argjum
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New Employees At the same time, another new colleague, Michael Johannesen, joined our Italian department as assistant. Michael was previously employed with Thermo Transit, Middelfart.
Michael Johannesen
In our niche department we welcomed a new member - 27-year-old Luise Crone Dons - on 8.1. Luise served her apprenticeship at Schenker, Aarhus where she was involved in transport to/from Sweden and Finland. During recent years, Luise has also found time to make a sporting career (dancing) for herself in Holland and Germany.
Lisbeth Hemmingsen - 37 years old - is employed as forwarding assistant in the continental department as from 1.3. Lisbeth comes from a position as export assistant with Østergaard Group and has furthermore 5 years of transport experience from her previous jobs with DFDS, Padborg and FDE, Padborg. Lisbeth is also a trilingual commercial correspondent (English/ French) and was once employed as such with Medimatic in Hellerup.
Anette Weber Lisbeth Hemmingsen Padborg Sille Christina Stahl Schmidt - 23 years old - is engaged as trainee in the German department as from 1.3. As Sille has been our permanent “Friday girl” since November 2006, we have had plenty of time to sound her out.
Luise Crone Dons
As from 1.2., Jeanett Pedersen - 37 years old - forms part of the deep sea department. Jeanett served her apprenticeship at Dantransport, Billund and was most recently employed as manager of the sea freight import department of DFDS in Odense.
Jeanett Pedersen
On the same day, 41-year-old Claudia Vitalis joined our airfreight department. Claudia received her training and education at Dantransport, Fredericia. Claudia has also, for a number of years, been employed as manager of the airfreight import department of DFDS, Odense.
Claudia Vitalis
As from the turn of the year, Anette Weber - 41 years old - is employed as controller in the Norwegian department. Anette has a long experience in Norwegian transport from her jobs with Samson Transport and DFDS among others. For the recent 12 months Anette has worked for Combifragt.
Sille Christina Stahl Schmidt On 1.3., Karen Malling Nielsen - 49 years old - started as office assistant in the invoicing department. Karen was previously employed with Areal Bank AG, Flensburg.
Karen Malling Nielsen Aarhus Ane Tene Thomhav - 37 years old - is employed as assistant in the Swedish department as from 18.12.06. As Ane has been working as temporary replacement for several months she already knows our systems - and whims !
Ane Tene Thomhav
Rie Petersen - 23 years old - started as trainee in the Finland/local distribution department on 5.2.
Rie Petersen As from 19.2., Mads Rejmers Veje - 34 years old - is employed as assistant manager of the Norwegian import department. During the last 10 years, Mads has performed the function of assistant manager at Rygaard and Frode Laursen respectively.
Mads Rejmers Veje Erling Elmstrøm - 42 years old - is employed as assistant manager of the Swedish department as from 19.3. Erling’s past career includes jobs as assistant manger at Glibstrup A/S and warehouse manager at Maersk Logistics CFS in Aarhus.
We have taken on Rasmus Naeve Bildstrup - 26 years old - as trainee in the sea freight department as from 1.4.
Rasmus Naeve Bildstrup Aberdeen Jacquelin Johnston (Jacqui) - 38 years old - started in her job as business development manager on 12.3. Jacque has many years of sales experience and her most recent job was with TNT UK Ltd. where she was employed for 5 years.
Jacquelin Johnston Aktau 34-year-old Natalya Volkova is employed as administration manager as from 20.11.06. Natalya has gathered experience from her past career in the newspaper business.
Natalya Volkova Olga Takanaeva - 29 years old joined our Aktau team as logistics co-ordinator on 19.3. Olga has since 2005 been working as assistant project co-ordinator for Bertling Kazakh Logistics.
Olga Takanaeva Erling Elmstrøm The 24-year-old forwarder, Anne Jespersen, joined the deep sea department on 1.5. Anne’s previous employment was with Norfolk Line, Esbjerg.
Anne Jespersen
Brest As from the turn of the year we have taken on 23-year-old Magali Neveu as assistant in the deep sea department. Magali started in a temporary position back in October and is therefore familiar with the routines.
Magali Neveu
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New Employees Dubai As from 14.11.06, Lancy Bosco Almeida - 43 years old - is appointed manager of our airfreight department. Lancy originally comes from India and has a wide knowledge of airfreight after ten years with GAC in the airport of Dubai and in Abu Dhabi. Furthermore Lancy has gathered sales experience from Danzas.
Lancy Bosco Almeida As from 19.11., we have taken on 27-year-old Mohammad Qasim as assistant in the deep sea department. Mohammad is from Pakistan where he was working for Delta Shipping and Mega & Forbes (agents for Senator Lines).
Mohammad Qasim Gothenburg As from New Year, Björn Jensen - 38 years old - was appointed general manager of our new branch office in Gothenburg. Björn is wellknown to Blue Water as he during the years 97-99 was employed as forwarder and manager of the road departments in Esbjerg and Dublin respectively. Björn served his apprenticeship with Erik Halskov Jensen and has also been around P & O Ferrymasters and, outside this line of business, with Robi/Skadeservice where he was involved in sales and administration. After his period with Blue Water - when we decided to scale down our activities in Ireland to solely include food transport - Bjørn was employed as manager at our agent Hamann in Dublin. Hamann has its headquarters in Düsseldorf in Germany and Björn continued his career there until he, in 2003, was appointed general manager of Hamann in Gothenburg. Björn is now married and has three little children.
Björn Jensen
As from 1.4., we have employed Janne Ekholm - 27 years old - as forwarder. Janne’s previous employments include Fragtservice, K & N and IHG.
Sao Paulo We have taken on 19-year-old Natália Salazar Padovan as assistant in the operations department. Natália was previously employed with the freight forwarding company, Cargo World Logistica International, involved in import from China.
Paul Kragesteen - 43 years old - is appointed airfreight manager. During the last ten years, Paul has been employed with Faroe Express - for the most recent period as manager. In Blue Water, Paul is also a familiar face, as he many years ago used to work at our terminal in Esbjerg as stevedore foreman primarily looking after the reefer vessels.
Janne Ekholm Ilulissat Kenneth Birk Jørgensen is in charge of the daily operation at our newly established office in Ilulissat as from 20.3. Kenneth is already familiar with Greenland as he in the past has been working in Nuuk, been in the navy and sailed along the west coast of Greenland. Kenneth comes from a job with Stark, Aalborg where he was packing containers to Greenland.
Kenneth Birk Jørgensen Moscow Anna Usikova - 23 years old - has formed part of the transport department as assistant since 15.1. Anna graduated from the Moscow State Management University in 2005 and has since then been employed as customs clerk with Moscow Eastern Customs.
Anna Usikova
Qingdao 23-year-old Cindy Nini (or Sun Nini in Chinese) is employed as assistant in the operations department as from 10.11.06. Cindy is assisting with issuing of documents and it is her first job after she graduated from Qingdao Vocational & Technical College.
Cindy Nini
Natália Salazar Padovan Another assistant, 23-years-old Juliana Dantas Falcin, has joined our Brazilian team. Juliana has gathered experience from her previous employment with the company Woith S/A where she co-ordinated logistics of various auto-parts imported from Europe for distribution to the company’s units all over Brazil.
Juliana Dantas Falcin Adriano Venetucci Gouveia - 27 years old - has started in his first job after his graduation in International Relations. Adriano is looking forward to developing his career in international trade. His field of responsibility will include co-ordination of the financial activities for all export shipments from South America.
Adriano Venetucci Gouveia Torshavn With the purpose of developing our air and express activities on the Faroe Islands we have employed the following new colleagues as from 1.2.: 24-year-old Magnus Joensen is completing the last 7 months of his apprenticeship in the airfreight express department. Magnus served the first part of his apprenticeship with Faroe Express.
Magnus Joensen
Paul Kragesteen As from 1.3., Ivan Fossabrúgv - 36 years old - is appointed sales manager. Ivan received his education and training as an exports technician in Denmark and was employed with United Seafood and Skagerak Fiskeeksport until he, five years ago, took on the challenge as production and sales manager of Kollafjord Pelagic.
Ivan Fossabrúgv Vatry Thomas Thevenot - 27 years old - is appointed airfreight manager as from 21.11.06. Thomas’ professional record includes a job as logistics manager with Air Liquide Welding and two years of employment with Maproute in Montreal, Canada.
Thomas Thevenot Vilnius On 12.2., Laura Cibulskaite - 25 years old - started as ocean freight assistant. Laura has experience from her previous jobs within transport and administration.
Laura Cibulskaite
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Special Birthdays May Susanne Holm Hansen, Copenhagen - 30 years old 3.5. Stephen Kenny, Manchester - 50 years old 7.5 Valeska Hørby, Esbjerg - 30 years old 10.5 Dean Garnett, Ipswich - 40 years old 18.5 Jytte Kvist, Esbjerg - 50 years old 28.5 June Bo Stokbæk Jensen, Kolding - 30 years old 4.6 Henry Aranha, Dubai - 40 years old 10.6
Peter Toftdal Olesen, Hanstholm - 50 years old Helle Jürgensen, Kolding - 60 years old Anette Rosenbæk Larsen, Copenhagen - 40 years old July Birgitte Biskopstø Henriksen, Odense - 40 years old Carsten Seeberg, Kolding - 30 years old Larisa Cherkasova, Baku - 50 years old
Retirement
At the end of March, our Esbjerg Terminal took leave of Hans Mikkelsen (62 years old) who chose to retire early. We hereby thank Hans for his commitment and efforts through the years - also at the time when he formed part of the dockers’ gang, as truck driver, before he was actually on our payroll. We will always remember his dead straight rows of cargo, his fantastic sense of order and his good memory. Qualities we all benefited from in connection with the handling of the large annual shipments of seed potatoes to North Africa.
12.6 18.6 21.6
13.7 23.7 29.7
August Denise Hanselman, Rotterdam - 40 years old 4.8 Rene Jørgensen, Aalborg - 40 years old 4.8 Wesley Peters, Rotterdam - 30 years old 7.8 Orla Kjærsgaard, Aalborg - 40 years old 13.8 Rovshan Mamedov, 30 years old 21.8 Lene Steenberg, Aarhus - 40 years old 23.8 Poul Aarre, Aarhus - 50 years old 23.8 Fabiana Martins, Sao Paulo - 30 years old 29.8 Tom Krøyer, Odense - 40 years old 30.8
Staff Redeployment
In January, our good customer, Hakan Foods, came all the way from Dubai to Brazil to visit our office and investigate the structure in South America in order to find the best way to arrange their transport. Hakan Foods has opened a branch in Brazil and expect to increase their product line. Left to right: Paulo Rossi/Hakan Foods Brazil, Ashley Bahceci/ Hakan Foods Dubai, Priscilla Souza and Andrea Duclerc/Blue Water Sao Paulo.
As from 1.1., sales manager Kay Organ changed sales district and base from southern England based in Ipswich to the northern region and based at Blue Water Manchester. To strengthen our UK activities, Michael Poder Hansen has moved to England with his family. Based in Manchester, he will remain overall responsible for the Danish traffic and the UK department in Esbjerg. Jan Lundsgaard Larsen and Søren Jessen Dahl will see to it that the daily operation of the export and import department in Esbjerg is running smoothly. As from the middle of February, Søren Gammelgaard (former member of the forwarding department in Esbjerg) was transferred to our project department in Barcelona.
Weddings
Dennis Sørensen/Blue Water Padborg has taken over the empty chair in the forwarding department in Esbjerg as from 1.3.
Zaida Pena/Blue Water Fort Lauderdale and her husband Eduardo Garcia confirmed their marriage and celebrated the happy event with a party in private surroundings on 17.2. Naturally the celebration was inspired by Cuban customs and traditions and the guests were dressed in guayabera shirts. Published by: Blue Water Trafikhavnskaj 11 6701 Esbjerg Tel.: +45 79 13 41 44 Fax +45 79 13 46 77
From our Singapore office it has been reported that Sally Yap married Vince Lim on 6.1. Editors: Gyrithe Skov: gskov@bws.dk Jørn Bøllund, Kurt Skov Published in: 8000 copies E-mail: bwsebj@bws.dk www.bws.dk
As a consequence of the longstanding difficulties in recruiting the right people to Padborg, a whole department moved from our Padborg office to the headquarters in Esbjerg on 1.3. In future, distribution of fish to the South of Europe and salmon from Norway, will be arranged from Esbjerg by a team consisting of; Amdi Pedersen and Alice Sun Nicolaisen - and on a part-time basis Carsten Kjær and Carsten Bøtcher. Lay-out: Claus Simony
In the oil and energy department in Esbjerg, a great deal of staff rotation has taken place lately. Thomas Bek will in future concentrate on development and sales (domestic and international) within the oil and energy sector and not least link our oil and energy related departments in Denmark and abroad. closer together. Anne Skov has taken over the dayto-day responsibility of the oil & energy activities in Esbjerg. During the spring, Mogens Thyssen will be transferred to Dubai and having spent two years in Dubai, Lasse Wolff will, after an overlap period, return to a job in the oil and energy department in Esbjerg. In Aberdeen Stewart Greig has taken over the management of the office. Stewart is 38 years old and has, since 2000, performed the function of operations manager at the Aberdeen office. Scott Western - who is 33 years old and part of the team since 1998 will take over the job as operations manager. Around 1.4., Nanna Juul Andersen/ Blue Water Copenhagen started in a new job as forwarder at Blue Water’s office in Fort Lauderdale, USA. Nino Arkania - who is 34 years old and employed with Blue Water Tbilisi during the last four years - has taken over the position of general manager of our office in Georgia.
Print: Jørn Thomsen A/S