No. 90
House Magazine – also distributed to customers and business relations
April 2009
Opening Ceremony of Smyril Line’s New Service from Esbjerg to the Faroe Islands and Iceland On Saturday 28.2, the official opening festivities of Smyril Line’s new service between Esbjerg, the Faroes and Iceland took place at Atlantkajen in Esbjerg. About 50 invited guests, among others 3 Faroese ministers - the Minister of Trade and Industry Johán Dahl, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Jørgen Niclassen and the Minister of Finance Jóanes Eidesgaard - as well as key figures of the shipping line, shareholders and representatives of the tourist industry made the trip on board the shipping line’s vessel ”Norrøna” to Esbjerg to take part in the festivities. In Esbjerg, guests were invited to witness Mayor Johnny Søtrup cutting the ribbon with a pilot whale knife, brought in from the Faroes, before they went on board for the reception which included Faroese specialities, speeches and guided tours of the vessel. Afterwards the guests from the Faroes and Iceland went on a guided tour around Esbjerg before they returned to the vessel late in the afternoon for the northbound voyage. ”Norrøna” is a big, magnificent
Mayor Johnny Søtrup cutting the ribbon with a pilot whale knife presented by Eyddis H. Niclasen (secretary of Smyril Line, Torshavn).
Peter Holm/CEO Smyril Line, Mayor Johnny Søtrup, Eyddis H. Niclasen/Secretary of Smyril Line (behind) Klaus Kjærulff/Chairman of the Board of Smyril Line, Kurt Skov/Managing Director of Blue Water Shipping A/S and Jóhan Dahl/Minister of Trade and Industry. ship - with a capacity of 1500 passengers and 130 trailers - and will be a great asset to the port of Esbjerg and the city, with large quantities across the quayside and increased trade. A lot of passengers from all over Denmark and Northern Europe will travel via Esbjerg to the Faroes and Iceland
- and many Faroe islanders will travel south. Smyril Line is taking care of the passenger side whereas the freight company, Smyril Blue Water, is looking after the freight activities - fish southbound and all sorts of general cargo northbound. The port of Esbjerg offers several
ferry services; DFDS to England, Grimaldi to the Mediterranean, Cobelfret to Belgium and SeaCargo to Norway and Holland. With Smyril’s service to the Faroe Islands and Iceland, Esbjerg has become the European gateway to the North Atlantic.
Flying the different flags - Smyril Blue Water, Smyril Line, the Iceland flag, the Dannebrog, the Faroese flag and Blue Water.
”Norrøna” with signal flags hoisted and trailers lined up on the quayside.
The stern of ”Norrøna” - Smyril Blue Water trailer is rolled ashore.
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STATUS 2008 2008 It is difficult to remain unaffected by the wisdom of hindsight, when looking back at 2008. Could we and should we have acted differently in order to anticipate the crisis which affects us all now? Did things come too fast and too easily? The first small signs may already have been there in the spring.When they became more obvious during the summer, we realized that the crisis was not just a temporary phenomenon, but something we had to make up our minds about and adapt our activities and budgets accordingly. At the end of the year, one should be very optimistic not to face facts. A company of our size is like a big ship. It cannot just be stopped in a split second. We are, however, reefing the sails and adapting to the situation - anything else would be irresponsible. New Initiatives At the beginning of the year, one of our long-time wishes was fulfilled, when we were given the opportunity of taking over Unifeeder’s freight forwarding activities, which included departments in Aarhus, Copenhagen and Oslo. Soon followed the purchase of the company, Gran Spedisjon AS, Oslo, which should provide the necessary platform for the deve-
lopment of a sound traffic on Norway. The final pieces fell into place, when Finland became part of our Scandinavian set-up as we employed 2 experienced Finnish forwarders to look after Blue Water’s interests from their base in Vantaa (Helsinki). At the turn of the year, we decided to transfer our port-related activities in Esbjerg into a new division - Blue Water Marine & Energy A/S - which includes our terminals, stevedoring, agency, project and offshore departments. A service centre for Tubular Service and a pipe yard for Dong E&P Offshore Base were established in the port of Esbjerg. Shipment of wind turbines is another activity that takes up a great deal of time and space in the port - mainly concentrated at the RO/ RO terminal in Sydhavnen (South Port). In the autumn, our warehouse for general cargo moved from the port to a more modern terminal at the address of Lillebæltsvej. We took over the sea and air activities of Otto Hansen & Co A/S, Vejle, and the staff was transferred to Billund and Aarhus. Some of our offices in Denmark and abroad needed bigger and better facilities. Accordingly, our Aalborg terminal was extended, Padborg had a new office building and
Billund moved to bigger facilities. Blue Water Dublin moved to new facilities and so did Sao Paulo and Qingdao, and the office and warehouse facilities in Torshavn were upgraded. Late in the year, we opened an office in Doha, Qatar as a natural consequence of our involvement in service to the oil and energy business. In other places, we established partnerships with agents, such as Groep H. Essers in Belgium, Odino Valperga and Gruber Logistics in Italy and Samson Logisitcs in Cyprus. Smyril Blue Water is dependent on Smyril Line, to the North Atlantic, and due to the economic crisis in Smyril Line, we invested a lot of energy and capital in the line. A lot of things have happened in Blue Water around the world, but the event of the year was no doubt the royal visit by his Royal Highness Prince Henrik at our head office in Esbjerg. A short but very pleasant visit. At the turn of the year, the total number of staff was 900 at 49 offices in 26 countries. Result All things considered, 2008 was a financially satisfactory year for the Blue Water Group with a turnover of DKK 3.0 billion (EUR 403 million) and a result of DKK 25 mil-
lion (EUR 3.4 million) before tax. Equity capital as per 31.12.2008 is DKK 107 million (EUR 14.4 million). 2009 In 2009, we are in certain areas severely affected by the financial recession. It is difficult to tell whether the crisis has reached the bottom - or how long it will take. We do, however, hope for a similar result for 2009 as we had in 2008. As the cargo volumes for road, sea and air transport have decreased drastically, we have had to adapt the company, in various directions, to the market situation. Naturally, the crisis will not paralyse Blue Water. We currently follow the possibilities of new beneficial initiatives in our exciting line of business around the world, however, with limited and controlled investments. Once the crisis is over, the world will look very different, and so will Blue Water. We prefer turning problems into challenges and wish to turn Blue Water into a futureproof good active workplace with favourable social conditions.
Blue Water attaches Great Importance to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Blue Water has from the very beginning insisted on integrity, honesty and fairness in all aspects of its local and global business and demands the same from its regular business relations. With 49 offices in 26 countries, the local standards, rules and regulations may vary from one country to another. What is deemed normal in one part of the world may be seen very differently in other parts. To ensure the same standards of ethics and integrity at all Blue Water offices, we have created our own CSR standards with details of
how to do business and what not to do. These standards are currently being implemented at all Blue Water’s international offices and will be followed in our daily operation, explains QA Manager Kim Beier. The object of Blue Water is to become a strategic partner for our clients, based on our ”Best in Town” strategy. Blue Water’s business philosophy evolves around quality and flexibility, but without compromising with our CSR standards. Our CSR standards have already been approved by several large
service companies in the Oil & Energy business, which we are of course very proud of. A full copy of our standards can be found on our webpage: www. bws.dk If you have further questions or comments regarding our CSR standards, please feel free to contact: Kim Beier at +45 79 13 40 26 or e-mail: kbeier@bws.dk
Kurt Skov
3 Iceland Sailings In order to service the Icelandic fish exporters as best as possible, the Seydisfjordur departure has been postponed until Wednesday at 8 pm. By doing so, the fish exporters are given a further 5 hours of production time. With the change of port to Esbjerg, we now also have the possibility of offering optimum delivery intervals to the British market. Departing Esbjerg on Saturday evening,
the fish may be delivered to fish markets in Grimsby and Hull on Sunday evenings for sale on the market Monday morning. For more information and rates please contact: Smyril Blue Water, Seydisfjord, tel. +354 470 2801 Sigfinnur Mikaelsson - e-mail: siffi@smyrilbluewater.is
New Slot Charter In December, Smyril Blue Water entered into a new slot charter agreement with the Faroese shipping line pf Smyril Line. The agreement runs until 2016 and gives Smyril Blue Water disposal of the entire freight capacity onboard the superferry ”Norrøna”. The agreement was an important element in Smyril Line’s financial turnaround, which also changed the line’s route network. Smyril Line no longer calls at Bergen, Norway nor at Scrabster, Scotland, and 9
months of the year the Danish port of call has changed from Hanstholm to Esbjerg, whereas the ferry will continue calling at Hanstholm for the remaining 3 months during the summer season. Due to the agreement, it is no longer necessary for Smyril Blue Water to charter extra tonnage during the summer period, as ”Norrøna” in future will take two voyages between Hanstholm and Torshavn before she continues to Seydisfjordur in Iceland.
Vessels in Port of Esbjerg Years back, Blue Water often acted as agent for coal vessels calling at Esbjerg. In recent years, it has, however, become a rare occurrence. It was therefore a great pleasure, when Blue Water was appointed agent for the coal vessel, M/V Midjur, discharging at the DONG coal terminal on 2.3. Within 24 hours, 20,151 tons of Russian coal were moved from the ship’s hold on to the quayside by
On 6-7.4., M/S ”Arklom Ruler” called at Esbjerg Traffic Harbour with a cargo of 4,300 tons unrefined sugar from Argentina via Le Havre for discharging at Vitalys’ factory. The sugar will form a constituent part in the production of lysine, which is one of the ingredients in animal feed. 30,000 tons of sugar will be needed on an annual basis, and is a very interesting new commodity to be imported via the port of Esbjerg. Blue Water will be acting as agent, stevedore and warehouse supplier with trucking to warehouse as part of the agreement. We are of course very happy for the
two mobile gantry cranes, able to move approx.1250 tons coal per hour.
M/S ”Midjur”
contract with Vitalys/Vagn Hundebøl and look forward to the cooperation, explains Søren Stougaaard of Blue Water’s agency department in Esbjerg.
M/S ”Arklom Ruler” in the Traffic Harbour.
HLV ”Rambiz” in Esbjerg On 22.2., the barge crane HLV ”Rambiz” arrived at the port of Esbjerg. HLV ”Rambiz” is owned by the Belgian company, Scaldis Salvage & Marine Contractors N.V., and has a lifting capacity of 3,300 tons and is used for lifting jobs in connection with oil rigs, wind turbines etc. The intention of HLV Rambiz’ call at Esbjerg was to replace the 550 ton crawler crane onboard - which was going to be used on shore - by a bigger 600 ton crane. The cranes are used for loading wind turbines
to the Horns Rev 2 wind farm. The cranes were rolled directly ashore/onboard across the quayside. Therefore the operation was dependent on the rising tide, as it could only be done within 1-2 hours at high water. The replacement was performed successfully within 45 minutes. During ”Rambiz’” stay in port, Scaldis Salvage & Marine Contractors N.V. seized the opportunity to arrange inspection of various safety equipment onboard as well as loading of spreader bar (35 metres and 70 tons), which had arrived at Esbjerg 2 weeks before by coaster. After 2 days in Esbjerg, HLV ”Rambiz” continued to its next job in Bergen, Norway. Blue Water Marine & Energy A/S acted as port agent during the call at Esbjerg and it was a pleasure to give service to the crane barge.
Call at Aalborg In late February, M/S ”Amke” called at Aalborg to load 7 boilers on behalf of Wärtsila OY. The boilers were shipped to Italy for transhipment to the Middle East. The 87-ton boilers are manufactured by Aalborg Industries and form part of a project for Wärtsila OY in Finland. M/S ”Amke” was nearly tailored for the job. The careful loading of the 7 boilers was performed by two cranes from Krangaarden, leaving only a few inches of air between the boilers and the inner sides of the vessel. Ship’s clearance is only a minor part of the activities in Aalborg, however, a prospering one, ex-
plains Søren Svennum/Blue Water Aalborg. In recent years, the number of calls has increased each year, and we expect continuous growth. We are pleased to contribute activities to the ports in our local area. These activities always involve great challenges for our staff as each call is different.
Blue Water Esbjerg has on behalf of Soletanche Bachy, France arranged loading and transport of a liner (a very long tube) with a length of 63 metres, a diameter of 5.5 metres and a weight of 330 tons. Loading took place at the manufacturer - Bladt A/S’ - place in the port of Aalborg and the destination was the French port of St. Malo. We had chartered the vessel M/S ”Stellanova” from Jumbo Shipping, Rotterdam. As usual, Jumbo showed great professionalism, and
the entire transport went according to plan.
M/S ”Stellanova ”.
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Focus on Logistics and Sales to the Cruise & Marine Industry In order to strengthen our position within logistics to the Cruise and Marine Industry, Rasmus Øllgaard/Blue Water Ft. Lauderdale, Kurt Skov/Blue Water Esbjerg and Lisette Trab Munk/Blue Water Esbjerg went to Canada, USA and the Bahamas to visit customers, agents and shipyards.
First stop was Vancouver, Canada where we paid a visit to Aerostream Logistics. Aerostream is the receiving warehouse/handling agent in Canada/Alaska for cruise related materials. Afterwards we flew to Seattle, USA, where we met with our good client Holland America Line. In Seattle we
also paid a short visit to Cruise West. After Seattle we went to Ft. Lauderdale and stayed at our office in Ft. Lauderdale for a few days. After Ft. Lauderdale we went to Miami for the Seatrade Cruise Exhibition (see separate article). Last stop on this fairly long trip was Freeport, the Bahamas, where
we among other things paid an interesting visit to the Grand Bahama Shipyard (GBS). We spent a lot of hours in the air during the month of March - and also went from snowy Canada to lots of sunshine in Florida.
Sunne Kim - Logistics Manager of Holland America Line, Seattle - standing between Rasmus Øllgaard and Lisette Trab Munk.
Left to right: Rasmuss Øllgaard, Wilco van Boheemen / Cruise West, Seattle, Lisette Trab Munk, Greg MacGarva / Cruise West, Seattle, and Kurt Skov.
IWS’ team and Blue Water visiting Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport, used for upgrading of the big cruise ships.
Left to right: Fred Rogacki of IWS, Carl-Gustaf Rotkrich, CEO of Grand Bahama Shipyard and Kurt Skov.
In Vancouver, Blue Water has a cooperation with Aerostream Logistics, specialised in cruise logistics. Left to right: Rasmus Øllgaard, Kurt Skov, Lisette Trab Munk and the two brothers Henry and Peter Dinter.
Gyrithe and Kurt paid a visit to the shipping line, Clipper, in Nassau, Bahamas, and were invited on a nice cruise with first-class service onboard Clipper’s yacht ”Equinox”. Gyrithe and Kurt surrounded by Clipper’s ”crew” - left to right: John Moyell, the captain, Henrik Lund Dal and Grethe and Hans Bramow, Shipowner Torben Jensen was out of town.
5 Cruise & Marine Logistics Network IWS - International Warehouse Services We are about to form a unique network of specialists within the cruise and marine logistics. All companies involved have great experience within this part of the logistics work. More information will be published shortly.
So far, our unique network consists of the following companies: Priano Marchelli, Italy Southampton Freight Services, UK Tefra Travel Logistics, Germany Aerostream Logistics, Canada Blue Water, USA, NL and Denmark
First meeting in the network group at Blue Water’s office in Ft. Lauderdale. Top left: Kurt Skov/Blue Water Esbjerg, Rasmus Øllgaard/Blue Water Ft. Lauderdale, Richard Buys/Blue Water Rotterdam, Ross Negus/ Southampton Freight Services, Andrea Giachero/Priano Marchelli. Below left: Lisette Trab Munk/Blue Water Esbjerg, Zaida Pena/Blue Water Ft. Lauderdale and Carsten Leder/Tefra Travel Logistics.
IWS is our good partner in Port Everglades, Free Trade Zone. IWS was founded by Fred & Betty Ann Rogacki nearly 30 years ago. Today, IWS has 250,000 square feet of warehouse space just 1500 feet from the quayside, where the big cruise ships moor in Fort Lauderdale.
IWS is handling the warehouse/ terminal part for among others the cruise industry and has great experience in this area. We share office address in the free trade zone and enjoy a very good and close cooperation with IWS.
Kurt Skov, Rasmus Øllgaard, Fred & Betty Ann Rogacki/IWS and Lisette Trab Munk.
Seatrade Again this year, Blue Water participated in the Seatrade Cruise Exhibition in Miami, Florida, USA. This year, we had representatives from Holland, Spain, USA and Denmark. The exhibition turned out to be a great success, despite the ”famous” recession. We had lots of people visiting our stand during the three-day exhibition - clients, agents and suppliers
of the cruise industry and also our good client Holland America Line. According to tradition, Blue Water arranged transport and coordination of the stand material for the Danish exhibitors, who were all part of the collective stand of the Danish Exporters’ Association, Furthermore, transport for Wonderful Copenhagen, Dutch and English vendors were arranged through Blue Water.
Port Everglades / Fort Lauderdale - 7 cruise ships with Blue Water’s and IWS’ office in the background.
6 Medical Systems to the Middle East Blue Water Amsterdam has since September last year been involved in the transport of MRI Scan systems for a number of hospitals in the Middle East. The transports took place in September, October, December and February as part charters of +50 tons each, departing from Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Leipzig. The suppliers, our long-time client Advantex International in Eindhoven, Holland and Siemens Medical Systems in Erlangen, Germany, had made great joint efforts to win these contracts. Bob Tisserand of Blue Water Amsterdam explains that they leaned on their Blue Water colleagues from Bremen, who did a great job in connection with the trucking to the air terminals. A job which required precision as the schedules were very tight. The coordination between the parties involved was essential, as the biggest part of the MRI scan system, a sort of magnet weighing from 5.5 to 8 tons, is packed in a crate filled up with helium. As the helium leaks away during the transport, a carefully prepared timeframe is needed to move the scan system from the factory to the hospital.
Another interesting project is in the pipeline; transport of 2, maybe 4, new generation MRI scan systems (each weighing 33 tons totally, with a magnet weight of +12 tons each). For this job, we will need a full charter, B74F Config, which is the only aircraft, apart from the AN 225, that can load units of that size. Our Dutch colleagues enjoy this kind of projects, which are definitely outside the normal routines. These projects require special attention, as our colleagues insist on monitoring the loading operation up to departure to be 100% sure that everything is stored well onboard the aircraft. This also involves odd working hours, as the flight schedule for part charters are normally outside normal hours.
For the launch of the new Ferrari California in the Middle East, Blue Water Dubai was entrusted with the logistic task of transporting the car by airfreight from Dubai to the Ferrari dealers in Doha and Kuwait, where the model was displayed to potential buyers. With great efforts from all parties involved, we managed to meet the
deadlines set by Ferrari, ensuring maximum exposure of this excellent car. After the last exhibit in Kuwait, the car was airfreighted back to Italy and returned to the factory. Blue Water Dubai was very proud to be nominated by Ferrari to carry out such a task and looks forward to new challenges in the future.
Left to right: Mohamed El Khatib/Al Fardan, John Daniels/Blue Water Doha, Eyad Al Sharif/Al Fardan, Arne Iversen/Blue Water Doha - and last but not least the new Ferrari.
Three Amigo’s Night in Doha
Renault Trucks to Iraq At the request of our good client, Bukkehave A/S, we have arranged transport of 69 Renault trucks from France to Iraq. Blue Water France shipped the brand-new trucks by ro/ro vessel to Aqaba, Jordan, where they were transported over land to Iraq. After delivery to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, they will be an important part in the development of the Iraqi oil production. Six of the trucks are equipped with a crane, delivered by Palfinger Denmark, Esbjerg/Jens Kristoffersen, explains Peter Post of Bukkehave Middle East. Delivery of the 69 trucks was performed to the satisfaction of all parties, which is very positive considering the fact that Iraq is still a country of relatively big insecurity, explains Claus Laursen of Blue Water Dubai, who has the contact to Bukkehave through their busi-
Launch of New Ferrari Model in the Middle East
ness in Dubai. Bukkehave is the sole distributor of Renault in Iraq and has high hopes of this business along with Iraq’s rebuilding of its position as largescale oil exporter. Naturally we hope that Blue Water will likewise become part of this development. This is in fact already the case, as Bukkehave has been given the go-ahead for delivery of 2 Renault vacuum tankers, which are in Zarka in Jordan waiting to be shipped, and another 6 trucks which will be ready in April.
Every Wednesday, the four friends Abdullah Al Nasser, Tom Leonard, Masoud Shams and Larry Mitchell arrange an informal and pleasant evening for friends and business relations in the Diplomatic Club in Doha. The purpose of the get-together is to network and socialise. As Abdullah Al Nasser is our local
sponsor in Qatar, Blue Water Doha sponsored an evening (Wednesday 28.2.) and seized the opportunity to be introduced and learn to know new people and inform about our newly established office and our activities - in the local area as well as worldwide - explains Arne Iversen from Qatar.
Left to right: Arne Iversen and Gilna Viju/Blue Water Doha, Abdullah Al Nasser, John Daniel and Shareef Khaja/Blue Water Doha.
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Dong - Stenlille/Sønderborg
Assignments for FLSmidth A/S
Kim Beier and Nikolaj Buurgaard Sørensen, both Blue Water Esbjerg, have since early February been hired out to Dong as logistics coordinators in connection with a land drilling in Stenlille. The main task in Stenlille is drilling of a new well for storage of natural gas, pumped up from the North Sea and transported to Stenlille via Nybro. In addition, repair on existing wells are carried out. It is difficult to say how long the project in Stenlille will take, but it is expected to be completed late in the summer. Afterwards all equipment is expected to be moved to Sønderborg in connection with drilling of two geothermal wells. These are expected to be able to supply CO2neutral district heating to around 10,000 homes in the district of Sønderborg. Our primary job on the site is to provide an overview of the equipment coming in and out as well as
Blue Water Copenhagen won the contract for a tender from FLSmidth A/S in Valby in September 2008. The contract includes road transportation of 7000 tons cargo for the extension of a cement factory in Poland. The cargo will be collected from 9 European countries. In the wake of the tender, other in-
performing registration of same. At the same time, we shall follow the operation, as we are responsible for mobilisation of both equipment and personnel. Naturally this is done together with Dong’s drilling supervisor, who is overall responsible for the project. Furthermore we register all new staff in a system and give them a safety introduction. This provides an overview of the personnel on site in case of an emergency situation.
The cargo before departure from China.
Transport of train In August 2008, our project department in Esbjerg received an inte-resting inquiry from Arriva Tog, Varde. Arriva is one of our exis-ting clients, as we arrange transport of train components between Arriva and their German supplier of passenger trains, Alstom GMBH. The enquiry included transport of an AR 1010 passenger train, which was damaged in a collision with a combine harvester at Borris. Blue Water was entrusted with the transport, which took place in January and included loading of the train at Bombardier, Randers, the
teresting jobs for the same project followed, among others shipment of 17 out-of-gauge units (229 tons/330 cbm) from China. We have since transported another unit with the dimensions: 15.67 x 2.44 x 2.59 metres / 99 cbm. This unit arrived at destination in early April. The project is expected to be completed in the summer of 2009.
actual transport as well as unloading of the train at Alstom in Stendal close to Berlin. An interesting project which was performed in cooperation with Give Sværgods.
Expansion of Horns Rev Wind Farm
In March, Blue Water Stevedoring started loading of a large offshore wind turbine project, from Tauruskaj in the port of Esbjerg, as part of an agreement with DONG Energy A/S, who is in charge of the installation of 91 Siemens wind turbines. The wind turbines
each has a capacity of 2.3MW, and the entire project will, when completed in November 2009, be the biggest offshore wind farm in the world. Installation of the first wind turbine took place on 19.3. with TV 2 among others covering the event.
Increased Ro/Ro Frequency between Esbjerg and Zeebrugge The Belgium company Cobelfret, which since January 2005 is operating a ro/ro service between Zeebrugge and Esbjerg with a weekly call by one of its ro/ro vessels, has announced and increase in frequency. Nowadays the vessel departs from Zeebrugge Saturday, 1000 hrs. with ETA Esbjerg Sunday, 1000 hrs. and returns Sunday,1400 hrs. with ETA Zeebrugge Monday, 1500 hrs. From Zeebrugge the cargo is dis-
tributed throughout the Continent or transhipped to one of Cobelfret’s services to England or Ireland, offering almost daily departures. In order to make the service more attractive, Cobelfret Ferries NV has decided to add as from Tuesday, 17 March 2009 an extra departure in the middle of the week. The vessel will depart from Zeebrugge every Tuesday at 1800 hrs with ETA Esbjerg Wednesday at 1800 hrs, returning
the same day at 2200 hrs to arrive at Zeebrugge on Thursday at 2200 hrs. This will speed up delivery of goods from Denmark to the final destinations. Cobelfret was established in 1928 and is among other things involved in bulk shipping and short sea ro/ro transport between the UK, Scandinavia and the Continent, by its 26 vessels, specially designed to carry trailers, containers, cars and other
rolling equipment. In Esbjerg, Blue Water Shipping A/S is acting as port agent for Cobelfret. For further information please contact: The Continent: Henrik Miche Pedersen - tel: +45 79134069 UK/Ireland: Michael Poder Hansen - tel: +44 (0) 1614063395
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Substitute in Greenland - Experience of a Lifetime
A notice in the ”Portal” regarding a maternity cover in Nuuk, Greenland started me thinking. One of my dreams has always been to visit Greenland, to see the beautiful scenery of the country, so why not combine work with adventure. This could be a job containing new exciting challenges, which I felt were lacking in my job at that time. Unfortunately, my husband could not take leave from his job, so I had to go on my own, packed my suitcases and set out on an incredibly exciting adventure. It was a bit difficult to say ”see you at Christmas” to family and friends and my wonderful colleagues in Kolding.
After a stopover in Kangerlussuaq, I arrived at Nuuk in the afternoon of Friday 16.5. and after a short tour of Nuuk, I saw my new colleagues at the Nuuk office. I was a little surprised when I got off the plane in both Kangerlussuaq and Nuuk. Greenland was not at all as I had imagined. It was not cold and covered with snow, but extremely beautiful. They do not always keep their country tidy of course - but do we ! What a view I had from my flat over the sea and with the ”Sermitsiaq” mountain in the background. During my stay, ”Sermitsiaq” became my weather forecast. You shall never believe what DMI writes about the weather in Greenland, but take a look at ”Sermit-
siaq” instead and you will have an up-to-the-minute weather fore-
cast. The weather changes very fast in Greenland. On my birthday - in late May - it was stormy and rainy, the next day it was snowstorm and the following day I sat outside in the sun, reading a book and enjoying a cup of coffee. Sadly, my father-in-law died two weeks after I left Denmark. It was really difficult to be so far away from home, as I wished to be with my family and support them in a difficult time. But I knew that they knew that I was thinking of them. Little by little, I became familiar with Nuuk and its environs. I no longer took the long way to work, but went across the hill - and what a pleasure to watch the flora and fauna. Another way of enjoying the Greenland scenery is to go on a boat trip into the fjords. I went on such a trip together with Jeanette and her husband and children on 21.6. - Greenland’s national day. We sailed around icebergs, which floated in the water, saw a few whales as well and continued into a village called Kapisillit. In August, my husband came and spent his summer holiday together with me. Together we went up to Ilulissat. Here we saw Greenland as we had always imagined it would be. Icebergs floating in the fjord, sledge dogs barking in the distance and the air was clean. In
the evening we joined a boat trip on the fjord, saw a couple of whales playing in the water and went to the edge of the inland ice. Our guide was very good at explaining the migration of the inland ice. We also paid a visit to Blue Water’s office in town, and Kenneth showed us his favourite spot ”Kællingekløften”, a fantastic place, where we just sat down and enjoyed the tranquillity. Back in Nuuk, we went on another boat trip into the
Godthaabsfjorden (fjord at Nuuk) to the very edge of the inland ice. We also climbed the mountain ”Lille Malene”, with a fantastic view over Nuuk. Another thing that surprised me, were the prices of everyday necessities in Green-
land. As it is extremely expensive to live in Greenland, I learned to eat a lot of frozen vegetables and only dream of the cucumber on my liver páte sandwich, a glass of cold milk and a cold beer. I also went to Sisimiut to see Kenneth and Mads at our office there. Unfortunately, the Weather Clerk was not on my side the Friday I travelled from Nuuk to Sisimiut. We were unable to land in Sisimiut and had to continue to Ilulissat, where I was snowbound for the whole weekend. I did not get to Sisimiut before Monday afternoon, and then we had a busy time sorting the things I had promised to help with. We made it, however, we did not have time for our planned dog sledge ride. I really had a fantastic time in Greenland and I wish to thank all my colleagues in Nuuk, Sisimiut and Ilulissat. You are wonderful colleagues and I hope to see you all again ! I can only say that it has been a great experience to work abroad, and I would encourage others to take up the challenge if the opportunity presents itself.. Personally, I can say that I might consider accepting such a challenge again. Lone Dupont
Shooting in Ilulissat, Greenland Blue Water Ilulissat, Greenland has been involved in an interesting transport project, as Paramount Pictures had chosen Ilulissat as location for their new film ”The Last Airbender”, coming up in the cinemas in 2010. Back in September 2008, the equipment for the 6-minute film clips was shipped to Greenland to make sure it would arrive in due time for the shooting in March, when the fjord at Ilulissat would still be closed by the winter ice. The project included sea freight of 990 cbm and 12.5 tons air freight from the USA, Canada, Iceland and Denmark, involving our New York, Copenhagen and Aalborg offices in the coordination of the shipments coming from all over the world to be shipped in one lot from Denmark. 85 persons from abroad - mainly
from the USA - and 60 persons from Ilulissat and its environs braved the cold and snowy weather, and the whole town was in a fever of excitement in order to get the right clips in the can. We all look forward to enjoying the beautiful scenes from Ilulissat - and maybe recognise a few walk-ons.
Kenneth Jørgensen/Blue Water Ilulissat, Cesar Peschiera/Vice President of Packair Airfreight Inc., Mouns Overgaard/Film Producer UPM and Robin Mounsy/Unit Manager on The Last Airbender.
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National Oilwell Varco At the end of 2008, Blue Water secured a contract with National Oilwell Varco covering transport, by sea and air from the USA to South Korea, of various equipment to be used in connection with the construction of a new drill ship. Blue Water is proud to be nominated supplier by National Oilwell Varco.
Since the very start in 1972, Blue Water has been involved in transport of drilling equipment, and with focus on service, HSE, QA, CSR and our own network of offices, we are able to offer our customers high quality transport solutions at competitive prices.
Sales Trip to Kazakhstan Since 1999, Blue Water is represented with its own office in Kazakhstan, which today has a total staff of 14. The customer base includes local companies as well as a large number of international companies - the majority of which is involved in oil and gas exploration or oil and gas recovery. In early March, Kanan Zeynally/ Blue Water Aberdeen, newly appointed Business Development Manager for the Caspian region, Anar Agamirzoyev, General Manager of our Aktau office and Thomas Bek/Blue Water Esbjerg visi-ted a number of our existing as well as potential clients in Aktau.
The visits included Black LLP, where we met our good friend Arjan Goris, with whom we have recently made an agreement regarding transport of a vessel from Abu Dhabi to the Black Sea, Thomas Bek reports after this return to Esbjerg. There are still a lot of activities going on in Kazakhstan, and Blue Water will maintain a high level of focus on the area - both locally and globally, for instance with our own trailer service from Western Europe to Kazakhstan and a regular service from Houston.
SAGA ITALIA - CORRECTION Odd Jørund Pedersen, Paul S. Fraizer/National Oilwell Varco, Lars Jedermann Jørgensen, Esben Nørgaard/Blue Water Houston and Thomas Bek/Blue Water Esbjerg.
Urgent Air Transport Blue Water recently arranged an urgent air freight shipment from Houston, USA to Johannesburg, South Africa. The item to be moved was an important part for a rig, a gas handler weighing 25,000 kgs. The gas handler was going to be installed onboard a new semisubmersible rig, which will later be operating in the Mexican Gulf.
In the last issue of Blue Water News, No. 89 December, we brought an article on page 2 from Blue Water Moscow regarding transport of a project through the Russian river system to Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea. It is with regret that we find that
Blue Water Moscow in this case only acted as sub-supplier for the transport company, SAGA ITALIA SPA, and was entrusted with the transport concerned by our principal SAGA ITALIA. We hereby regret the mistake.
Saga Italia S.p.A. was established in Milan, Italy, in the year 1986. It is part of the Bolloré Group, operating worldwide with over 32,000 employees at 500 offices in
108 countries. Saga is specialised in worldwide logistics and transports of project cargo by road, rail, air and sea.
Esben Nørgaard and Lars Jedermann/Blue Water Houston attended the loading on to the 747 in Houston Airport. Since the opening of our Houston office in 2003, we have mainly been involved in service to the Oil & Gas industry. This calls for a high level of ser-vice and expert knowledge, explains our young people in Houston.
Loading of airfreight shipment to South Africa.
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Gulfood 2009, Dubai
Reception in Singapore
During the days of February 23 26, the 14th Gulfood exhibition was held in Dubai. More than 3000 exhibitors from all over the world participated and more than 45000 people visited the exhibition. The Middle East has always been an important market for Blue Water in connection with food transport. Ever since we, as agents for
Lauritzen Reefers, established our own office in Dubai in 1991, until today, we have been shipping foodstuffs to the Middle East - today mainly from South America, USA, Europe and the Far East. Despite all the talk about the financial crisis, we had positive response from most clients, who expect a continuously increasing consumption in the Middle East.
Blue Water Singapore had chosen the date of 3.12. for the celebration of its 10th anniversary. Coinciding with the OSEA in Singapore, the jubilee was celebrated at a reception together with 391 guests including South East Asia agents from China, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Lamex Foods
Sædager Mejeri / Quantum
BPI - Best Poultry International
Hakan
OSEA
OSEA Singapore took place in early December parallel with Jason Goh’s 10th anniversary. The exhibition had 1314 exhibitors and attracted more than 20000 visitors. The list of exhibitors included our good customer, Semco Maritime, with their fine new stand.
As it was December, Semco contributed to the Christmas spirit by distributing Christmas hats to everybody. Apart from Semco, we met a lot of other clients, among others Ferguson, who were also represented with their own stand.
Naturally we paid a visit to Semco’s new magnificent stand at OSEA, Singapore. As the exhibition took place in December, Semco’s team contributed to the Christmas spirit by distributing Christmas hats.
In connection with the international match between Denmark and Malta, Kurt Skov/Blue Water Esbjerg was invited on a weekend trip to Malta together with other sponsors of EFB (Esbjerg Football Club). Naturally he grabbed the opportunity to do business / cultivate old relations. Before the trip, Kurt contacted Anton Buttigieg - an old business friend from Ireland, formerly employed with our meat client Anglo Irish Meat, who is now Shipping Manager at Thomas Smith & Co. Ltd. in Valetta. The two of them spent Saturday afternoon in a cosy restaurant in one of the narrow streets of Valetta. By the way, Denmark won 3-0 over Malta.
A tremendous evening, spent in good company with wonderful performances by belly and salsa dancers and a live band, made the party memorable. Especially for Jason Goh, who a bit in advance was celebrating his own 10th jubilee. The exact date was 1 April.
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Tour de Paris - in support of the Children’s Cancer Foundation Joining Team Rynkeby Bramming, Blue Water will participate in Team Rynkeby’s annual bicycle tour to Paris this summer in support of the Children’s Cancer Foundation. The foundation supports both research and gives direct support to children with cancer and their families during a difficult time. For more information please visit: www.boernecancerfonden.dk. The following Blue Water colleagues; Klaus Bindesbøll Petersen/ exhibition dept., Helle Glass/deep sea dept., Anne-Grethe Biehl/reception, Kim Beier Petersen/HSE, Niels Løjborg/caretaker, Søren Messmann/Blue Water Stevedoring, Aase Bjerregaard/HR, Carsten Bøttcher/BlueWater Transport and Kurt Skov/Managing Director form part of the team, and naturally they par-
ticipate on their own account so that all donations will go directly to the Children’s Cancer Foundation. All participants have begun a vigorous training programme, which included indoor spinning in the dark winter months and now outdoor cycling on racing bikes. All 300 participants have committed themselves to cycle minimum 2500 kilometres before the tour starts on 18.7. We feel the advantages, pleasure and team spirit of being part of a big cycling team. Cycling in close formation saves strength and the pleasure and adventure of cycling to Paris (1250 kilometres) together for charity, is going to be a fabulous experience for us. We hope you will follow us on our tour via the diary on: www.teamrynkeby.dk.
Blue Water Cycling Blue Water has over the past 5 years a partnership with Herning Cykle Klub. The team, which is now called ”Blue Water Cycling for Health”, is doing very well on the Danish and European roads. The team consists of 13 top-class cyclists, aged 18-35, from all over Denmark, who are racing in keen competition with 6 other Danish cycling teams. Michael Blaudzun, former professional racing cyclist in Team CSC, is manager for the team.
Thank you for the sponsorships we have received to the Children’s Cancer Foundation. In case anybody should wish to donate money to the good cause, we
Six-day Race at Ballerup Super Arena On 2.2., Blue Water Copenhagen hosted an untraditional customer event. We were offered the opportunity of being ”sponsor stand-in” for team No. 15 at the Copenhagen Six-day Race, as the team’s own sponsor Gaver Uden Grænser - was unable to attend the race. Team No. 15 included Daniel Kreutzfeldt, who is part-time em-
Daniel, Grasmann and the whole crowd in the racers’ section.
Some time ago, the Cuban ambassador, Guillermo Vazquez Morena, paid an official visit to Esbjerg, which also included Blue Water and a tour of our facilities as well as an introduction of our company and activities. Blue Water has for many years been involved in shipment of foodstuffs - in particular chickens and milk powder - from Europe to Cuba. There are lots of interesting things going on in relation to Cuba. Blue Water follows the development closely, as we wish to extend the business opportunities with this interesting and beautiful island. Left to right: Kurt Skov, Guillermo Vazquez Morena, Mogens Nielsen/ Blue Water France, Dan Nissen and Søren Stougaard.
would be pleased to cycle for you. We have lots of energy and look forward to the tour. For further information please call +45 79134144.
Daniel stopping at our table.
ployed at Blue Water Copenhagen’s warehouse, and his German partner Christian Grasmann. In recent years, Daniel has achieved several magnificent results - including a sixth place in point race in the Olympic Games in Beijing and a silver medal in 4000-metre pursuit race in the World Cup in Manchester in 2008. But this was his debut in the six-day race for professio-nals. Overall, Kreutzfeldt/Grasmann ended as number 7 out of 15 starting teams. A very fine placing in a heavily crowded field. 7 Blue Water customers participated in the event. The evening’s programme included plenty of cycling race and a visit at our table from Kreutsfeldt and Grasmann, who told about tactic and small anecdotes and showed us various racing bikes in the racers’ section. We also had a racing chat with the former stars Gert Frank and Brian
Henrik Dam Larsen and Daniel in the racers’ section.
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Jubilees 10 years Stig Egelund’s professional background is an apprenticeship, with a firm of shipowners, completed in 1978. As a matter of fact, Stig’s career with Blue Water started back in 1992, when he, in connection with Blue Water’s acquisition of the freight forwarding company Bager & Rasmussen, was appointed sales manager. In those days, the company was not so big and Stig lent a helping hand in the road department as well. After some interesting and hectic years, Stig chose to move on to new challenges outside the shipping and forwarding world. After approx. 2 years as sales manager in the pharmaceutical industry, however, Stig returned to Blue Water in 1999 as business development manager of sea freight. One of Stig’s greatest challenges so far was the development of Blue Water’s Far East sea freight activities. Furthermore Stig is responsible for our worldwide freight purchasing from the shipping lines, and since 2007 he is also in charge of our deep sea department in Copenhagen. Stig is married to Carin, who is a nurse, and they have 3 sons aged 11 to 21 - all FCK supporters of course. Two members of our Baku team Rasim Babayev and Magerram Gamzayev - will be celebrating their 10th jubilees on 1.5.: Rasim is a driver and a very faithful and disciplined team worker. He loves football and his family, which includes his wife and 2 children - a daughter, who has finished school, and a son, who serves in the Azerbaijan Army. Magerram Gamzayev is also a driver, a job he has performed since he was 18. He is an experienced driver, technically well-educated, accurate and disciplined. Magerram is married and has 2 children - a daughter, who is married, and a son serving in the Azerbaijan Army. Aage Bruun/Smyril Blue Water Hanstholm will celebrate his 10th jubilee on 1.6. Aage started with Blue Water back in 1989, when Nordshipping in Hanstholm was taken over by Blue Water Nord. In addition to the existing activities - handling and loading/discharging of foreign fishing vessels and cargo vessels in the port
of Hanstholm - the takeover of Nordshipping resulted in the agency for the Faroese shipping line, pf Smyril Line, for both passengers and cargo. Aage was appointed manager of the office in 1992 and acted as such until 1996, when he decided to take up new challenges as manager of the Norwegian shipping line, Fjord Line, in Hanstholm. When Smyril Line in 1999 decided to establish their own office in Hanstholm, Aage seized the opportunity to return to his old territory - this time as part owner of Smyril Line Transport. Aage was instrumental in securing Blue Water’s first longterm logi-stics agreement with Smyril Line. In general, agreements have to be renegotiated now and again and this agreement was no exception. As a consequence, Smyril Line’s freight department was converted into an independent company in the name of Smyril Blue Water in 2005. At first, as a joint venture between the companies, but in 2006 as a 100% Blue Water owned company - still with Aage at the helm. This was a summary of Aage’s 10-year career with Blue Water spread over the last 20 years. Aage is married to Anette and they have 2 daughters, Ida and Anna. On 7.6, Christine Cox (Chris) will celebrate her 10th jubilee. Chris joined Blue Water Manchester as sales assistant. A job she still performs, but today she has also taken on various other duties and is the SMS supremo of the office. Chris will soon become a grandmother, which may have an effect on her spare time, which she currently likes to spend with husband Steve, taking holidays and breaks in their caravan. Anders Stenumgaard/Smyril Blue Water Hanstholm will be celebra-ting his 10th anniversary on 23.6. Anders completed his apprenticeship with Blue Water Nord in 1992. In 1996, he was appointed manager of the office - a position he held until he, in 1998, was headhunted to Fjord Line by his former colleague, Aage Bruun, to look after Smyril Line’s new six-monthly ferry ser-vice from the Faroe Islands. When Smyril Line established its own office in Hanstholm, Anders exchanged his Norwegian business card for a Faroese one, bearing the title of part owner of Smyril Line Transport. Over the years, Anders has gathered great expertise in everything related to
export to the North Atlantic. He is also superuser on the Cargo Vision IT system. Anders’ family includes his wife, Janne, and their 3 children Line, Jacob and Iben. Marianne Girardin joined Blue Water Brest on 1.7.1999. She has worked in our reefer and dry cargo chartering department, agency department and more recently in our wind turbine department. Marianne has a diploma in maritime law and is the ”laytime” expert of our chartering department. She is also our ”handy-lady” when there is a pro-blem with the equipment. Marianne and her 5-year-old son, Thomas, live by the seaside in North Brittany, and as she is an animal-lover, her dog, 2 cats and 3 goldfish are part of the family. When the weather keeps the little family indoors, Marianne catches up on her favourite American series; Dr. House, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. When he was still in school, Nicolas Gorrias was in contact with Blue Water in connection with a work placement at our Brest office. Nicolas left a multitude of “forgotten” passwords. Luckily he has improved his IT knowledge since then! 5 years later Nicolas was employed in the agency department in Brest, and from 2002 to 2004 in Lorient - taking care of veterinary formalities. Today, Nicolas is mostly involved in trucking and has a very good contact with hauliers and customers - especially if there are nice girls involved, says his colleagues. In fact, he is a real “Mr. Charming”, one of the ladies around him discloses. Lene Lyebalk started as trainee in the airfreight department of Blue Water Aarhus on 1.8.1999. In June 2001, she was transferred to the airfreight department of Blue Water Aalborg, where she completed her apprenticeship the same year. Lene is still part of the airfreight team - now as deputy manager. Lene is committed to her job and is a dedicated member of various committees related to airfreight. She is also IT superuser and has a freight forwarding diploma. Her characteristic cheerful mood and flair for teamwork makes her popular with both clients and among her colleagues. Lene is a sports freak, playing tennis, badminton, squash, golf and likes skiing as well.
She is also a nature lover and homeloving person, who likes indoor evenings with amusing games, however, she does have a weak point in poker! Moreover she is a budding artist as she loves to paint in her spare time. Anders Hald Jensen started as trainee with Blue Water Aarhus back in 1999 (1.8.), formed part of our Norwegian department during his entire apprenticeship, was then transferred to the Swedish team for a short period before he joined our overseas department. In April 2003, Anders moved to Aalborg and joined the overseas team there - in recent years as head of department. Anders is very committed to his job and has developed great expertise. He has diplomas in freight forwarding and is a member of various committees related to both deep sea shipping and IT. Anders and his wife, Susanne, have 2 daughters, Emma and Alberte, who are almost 3 and 1 year old. Anders spends his spare time on his family and friends and is not very sporty - only when it comes to Rittersport (name of his favourite chocolate bar). Karina Bekke Andersen will ce-lebrate her 10th anniversary on 1.8. Karina started her career at our terminal office and served the second year of her apprenticeship in our UK/Ireland department. She found the activites of this department so exciting that she afterwards became and still is a permanent part of the team. Karina is passionate in her job and makes great efforts in connection with administrative matters, and she is always ready to lend an extra hand in the daily operation whenever needed. Karina is also part of the superuser and Mocha groups, where she is taking a great share of the work for a continuous improvement of the system for the benefit of everybody. Furthermore she is very active in our staff club. Despite her busy job, Karina has found the time to marry and settle down. Her little family includes husband Sune and their 2 children - Mille aged 3 and Magnus aged 5. On 1.8., Klaus Bindesbøll Petersen will be celebrating his 10th jubilee with Blue Water Esbjerg. Klaus started as trainee in our airfreight department, however, within his first year of apprenticeship he was transferred to the exhibition department, where he
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Jubilees is still very active. Klaus has always performed his work professionally and provided a fantastic service to our exhibition clients. Klaus originally comes from Lem (a little town outside Ringkøbing and home town of wind turbine manufacturer Vestas), but was attracted by the big city of Esbjerg. However, in 2007 he moved on to Aalborg, when his girlfriend, Line, who is a very good handball player, signed contract with Aalborg DH. Since then he has shuttled between Aalborg and Esbjerg - without any effect on his daily work. Klaus is also a football player - and used to play a bit of handball - and a Manchester United supporter. Klaus is part of the bicycle team that will ride to Paris this summer. Barbara Kastbjerg Frisk Vestager of Blue Water Herning will ce-lebrate her 10th anniversary on 16.8. Barbara originally started in the forwarding department of Blue Water Aalborg and was later transferred to Sea freight/ North Atlantic. In 2006, however, Barbara and her family wished to move south to the moors of Jutland and she got a job with Blue Water Herning. Barbara has since formed part of the forwarding team in Herning. Due to her always cheerful mood and friendly manners, she is very popular with the clients and among her colleagues. Barbara’s spare time is devoted to her 3 boys; husband Ole, and their 2 live wires Anders and Jacob. Furthermore
she is a keen runner and gymnast and is even involved in the collection of funds for the new multi-centre in Kibæk. Erik Lorensen - or ”Ekse” among colleagues - will celebrate his 10 anniversary with Blue Water Padborg on 20.8. Erik is very popular among his colleagues and always able to remain calm, when things have come to a head - an important gift, especially for somebody performing the duties of a foreman. Erik has 4 lovely girls and a farm to look after. How he finds the time to take care of his animals, farm, family and his job with Blue Water is unbelievable. Erik is indeed very exceptional. We hereby congratulate Erik on his jubilee.
20 years Susanne Almind Nørbygaard/Blue Water Esbjerg will be celebrating her 20th jubilee on 7.7. Susanne originally served her apprenticeship with Blue Water Odense, where she was involved in the development of various road services. But Susanne found her ”one and only” in Jutland and emigrated to the ”Far West”, where she got a temporary job in the reception before she became part of our Benelux department in Esbjerg. For a number of years, Susanne has suc-
cessfully concentrated on organising our internal routines and invoicing. Furthermore she has taken part in the IT education and training of new staff at our offices in Denmark and abroad - despite her fear of flying !!!! Dick Heijmen might in fact have celebrated his silver jubilee with Blue Water Rotterdam years ago, if he had not tried his fortune outside Blue Water with another transport company 21 years ago. Dick is our salesman, well-known by all clients, with whom he has a long relationship, and he is always good for a joke or a funny story. In the early days, Dick was mainly selling our Lauritzen Middle East breakbulk reefer service, but nowadays he is mostly involved in China reefer import, cross trades and oil & energy related dry cargoes. On the home front, Dick and his wife, Anneke, enjoy their new roles as grandparents, and Dick can look forward to becoming a pensioner in a not too distant future, as he passed 60 in the spring of 2008.
Silver Even though Fred Kegge/Blue Water Rotterdam is always nagging about everything related to Blue Water, he has succeeded in staying with the company for 25 years (on 1.8.), and
no one is happier than Fred to be back at work after a holiday. Over the years, Fred has become an icon in the meat world. The reefer clients are always happy to talk with him, as he shows an interest in their business and products. Maybe he was a butcher in a previous life! Not surprisingly, Fred’s biggest hobby is good food - especially meat - Grollsch, his favourite beer, visiting vessels and last but not least his cats.
30 years Erik Pedersen will be celebrating his 30th anniversary with Blue Water Esbjerg on 8.8. In the early days, Erik hung out on the German motorways as driver of Blue Water’s Germany department. When both Erik and the company felt it was time for him to leave Germany, he was offered the job he still performs as driver of our delivery truck in Esbjerg. Erik is our local ambassador and the outward image towards our clients, a part he acts brilliantly. He is and has always been very popular with our clients and among his colleagues, always ready to lend a helping hand when needed. Erik is married to Vivi and has 3 grown-up sons and is not least very fond of his title as granddad.
Reception for Søren Stougaard A reception was held in Esbjerg on 4.3. on the occasion of Søren Stougaard’s silver jubilee with Blue Water. Many of Søren’s contacts
in the local area dropped in to say hello. One of the things that made Søren most happy was the surprise visit from Else Marie Pedersen
(ex-MD Foods/Arla Foods), with whom Søren, in the ”happy old feta days” had a very close contact
in connection with vessels calling at Esbjerg for loading to Iran.
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New Employees Aalborg Jesper Mikkelsen - 35 years old started as terminal assistant on 1.11. Jesper was previously employed with Color Print and has also been a self-employed haulier in Kurérgruppen Nordjylland. Paw Dahlgaard - 44-year-old terminal assistant - joined our team on 1.2. Paw’s previous work places include Aalborg Portland and most recently the clothing manufacturer Modstrøm, which is going to move address to Aarhus. Billund 24-year-old Sandra Brink, who comes from a job with Leman, is employed as assistant in airfreight import. Esbjerg At the turn of the year, 40-year-old Birgitte Skov started as administrative assistant in our agency/ project department. Birgitte’s previous employments include Søren Højbjerg Booking and the travel agency Carlson Wagonlit Thomas Striegler Mikkelsen - 37 years old - is employed as stevedore foreman since new year. Thomas was previously working as foreman at the SAL car terminal. Thomas is in fact an old acquaintance as he received his training at Blue Water’s warehouse. As from 1.4., 33-year-old Anja Holm joined our finance department. Anja’ previous employments include Team Es Revision and Dansk Firmagaver. She has an all-round accounting background, experience with foreign nations and financial accounts for minor companies. Anja’s future responsibilities will include BW IT A/S and BW Management A/S.
Aarhus Nina Petersen - 23 years old - joined our Norwegian department as forwarding assistant on 5.1. Nina has recently completed her apprenticeship with DSV, where she during her last year of apprenticeship formed part of the key account department. 27-year-old Malene Villadsen is employed as forwarder in the deep sea department as from 1.3. For the past 6 years, Malene has worked in the deep sea department of DSV. Brest Since 4.8.2008, 35-year-old Sygrid Gilliot is employed as assistant in our deep sea department. In her previous jobs, Sygrid has been working both inside and outside the shipping business. Dubai 24-year-old Hafiz-Ur-Rehman Khan is employed as assistant in the airfreight department as from 1.12. Hafiz has gathered experience from his previous jobs with Cosco Logistics and Seaprince Shipping in Dubai. Gothenburg 34-year-old Annabel Jensen joined our Gothenburg team as forwarding and economy assistant on 1.10. Annabel comes from a similar position with the German Rhenus Group. We have taken on Jesper Nagel, 30-year-old forwarder, to develop the UK traffic. Jesper has 10 years of experience from Norfolk Line - in Denmark, England and Sweden. Houston John Carr - 48 years old - started as warehouseman on 16.2. John has spreviously worked for City of Houston.
Jebel Ali Since 25.11., 47-year-old Moothy Nasiruddin, who is mainly based in Jebel Ali, has performed the functions of customs clerk and driver. Moothy was previously employed with our client Dubai Meat Packers. Sisimiut Since New Year, 50-year-old Lars Peter Jensen is engaged as terminal assistant. Lars Peter used to work for our good partner, Polar Enterprise, as foreman of their stevedore company. Oslo 58-year-old Randi Nystad joined our team on 2.1. and is responsible for the development of traffic to/ from Sweden. Randi has been in the transport business since 1989, working for Spedisjon Norge AS, which was taken over by Freja A/S. She was among other things responsible for sales, invoicing and import from Sweden. Kari Gaukelund - 45 years old - is another newcomer as from 2.1. She is responsible for the traffic from Odense and Copenhagen to Oslo. In her previous job with Cargo Partner, Kari was also involved in import from Denmark. Furthermore Kari has worked for Kuehne & Nagel and STS and has 28 years of forwarding experience, which means she is all-round in both import, export, customs handling and road and air transport. Toi Manh Tran - 45 years old - joined our customs department on 19.1. Toi has worked for DHL for 9 years - 4 years in the import department and the remaining period in the customs department.
The below 2 newcomers form part of our domestic department, Greater Oslo Distribution: As from 1.10., 35-year-old Alex Bråthen is appointed department manager and is responsible for the development of a domestic network in Norway. Alex’ former career includes an import supervisor job with Norway Transport and a supervisor job with Fritz Company. Alex’ latest employment was with UPS, where he was involved in the development of their Norwegian logistics network for spare parts. Guro Lisbeth B. Dyrud - 39 years old - joined our team at the turn of the year. Guro’s original field is conveyance of passengers, but since 2000 she has been involved in cargo transport. Guro was most recently employed for one year in the domestic department of Cargo Partner. Quingdao As from 6.3., we have taken on 30-year-old Zhou Fang as accountant. Zhou received her education in Malaysia, worked for P&O Nedlloyd for 3 years and was transferred to Maersk Logistics for another 2 years, when Maersk took over P&O Nedlloyd. On 16.3., 35-yearold Sophie Jiang joined our operations department. Sophie has 10 years of shipping experience, including 2 years of sales experience from her previous job with OOCL Logistics and 5 years as customer service supervisor with Hamburgsud Shipping Line. Warsaw As from 1.1., Michael Jensen is head of our Polish division. Michael served his apprenticeship with Leman in Padborg and has since 1990 been involved in Eastern Europe in his previous jobs with Pol-Cargo, LEP, TransCargo, DSV, Otto Hansen and since 2002 System Transport, Poland.
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Staff Redeployment As from 1.12., Lone Dupont is settled in as assistant in Billund after a period of temporary work at our Nuuk office. To make things work, a great deal of redeployment has taken place in connection with the transfer/ rearrangement from Hanstholm to Esbjerg of Smyril Line’s service. Ulla Outzen of Blue Water Kolding is transferred to Esbjerg, where she is working for Smyril Blue Water together with her colleagues, Thomas Torborg Jensen (transferred from Blue Water Esbjerg) and Frodi B. Poulsen (transferred from Smyril Blue Water Hanstholm). Friday/Saturday, when the ferry is in port, the team is assisted by colleagues from Hanstholm and by our agency department in Esbjerg. Jakob Nielsen is taking care of all formalities at the warehouse, however, during peak periods, he is assisted by our colleagues in Hanstholm. On 1.3., we welcomed Søren Gammelgaard back in our project team in Esbjerg after a couple of years’ stationing in Barcelona.
Lisette Trab Munk, head of our forwarding department in Esbjerg up to now, is transferred to a newly established job. Lisette has returned to her old field, the cruise business, which she knows from her time in Holland. Lisette will be in charge of sales and development of service to the cruise industry - but will remain based at Esbjerg.
On 6.3., our Aalborg colleagues set out on their annual skiing trip. The destination was 3 ten-bed lodges in Gautafall, Norway. As usual, Tom Holm had prepared a delicious beef stroganoff dinner and in addition there was a basket filled with delicacies for each lodge. Our colleagues spent two wonderful days together in
the resort, which is ideal for both beginners as well as experienced skiers. The snowmobile ride was, however, the climax of the trip, which brought a smile on everybody’s face. The trip ended with a barbecue in bright sunshine. There is nothing like one of Tom’s delicious hot dogs in the snow.
From mid-March, Morten Nyegaard of Blue Water Odense moved to Dublin to start a maternity cover. On 26.3., Jesper Øraker moved from Billund to Nuuk to cover for an airfreight colleague while she is on maternity leave. Eva Zsubori of Blue Water New York is transferred to our office in Fort Lauderdale. As from 1.8., Tim Slie of Smyril Blue Water Hanstholm will be transferred to Blue Water Aarhus to serve the second year of his apprenticeship.
Diplomas Having past their examination this winter, the following 5 colleagues have received their diplomas in freight forwarding:
Blue Water Aalborg’s Annual Skiing Trip
Safety Course To enhance safety of loading operations in connection with wind turbines, Blue Water arranged for 65 dockers and terminal people in Esbjerg to attend a height safety course at U-Rope Access. In addition, all stevedore foremen have taken a height safety course as well as a height rescue course. This means that we are well prepared to bring an injured colleague safely to the ground, in case of an accident. U-Rope Access is domiciled in one
of Blue Water’s many warehouses in the port of Esbjerg, and has a newly refurbished seminar room as well as a training hall with a trapdoor, making it possible to give the course participants the experience of hanging in a sling at a height of 8 metres. On the height rescue course, we were trained in the use of our own newly purchased equipment as part of Blue Water Stevedoring’s rescue and evacuation plan.
Peter Rosendahl Laursen / Blue Water Aarhus Mads A. Paugan Jensen / Blue Water Billund Mette Jessen / Blue Water Billund Lars V. Sørensen /Blue Water Copenhagen Merete Nielsen / Blue Water Odense
Change of Telephone and Fax Numbers in Brazil Blue Water Shipping do Brasil Ltda. Sao Paulo Tel: +55 11 2898-3150 Fax: +55 11 2898-3163
Lars Byskov and Christian Ørnskov of Blue Water Stevedoring in action during the height safety course.
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Birthday List First and foremost we wish to apologise to Søren Nielsen of Blue Water Odense for forgetting his birthday in the last issue of News: We can hereby disclose that Søren passed 50 on 6.4. May Jakob Nielsen, Esbjerg - 60 years old Rene Greulich, Aarhus - 40 years old Karin Busk Schnegelsberg, Billund - 50 years old Charlotte Krogh Jensen, Aarhus - 40 years old Allan Bjørnskov Sørensen, Kolding - 40 years old Angie Wong, Singapore - 50 years old
4.5. 5.5. 8.5. 9.5. 14.5. 23.5.
Luise Crone Dons, Odense - 30 years old 26.5. Lone Dupont, Billund - 50 years old 29.5. Liv-Mette Gran, Oslo - 60 years old 30.5. June Laksman Murugeshan, Dubai - 40 years old Rikke Jacobsen, Copenhagen - 30 years old Amdi O. Pedersen, Esbjerg - 30 years old Helena Bærentsen, Torshavn - 50 years old David Earp, Manchester - 30 years old Lars Jacobsen, Billund - 30 years old
Births On 18.12, Ronny Jensen/Blue Water Kolding became a father for the first time of a little boy Hjalte (2.8 kgs/48 cm). On 12.1, Michael Rud/project department, Esbjerg became a father for the third time of a healthy boy. The proud father, Michael Karmark/sales department, Aarhus, announced the birth of his little daughter Emilia (3.4 kgs/50 cm) on 22.1. A big boy (4 kgs/55 cm) and the second child of Søren Madsen/ deep sea department, Aarhus saw the light of day on 23.2. Little Emma (3.4 kgs/51 cm) was born on 6.3. and is the second child of Lisa and Dennis Madsen/ UK department, Esbjerg.
Puvlished by: Blue Water Trafikhavnskaj 11 DK-6701 Esbjerg Tel.: +45 79 13 41 44 Fax +45 79 13 46 77
2.6. 7.6. 17.6. 18.6. 28.6. 28.6.
July Nariman Mamedov, Baku - 40 years old 10.7. Janne Ekholm, Gothenburg - 30 years old 12.7. Claudia van der Made-Russner, Rotterdam - 40 years old 13.7. Jeanett Pedersen, Odense - 40 years old 22.7. Christina Jensen, Kolding - 30 years old 29.7. Per Holm, Aarhus - 50 years old 29.7. August Fin Hüttel, Herning - 50 years old Khagani Huseynov, Baku 50 years old Lars V. Sørensen, Copenhagen - 30 years old
21.8. 28.8. 30.8.
Weddings Jette Huus/Norwegian department, Aarhus gave birth to a healthy boy (2.9 kgs/54 cm) on 15.3. On 28.3, Tinna Arenkiel/Blue Water Kolding gave birth to a girl (3.6 kgs/53 cm), who will be named Louise Morten Brix Grønhøj/Blue Water Aalborg became a father of a little boy (3.1 kgs/51 cm) on 24.4. Frida Wahlgren/Blue Water Nuuk gave birth to a little boy (2.4 kgs/43 cm), on 13.4. Despite the fact that he was 6 1/2 weeks premature, he is fine and healthy. On 16.4., Jacob Hornegaard/Blue Water Odense and his wife increased their family by another big boy (4.3 kgs/58 cm).
Editors: Gyrithe Skov: gskov@bws.dk Jørn Bøllund, Kurt Skov Published in: 8.600 copies E-mail: bwsebj@bws.dk www.bws.dk
Tina Andersen/Blue Water Copenhagen changed her name to Tina Kupijbida when she married her fiancé Kim on 6.9. The picture shows the happy couple and their eldest son Nicolai.
Carl Hjort/deep sea department, Aarhus and Sarah Bækby/airfreight department, Aarhus had chosen Valentine’s Day for their wedding, which took place in the old town of Ribe.
Charlotte Kvistgaard/accounts dept, Aarhus married her boyfriend Benny at the old town hall in Ebeltoft on 15.11. The couple had a fantastic day, celebrating the happy event together with their families.
On a lovely spring day, 2.4, Kenneth Falkesgaard Hansen/deep sea department, Esbjerg married his fiancée, Camilla, at the Old Court House in Esbjerg.
Lay-out: Claus Simony
Print: Jørn Thomsen A/S