House Magazine - also distributed to customers and business relations New Blue Water IntraEuropean Container Product Page 3
Blue Water Port Services New Department at the Esbjerg Terminal Page 3
No. 93 April 2010
New Parcel Distribution Concept Page 9
Centennial Anniversary The centennial festivities of The Danish Freight Forwarders’ Association included an entertaining duel between Kurt Skov and Kurt Larsen, DSV. To mark the centennial anniversary of the Danish Freight Forwarders’ Association, a conference was held at Børsen (the Danish Stock Exchange building) on 22.1. About 200 managers from the industry participated, and in the evening 375 people in festive attire were invited to a gala dinner at the National Gallery of Denmark. Contributions of conference were in the hands of the Minister of Transport at the time, Lars Barfoed, and Bjørn Lomborg, professor at Copenhagen Business School, and the well-known TV presenter and talk show host, Clement Kjersgaard, was the toastmaster of the day.
Director Danish Freight Forwarders’ Assocication Martin Aabak 2
Kurt Larsen DSV
The highlights of the day included a verbal duel between Blue Water’s Managing Director, Kurt Skov, and Kurt Larsen, Chairman of the Board of the listed company DSV. Following a short film presenting the old giants from Danish freight forwarding companies Samson Transport and Paul Lehmann, 2 x Kurt discussed cultural differences and customer strategies in a duel influenced by the duellists’ bacgground from Copenhagen and West Jutland respectively. Its was indeed a very entertaining and unorthodox stage show spiced with Clement’s questions to the two gentlemen.
Clement Kjersgaard
Kurt Skov
Blue Water was nominated for the Danish Freight Forwarders’ Association’s newly introduced Effie award, which in future will be awarded to a freight forwarding company which has conceived transport and logistic solutions based on EFFiciency, Innovation and Energy Conservation. We were nominated for our efforts in combined traffics via waterways and attempts to attract short sea shipping lines to Esbjerg, Denmark. Unfortunately, this year, the prize went to another freight forwarder. All in all it was a successful day and festive evening – considering the age of the centre of attention.
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
New Blue Water Intra-European Container Product Blue Water believes that the focus during recent years on road congestion and environmentally friendly transport solutions favours the door to door container transport segment and its development within Europe. Blue Water wishes to play an active part in this segment and its further development Therefore a Blue Water door to door based Intra-European container logistics product has been developed. The product is basically identical to the very successful worldwide NVOCC concept, but in this case limited to Intra-European container transport by vessel, rail or river barge combined with short pre and oncarriage by truck. By combining the services of a number of reputable container operators, Blue Water can offer higher frequency and a broader geographical coverage than the individual operators can do by themselves. Furthermore Blue Water can also combine the container offer with trailer solutions whereby the customers, via a one-stop shopping point, can obtain both high speed/high frequency trailer transport solutions as well as a little slower, but cheaper and much more environmentally
friendly, transport solution via container from the same transport company. The below examples of CO2 savings on container transport illustrate the environmental advantage: Bilbao city to Oslo city: CO2 saving on road/sea/road versus road only = 45% Amsterdam city to Oslo city: CO2 saving on road/sea/road versus road only = 31% Blue Water will offer a number of container types like the 45’ PWHC container that can load 33 euro pallets just like a trailer, 20’ containers tested for specially heavy loads, flat racks for oversized cargo, bulk containers for bulk cargoes and both 40’ and 45’ PWHC reefer containers. The majority of the Mediterranean including Northern Africa and Iberia will be the southern areas connecting to Northern Europe/UK/Ireland and the Nordic countries and vice versa. Connections within Northern Europe are the second core area, and connections to the countries around the Baltic Sea are also available as well as sea/rail connections to inland points in the CIS countries
like Russia and Kazakhstan. Services from Northern Italy and the Ruhr, Germany will initially be offered by rail/ sea combinations to Sweden, Norway, UK and Ireland. Niels Tolstrup/Blue Water Esbjerg and Copenhagen is overall responsible for the product which will be offered by all European Blue Water offices.
Niels Tolstrup in front of a 45’ PWHC container that can load up to 33 Euro pallets.
Worldwide Shipments of Metal Scrap During an international conference in 1999 in Dubai, Kurt Skov met a young, very active and ambitious Pakistani, Imran Khad, and they had some good talks. 11 years later, we suddenly received a message that Imran Khan would like to pay us a visit in Esbjerg on 18.2. In the intervening years, Imran Khan has established the GLS Group of Companies – which consists of 6 different transport companies. One of these companies has specialised in transport of metal scrap from worldwide destinations to Asia.
GLS controls large quantities of metal scrap on a global basis – including 200 x 20’ containers from Europe each month. Primarily the quantities from Europe to Asia were negotiated during GLS’ visit and the result was positive – a handshake sealing a partnership covering transport of these containers. Shipment of the first 50 x 20’ containers has already taken place.
The picture shows Imran Khan between Kenneth Sindahl, Manager of our Deep Sea Department, and Kurt Skov.
Blue Water Port Services As from 1.4., Blue Water Marine & Energy A/S has extended its close cooperation with Siemens Wind Power A/S to include the following services in all Danish ports: • • •
Supervision of loading and discharging of vessels Registration / service of wind turbine parts in the ports Mounting of transport brackets (feet / lashing brackets etc.) to pre-
pare the units for sea transport In this connection, the Esbjerg terminal has established a new department - Blue Water Port Services - to handle the above jobs. All the specified services will be registered in a newly developed IT system, to which the parties involved will have access - a control and registration tool specially designed for this purpose by Blue Water Terminals / Blue Water IT and Siemens.
Blue Water Port Services team in front of the crane truck, when it was displayed in Esbjerg. 3
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
New Engine and Generator Plant to Nukissiorfiit, Ilulissat
into the following phases: 1. Land operation and loading at Grønlandshavnen in Aalborg – in coordination with RAL 2. Sea freight to Ilulissat – transit port dropped due to the comparatively big tonnage 3. Discharge of engine and generator, tractor unit and special trailer as well as handling equipment 4. Trucking from quayside to the Nukissiorfiit site – including 8-12% gradients 5. Handling on to foundation 6. Return of tractor unit, special trailer and handling equipment to Aalborg A necessary comprehensive preparatory work before the equipment was loaded on board m/s “Mary Arctica 934” and shipped to Ilulissat. Here, it took another 7 days before the engine was delivered and finally ready for fine adjustment by Nukissiorfiit and Man Diesel A/S.
In early February 2009, Blue Water Aalborg was contacted by our good client Nukilliorfiit (Greenland Energy Supply). Project Manager Morten K. Christiansen ordered the transport of an engine and generator plant – a major project weighing 78 tons – to Greenland. Blue Water takes care of Nukissiorfiit’s various transport needs – by sea and air. However, this project required a bit more preparatory work and coordination than the daily operation, explains Rene Birk Jørgensen/ Blue Water Aalborg, who is in charge of sea freight to the North Atlantic. Kenneth Birk Jørgensen/ Blue Water Ilulissat soon reported back that the project required extra equipment for trucking of the plant from the quayside of Ilulissat to the Nukissiorfiit site, as there were no cranes
or vehicles in the local area that could handle such big tonnage. At an information and coordination meeting, attended by consulting engineers from Nukissiorfiit and Blue Water staff from Ilulissat and Aalborg, a schedule was made for the project, which was divided
Honourable visit at Blue Water Aalborg In connection with his visit to Aalborg, Denmark, Greenland Minister for Housing, Infrastructure and Transport (Naaklakkersuisoq) Jens B. Frederiksen had expressed a wish to visit several of the Danish companies in Aalborg, which have a close cooperation with Greenland. On 9 December 2009, Blue Water Aalborg received this very special delegation consisting of Jens B. Frederiksen and his Department Secretary Steffen Ulrik Lynge as well as Head of the Government Agency for Infrastructure Michael Pedersen. The three gentlemen were shown around the companies by Sales and Marketing Manager for the Port of Aalborg Ole Brøndum. The visit to Blue Water lasted 45 minutes, during which the visitors inspected the office and terminal facilities, and opportunity was given to discuss Blue Water’s role in freight to and from Greenland. “It was not only enjoyable, but also a seal 4
of approval to receive a visit from such important Greenland politicians. We regard this as proof that Blue Water is a well-known company in Greenland, and that we are among the most significant in transport and logistics”, says Ole Bøgh Ulriksen, Development Manager for the North Atlantic and General Manager for the Aalborg office.
Left to right: Michael Pedersen, Ole Brøndum, Ole Bøgh Ulriksen, Jens B. Frederiksen and Steffen Ulrich-Lynge.
Cruise Seminar in Nuuk On 24.2., a cruise seminar was held in Nuuk to plan for the entire 2010 cruise season in Greenland. Blue Water was represented by Jesper Skjoldborg Øraker and Kenneth Skovbjerg Pedersen. Among the other participants were tourist agencies representing the entire Greenland coast, Greenland Turism and RAL Spedition. The seminar also attracted guests from outside, e.g. Luis De Carvalho from DC Consult, Copenhagen, who has a long experience in the cruise industry with various cruise lines and now has his own consultancy offering counseling to the cruise lines, and Natascha Martin from George Washington University, Washington DC, who is in Nuuk to write about tourism in Greenland as part of her traineeship. It was indeed a very fruitful meeting.
Left to right: Natascha Martin/ George Washington University, Jesper Skjoldborg Øraker/ Blue Water Nuuk, Malik Milfeldt/ Greenland Turism, Kenneth Skovbjerg Pedersen/ Blue Water Nuuk and Luis De Carvalho/ DC Consult.
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
Visiting China In December, it was time for a visit to China to see our good partner Cargo Services. Ole Haahr Hansen/Blue Water Billund and Lene Lyebalk/Blue Water Aalborg were very much looking forward to the visit. Ole and Lene spent the first couple of days at Cargo Services in Hong Kong. They had a meeting with Ringo S.M. Cheung, Emmanuel Lee and Mandy Cheng, and they also met Karen Kse and Alex Tang, with whom we have a daily close cooperation as they are looking after the operational matters. Next stop was Shanghai and a very pleasant reunion with Ron Huen and his team. We saw their new storage facilities for handling of Gucci´s, Diesel´s, Jysk´s and other big clients´ products. It was very interesting, and a very efficient logistics set-up, capable of handling additional clients for Blue Water. We called on a number of existing clients in Shanghai/ Suzhou province as well as a couple of potentials.
There is no doubt that Blue Water and Cargo Services have a unique cooperation, which was once again confirmed during our visit. Being one of the leading logistics suppliers in China, Cargo Services is qualified for any kind of assignment that we or our clients might have in China, be it storage, logistics, pick & pack, distribution or special projects.
Cargo Services, Hong Kong – left to right: Emmanual Lee, Ringo S.M. Cheung, Mandy Cheng, Karen Kse, Alex Tang and Ole Haahr Hansen.
Cargo Servicies, Shanghai – left to right: Bryan Shi, Lene Lyebalk, Brian Ho, Ole Haahr Hansen and Darren Liu.
From left to right: Brian Ho, Kevin Lam, Amy Bao, Lene Lyebalk, Jessie Xu, Ivy Duan and Ole Haahr Hansen.
Far East Cargo Line Conference in Hong Kong Once again, our partner for the past 10 years, Cargo Services (Far East), hosted the Far East Cargo Line Conference in Hong Kong. Far East Cargo Line is a cooperation between major independent and private freight forwarding companies in the Far East and Europe. The alliance’s primary goal is to perform collective freight purchasing from the shipping lines operating on the Far East/North European service as well as securing a standard high level of service towards our clients and connected suppliers. Cargo Services seized the occasion to celebrate its 20th anniversary together with
600 invited guests at a new Year party in Hong Kong. Cargo Services may rightfully be proud of the company’s development over the last 20 years. Today the company has 2500 employees, 25 offices in China, logistics facilities, fleet of transport units for container haulage, ship’s agencies etc. The conference was held in February in connection with Chinese New Year and offered plenty of opportunity to meet partners from both Europe and Asia. Blue Water was represented by Thomas Jeppesen and Stig Egelund from Blue Water Copenhagen.
Excursion with Thai Cargo As Blue Water’s airfreight division is very important for Thai Cargo, Natacha Koch Pedersen/ Blue Water Copenhagen and 4 other forwarders were invited on a presentation tour to Thailand under the management of Jacob Søgaard. The purpose of the trip was to increase the visitors’ knowledge of Thai Cargo and their hub in Bangkok. “During the week, we learned how the goods were sent, received and consolidated for other worldwide destinations. It was in particular interesting to see Thai Cargo’s efficient control of all goods at their hub, which takes up a major part of
the airport in Bangkok. From their control room, 5 Thai employees monitor the entire Thai cargo area on video and radio in order to eliminate mistakes. Thai Cargo flies 4,560 tons cargo out of Denmark on an annual basis. Through their terminal in Bangkok, Thai Cargo handles more than 14,000,000 tons, on an annual basis, to more than 772 destinations in 133 countries on 4 continents. This gives even more reason to be impressed by their service level. It was a fantastic trip, during which we also got a taste of Thai culture”, says Natacha Koch Pedersen.
Jacob Søgaard/Thai Cargo to the left together with the group of visitors – Natacha Koch Pedersen is second from the right. 5
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
Rail Transport from China to Kazakhstan
Blue Water Singapore has for one of our good clients in Dubai arranged an interesting transport by rail from China to Kazakhstan - a large lathe machine measuring L13.4 x W2.25 x H2.55 m. We have a wide experience in this specific type of transport into the Caspian region, and will in future see an increasing amount of cargo being transported by rail from China. Coordination with the local authorities and rail operators is very important for
transportation via this route and so is securing of the goods. For this transport it was necessary to make changes to the packaging as the railway administration did not accept the wooden box placed on the wagon. The machine itself had to be secured to the wagon’s floorboard instead. The lathe machine arrived in good condition at the destination, where Blue Water’s Aktau office arranged local customs clearance.
Denmark to Doha by Truck in 14 Days
Blue Water Shipping Qatar recently carried out a very challenging transport from Denmark to Doha in Qatar by road. Ocean Team Qatar had to bring a Mobile Drying Unit in a 20ft high cube (2.89 metre high) container from Denmark to Qatar. Due to urgency, the client requested shipment by airfreight, but no ordinary freighter would accept the shipment due to oversize and height. Blue Water Qatar, however, found an alternative solution by road with an estimated transit time of 18 days in total. The cargo was collected from warehouse in Esbjerg, Denmark, and delivered to Doha in exactly 14 days. In comparison, shipment by airfreight would have taken approximately 8 days and sea freight approximately 32 days. This proves that road transport from Eu-
Opening of Maersk Oil Qatar’s new Warehouse and Yard Facilities Thursday, 10 December 2009, Maersk Oil Qatar opened its new logistics facilities in Qatar, to serve as a base for onshore operations. The facilities cover an area of 35,500 m2 with 9,400 m2 covered warehouse. Maersk Oil Qatar has a cooperation with Venture Gulf Group, and the facilities are placed at their premises in the Industrial Area. Blue Water was invited to the opening and was represented by John Daniel and Arne Iversen from Doha as well as Kurt Skov from Esbjerg and Mr. Abdullah Al Nasser from Venture Gulf Group, who also happens to be our partner in Qatar. Blue Water is also doing various transports for Maersk Oil Qatar, and has recently been appointed freight forwarder for all transportation from UAE to Qatar.
rope to the Middle East indeed is a fast and reliable solution in comparison with airfreight, and with only few days’ difference in transit time, it is much more economical.
Left to right: Morten Westin/ Maersk Oil Qatar, John Daniel/ Blue Water Qatar, Knud Børsting/ Maersk Oil Qatar, Abdullah Al Nasser/ Venture Gulf Group and Arne Iversen/ Blue Water Qatar.
Vestas Wind Turbines from China to Denmark At the end of 2009, Blue Water Shipping was awarded a major transport of wind turbines from China. In late November, 37 x V80.2 nacelles and hubs were loaded by Blue Water at the client’s factories in Tianjin, China and brought to the port for storage until arrival of the heavy lift vessel “Beluga Efficiency” The large number of units made the operation challenging, but it was executed smoothly and most importantly without any damages to equipment and goods. Before the year ended, we managed to secure another wind turbine transport for 6
Vestas out of China. This time 21 tower sections were successfully loaded out of Taicang in early January 2010. These two well-coordinated shipments mark another milestone for Blue Water Shipping’s project and wind turbine department. Our vast experience in handling and transporting wind turbines, combined with the local knowledge of our project offices and agents in Asia, made these transports another success and manifest Blue Water’s position as worldwide supplier of logistics solutions in connection with wind turbine transport.
Visiting Vestas Tianjin – left to right: Carol Liu/Blue Water Qingdao, Jou Ou Yang, Manlu He and Joanna He/Vestas Tianjin and Arne Iversen/Blue Water Qingdao.
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
Blue Water Qatar’s First Anniversary Monday, 7 December 2009, Blue Water Qatar had arranged a ”one year celebration” party which took place during the IPTC Exhibition.
Many customers and visitors from Denmark participated, and also our partner in Doha, Mr. Abdullah Al Nasser from Venture Gulf Group, and his team.
Left to right: Arne Iversen/ Blue Water Qatar, Reda Nabawi and Abdullah Al Nasser/ Venture Gulf Group and Kurt Skov/ Blue Water Esbjerg.
R Srikanth/ Venture Gulf Group and Claus Laursen/ Blue Water Dubai.
Left to right: Shareef Khaja and John Daniel/ Blue Water Qatar and his wife, Anita Joseph, Arne Iversen and Gilna Viju/ Blue Water Qatar and Kurt Skov.
Left to right: Jens Peder Thomsen/ Ocean Team Scandinavia, Thomas Bek/ Blue Water Esbjerg and John Moritzen/ Jakob Albertsen.
About Qatar Established in 1971, Qatar is a young nation with a population of 1,500,000 people (350,000 of which are locals). Qatar is also one of the world’s richest countries due to enormous oil and gas fields (Qatar holds the world’s 3rd largest gas field). Qatar intends to have the world’s leading facilities in LNG & GTL production and export, all based in Ras Laffan Industrial City, which houses large companies like ExxonMobil, Shell, Dolphin Energy, Qatargas and RasGas. Also, several big projects are in process - like the man-made island The Pearl, Qatar-Bahrain Causeway (48 km) and a new air & sea port etc. Several Danish companies are well established in Qatar like Maersk Oil, Cowi, Rambøll, MTH etc. Blue Water Shipping is very much involved in transportation to oil & gas related companies. In October 2008, a fully limited registered company was opened, and Blue Water Shipping Qatar now holds all licences required to operate all types of transport by road, sea and air.
IPTC
(International Petroleum Technology Conference) 7 - 9 december 2009, Doha, Qatar Blue Water participated as part of the Danish collective stand at the Danish Pavilion organised by Tofko Business Development and with a total of 8 Danish companies represented. Transport of stand equipment was arranged by Blue Water’s exhibition department. The exhibition was also a fine opportunity to promote the newly established Blue Water office in Doha, and the stand was represented by Gilna Viju, Shareef Khaja, John Daniel and Arne Iversen, all from our office in Doha, with good assistance available from Claus Laursen from Dubai, as well as Thomas Bek, Dan Nissen and Kurt Skov from Esbjerg. Maersk Oil has been operating in Qatar since 1992, and many Danish subcontractors are now also established in Qatar with their own set-up and offices.
Blue Waters stand, left to right Dan Nissen, Claus Laursen, John Daniel, Thomas Bek, Arne Iversen og Kurt Skov.
Left to right Peter Toft og Jørgen Gråbæk/ Valtor Offshore.
Left to right Kim A. Jensen and Jens Rud / Esbjerg Oiltool.
Left to right Mogens Tofte Koch og Line Vittrup Jacobsen / Tofko Business Development.
Henrik Madsen / Ocean Team Qatar. 7
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
Seminar in Le Havre In early December 2009, our good client, Ess-Food France and their daughter companies Raynald Petersen and Desfis, held a seminar in Le Havre. Blue Water France participated in the seminar and was invited to give an introduction of the entire Blue Water Group and transport in general, says Fabrice Rolland.
At Ess-Food’s request and with great help from Hanjin France/ Pascal Hamon, a joint visit to the new container terminal in Le Havre – Port 2000 – was arranged. We learned about deadlines and the complexity of loading and discharging a container vessel – and most importantly how big these vessels really are.
Visiting the new terminal in Le Havre Port 2000. The Ess-Food group, Pascal Hamon/ Hanjin France and fabrice Rolland/ Blue Water Brest.
Managing Director Tommy Jensen/ EssFood France welcomes the participants to the seminar.
Silver Jubilee Alpha Reefer Transport Group/ FSC Frigoship GmbH, Hamburg – one of the world’s biggest shipping lines in respect of conventional reefer vessels – celebrated its silver jubilee on 26.11.09. More than 150 guests from 28 countries came to say goodbye to Joachim von Reiche, who has been the head of both organisations since the start. Blue Water has a long standing close cooperation with Alpha Reefer Transport. Back in the nineties, we operated a joint service from Europe to Egypt, and today we charter their vessels to transport meat, poultry, fish and other food products around the world, explains Mogens Nielsen of Blue Water Brest, who also participated in the event. A sad goodbye, but also a hope for a good cooperation with
the new generation of the shipping line, now under the management of Wolfgang Zielke.
New agent in Argentina As from 1.4., Blue Water has made an agreement with Loginet S.A. Buenos Aires in Argentina about an agency cooperation covering our food transport from Argentina and to some extent from Uruguay as well. The cooperation also includes general transport, by sea and air, to and from Argentina for the entire Blue Water Group. Loginet is managed by Juan Pablo Bergallo, who has more than 15 years of business experience and established his own company about 3 years ago. The plan is that we, with this cooperation, can develop the transport of meat, fish and fruit from South America by being closer to the suppliers, and in that way be able to offer our clients a better service. Loginet will be working closely together with Blue Water Sao Paulo in Brazil and be our representative on the Argentine market, explains Frank Madsen, who paid a visit to Argentina in March.
Left to right: David Galassi/ Inalca JBS Spa and Joachim von Reiche.
Safmarine Prize During a recent meeting with Safmarine in Brussels, Blue Water was awarded a prize of honour for being the shipping line’s biggest reefer client measured on number of TEUs transported worldwide. Safmarine is one of our major partners on reefer container transport by sea. Food transport has for many years been, and still is, a core area for Blue Water. We are proud of the prize, which proves that with the right partner and approach to the market, we can offer our customers a reliable service, explains Frank Madsen and Dan Nissen, who are responsible for our worldwide reefer transport and whom both participated in the meeting in Brussels. 8
What started as web systems for booking, localisation and freight forwarding of fresh salmon from Norway to Central Europe have now become what we call cruise logistics – i.e. storage and transport logistics of supplies to the cruise ships, now improved with a brand-new concept for optimisation of parcel deliveries throughout Europe. For almost 15 years, Blue Water´s IT department has developed one specific client solution after another. No matter whether it was cartons, pallets, parcels or the goods were sent by sea, air or road, our IT experts, with Kim la Cour at the head, tailored a web-based solution
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Blue Water’s IT department has further developed its customized web-booking system, which was introduced back in 1996. A transport and logistic solution is not just a question of moving an article from one place to another. Blue Water provides a large degree of added value in the form of additional services – of which IT management of door/door deliveries becomes more and more important. For us it has become a decisive sales parameter.
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Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
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on the platform we now call Blue Water Compass. The whole idea is to relieve the client’s working procedures and create an efficient communication. The client can book all his shipments in the same web system – regardless of quantity and type of transport – and we guarantee joint and simultaneous collection at the loading address. We are, as one of the only freight forwarders, able to handle track and trace and POD based on the clients’ own bar code or bar code labels in our system. Direct swap between the shops in Europe and return are also fully under control.
Parcel Distribution for Bestseller
Key Account Group
Bestseller is a fast growing Danish company selling fashion wear to shops all over Europe. The first contact to the Bestseller Group was established in 2005, when we got the chance to try our skills on the Irish market. The actual door opener was IT and Blue Water’s own setup in Ireland (since 1978). In 2008, when Bestseller had 28 transport suppliers, they decided to invite tenders and thus limit the number of transport suppliers. Based on our wide experience from Ireland, we succeeded in winning contracts for additional markets – Great Britain and the North Atlantic region. With very short notice, which did not leave much time for IT tests and set-ups, we took over another two markets –Germany and France – as from 1.12.09.
In order to develop comprehensive expertise in parcel distribution, we have established a specialist department for parcel distribution under the expert management of Michael Poder. The four colleagues of the department are in regular contact with Bestseller and the shops around Europe. They are prepared to welcome new customers and communicate in fluent English, German, French and Italian. The parcel distributors operate with a high delivery performance and fast transit times. Parcels are delivered to Germany within 24 hours and to France, Italy, Great Britain and Ireland within 48-72 hours.
Despite the fact that we were pressed in the start-up phase, the communication between Bestseller, Bestseller’s customers and Blue Water worked out well from day one, which made us a bit proud. Normally the retail shop’s name is known to us before the goods are sent from Denmark, but at a depot in Dublin, we arrange pick & pack of jeans, and at other depots around Europe, we offer storage capacity for the consignees. A smooth direct exchange and trade between the European shops are also performed via our Compas system. We have achieved 98% delivery performance and no losses registered. Our performance (KPI) is best illustrated with the below pie chart.
Delivery Performance France (February) Delivery performance France (feb)
Blue Water’s Parcel Department handles distribution of more than 3 million parcels a year out of Denmark to European destinations Newly Developed IT Systems and Qualified Staff ensure delivery on time
For further information, please contact: Michael Poder, tel: +45 2969 1758 e-mail: mph@bws.dk 9
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
Marintech 2009 Shanghai – 1.-4.12.2009 Marintech is China’s largest maritime exhibition, and is held every other year in Shanghai New International Expo Centre. Despite the financial crisis, this year’s Danish collective exhibition stand under the Danish Exporters’ Association covered 900 m2 and housed 38 Danish exhibitors. Blue Water handled all transport and return of stand equipment for the Danish collective stand – both from Kormarine (exhibition held in Korea in October), Denmark and local Danish offices and agents. Staff from Blue Water’s exhibition department was present in Shanghai before the exhibition opened, to ensure that all equipment arrived as planned for the official opening on 1 December. The Danish pavilion was officially opened by the Danish Marine Group’s Board as well as the then Minister for the Environment Troels Lund Poulsen who was accompanied by Danish Ambassador Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen and Consul General Susanne Hyldelund.
SEATRADE CRUISE SHIPPING MIAMI 2010 Again this year, Blue Water visited and exhibited at Seatrade Cruise Shipping, Miami during the days of 16 – 18 March. Seatrade Cruise Shipping is the largest cruise related exhibition, representing both the shipping lines, destinations as well as the worldwide suppliers. This year, however, we were not alone at the stand as we represented the new network - Cruise & Marine Logistic Network (C&MLN) - together with the other partners of the network: Priano Marchelli, Italy, Tefra Travel, Germany and Southampton Freight Services, UK. Furthermore we received visits from agents in Hong Kong, Uruguay, France etc. The exhibition was a great success with an incredible amount of visitors – both existing as well as potential customers and suppliers.
Our stand was as usual part of “Cruise & Ferry Group” under the Danish Exporters’ Association, for whom Blue Water had arranged transport of stand equipment. The daily Happy Hour was also a success. Here it was possible to have a chat with those who dropped by. We hereby wish to thank everybody for calling on our stand and look forward to seeing you in 2011! Please visit www.marinelogisticnetwork. com for information and pictures from the exhibition. For further information regarding C&MLN, please contact: Lisette Trab Munk Tel: +45 7913 4196 E-mail: info2@marinelogisticnetwork.com
Gulfood 2010, Dubai
Despite the global crisis, which leaves profound marks in the city of Dubai, we saw a record attendance at Gulfood – Middle East’s biggest food fair. With more than 3500 exhibitors, the fair is creating an image as an international event and not only a regional Middle East event. With its own offices in Dubai and Jebel Ali, Blue Water has been involved in food transport for many years and is still operating its own fleet of reefer trailers. In addition, a large number of containers are shipped to the Middle East from South America, USA, Europe and the Far East. During the exhibition, we met many of our old contacts, but also some interesting new potentials. It is absolutely an event we will focus more on in the future, says Frank Madsen/Blue Water Esbjerg, who visited the exhibition. 10
See you at Blue Water’s stand no. 16113 For further information please visit: www.windpowerexpo.org
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
Two new Power Plant Projects Blue Water has in recent years specialised in delivery of overall logistic solutions in connection with installation of new – or expansion of existing - combined heat and power stations. In 2008/2009, Blue Water was for instance involved in two major projects in Guatemala and El Salvador respectively. The projects included among other things transport of the heaviest units ever moved by road in Guatemala. In addition to transport of engines, generators, transformers etc., Blue Water arranged delivery of the engines on to the foundation itself. This can be a very complicated and crucial part of the project. The engines must be placed with millimetre precision, which can be rather challenging for engines weighing up to 300 tons. Blue Water is proud to inform about two
brand-new contracts regarding expansion of a combined heat and power station on the Maldive Islands and one in Greenland. The Maldivian project – on the main island of Male – is for our good client Semco Maritime, who are specialised in such projects. It is a very challenging job as the infrastructure on the island is not ideal for this kind of project. Our engineer has worked overtime as the quay is not strong enough to withstand the weight of the heavy MAN engines. The Greenland project in Nuuk is for a new client, a major actor in global power plant installation. The project includes transport of a 300 ton engine, which is the heaviest unit ever transported in Greenland.
New WWPC Member – World Wide Project Consortium Blue Water in Azerbaijan has since the start in 1996 been involved in large projects, including transport of complete drilling rigs from one continent to another. The latest project was transport of an FSO in modules from Singapore to the Caspian Sea. To handle these projects, the Blue Water Group has a staff with many qualifications – e.g. project forwarders, foremen and engineers - as well as a large network of own offices manned by people with expert skills. It is, however, very important to have a network of specialist project forwarders outside Blue Water, whom we can draw on in the countries and regions where we are not represented with our own offices. This is exactly why Blue Water Azerbaijan in 2009 became a WWPC (World Wide Project Consortium) member. WWPC is the leading network within project forwarding covering more than 790 countries. The annual WWPC meeting was held in January – this time in Kuala Lumpur. Blue Water was represented by Kurt Skov and Thomas Bek, and was, as a new member of the group, invited to give and introduction of Blue Water. It was two interesting days, with plenty of opportunity to network and exchange experiences with the other members.
Visiting Malaysia Blue Water has for many years been involved in shipments to and from Malaysia – in particular for the oil and energy sector. This was also one of the reasons why we in August 2009 established an office in Port Klang. The office has since the start experienced rapid progress and met positive response from several major companies. One of the companies is Aker Solutions, whom Blue Water is very proud to have as a client in several countries – most recently as tenant of our offshore base in Esbjerg, Denmark. When visiting Port Klang in January, we enjoyed a tour of Aker’s new and very impressive office and factory.
Visiting Aker Solutions – left to right: Jason Goh/ Blue Water Singapore, Thomas Bek/ Blue Water Esbjerg, Jeeva Kumar, Allen David/ Blue Water Port Klang, Safran K. Raja B. Abdullah and Kurt Skov.
At Blue Water’s office in Port Klang – left to right: Allen David/ Blue Water Port Klang, Jason Goh/ Blue Water Singapore and (seated) Jane Martini/ Blue Water Klang. 11
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
Airfreight to/from the Faroes Just two hours’ flight from Denmark lies the little island community the Faroe Islands. Vagar Airport is the only airport on the islands, to which Atlantic Airways flies twice a day from Copenhagen, servicing the 50,000 inhabitants of the islands. Furthermore Atlantic Airways has two weekly flights to and from Billund and Reykjavik (Iceland). Smyril Blue Water with headquarters in Torshavn is part of this community. From Blue Water‘s offices around the world, goods are flown into the Faroe Islands for further distribution by Smyril Blue Water’s own trailers to other parts of the islands. Every day, consolidations leave from Denmark – Esbjerg, Billund, Aarhus, Aalborg, Odense and Copenhagen. This flexibility and strength make many Faroe islanders choose Smyril Blue Water as their full-line transport and logistics supplier. Typical air freight to the Faroes includes electronic equipment, medicine, exotic animals, newspapers, magazines and not least ship’s spares. Transport of a more unusual character is airfreight of Norwegian lobster flown every day live from the clean Faroese sea to the Central European market. All this and much more are part of Blue Water’s wide range of transport solutions. Atlantic Airways operates with BAE 146 / AVRO 85-100 flights, which are designed to the rough Faroese weather and secure a smooth flow of freight to and from the islands. By means of our efficient IT platform, we make sure that both customers and colleagues are up-to-date on their shipments. Besides web-booking, e-mail invoicing and e-mail notification, we offer 24-hour service. In addition to airfreight, Smyril Blue Water has the right of disposal of the freight capacity on board Smyril Line’s ferry “Norröna”. The ferry leaves Esbjerg every Saturday afternoon and arrives on the Faroe Islands Monday morning. An extremely short transit time is offered, and the ferry can take up to 130 x 45’ trailers intended for every conceivable need.
Oversize Transport from the Czech Republic In cooperation with our office in Bremen, Germany, Blue Water in Copenhagen has completed a project transport from the Czech Republic to Kalundborg in Denmark. The job was the first in a row of project transports in connection with NKT Flexible’s factory enlargement in Kalundborg. A wide flywheel (6.35 m in diameter) was transported through Poland and Germany in cooperation with Blue Water Bremen and a Dutch heavy load haulier. As this heavy and wide load transport re-
Visiting Spain At the coming of spring, Carsten Eskildsen and Henrik Miche Pedersen/ Blue Water Esbjerg made a trip to Barcelona to look after our Spanish interests. Our cooperation with Rhenus in Spain has now lasted 2 ½ years to both parties’ satisfaction. We have a good communication with the Rhenus staff, which contributes to the positive development. Despite the “Spanish crisis” Rhenus and Blue Water have together succeeded in generating 80.45% more consignments to the traffic between Denmark and Spain. The sizes of the consignments have decreased, but the number of consignments and customers on the traffic has increased. We will hold a strong position on the Spanish market when the market situation stabilises again. Rhenus has its own distribution system
For further information, please contact: Smyril Blue Water Torshavn Tel: +298 309600 E-mail airfreight: air_fae@bws.dk E-mail sea freight: import_tor@bws.dk
Magnus Joensen, Air Freight Manager, Smyril Blue Water and Andreas Weihe, Airfreight Manager, Atlantic Airways. 12
sulted in the sealing off of the German motorway and also one direction of the Danish Great Belt Fixed Link, the transport was only carried out during the night and thus lasted 6 days instead of the normal 2 days. To everyone’s satisfaction, the transport went according to plan, not least due to an outstanding cooperation between customer and supplier. Blue Water is looking forward to the next projects which are soon to be loaded in Austria with destination Kalundborg.
throughout Spain, making it possible to offer our customers full track and trace. In addition, “Telematic”, installed in all our trailers, means that our forwarders can keep the customers informed of the cargo’s location en route to/from Spain. Blue Water operates 3 direct services – from Esbjerg, Odense and Copenhagen – to/from the Spanish market with several weekly departures in both directions.
Dinner with Amadeu Outeiro/ Blue Water España.
Dinner with Rhenus, Barcelona – left to right: Mariluz Pindado/responsible for road traffic to Northern Europe, Tobias Bartz/responsible for network/countries, Henrik Miche Pedersen, Carsten Eskildsen and Martin Veenhaven/Traffic Manager.
Visiting Blue Water Projects, Barcelona: Jørn Scharck and Aleksandra Bogucka.
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partment in the business - both internally and externally” To show the will for improvement, all Danish Blue Water offices received a visit – typically in the late afternoon - by the middle of April 2010. During this proactive charm approach, our IT nerds showed themselves from a positive side, a face was put to the name, and we discovered that there is a person behind the cold monitor and the nameless e-mails.
Blue Water’s IT team.
Mental Boot Camp for Blue Water IT Internal Customer Survey What do you do, when you feel you do your best every day, but still get yelled at from everywhere? You ask the customers, obviously! What do you require? How would you like it? For this reason, the Management of Blue Water IT – Allan Junge, Lennart Voss and Kim la Cour - decided together with our Sales and Service Consultant/Coach, Leo Øhlenschlæger, to organise an internal customer survey with focus on service, information, IT-newsletter, discipline, superusers and training.
The survey showed that there was indeed room for improvement. Our IT team feels that the average satisfaction for issues, on which they – our IT colleagues themselves - have the biggest influence, is too low – varying from office to office. It is now time to show that reserved, Coca Cola addicted nerds can be transformed into extrovert, vibrant information and service employees. All Blue Water IT employees have signed the vision: ”We shall be the best IT de-
Departmental Collaboration Blue Water IT has two managers, a development manager and a technical/ support manager. As an improvement project had now been initiated, the opportunity was used to draw up personal profiles of all employees, and an attempt was made to uncover the age old conflict between a development department (sales) and a technical department (production). Group collaboration was given a thorough check, and the late evening hours were often spent on team meetings. For the occasion, four groups were formed and team coaching was performed with the IT Management. Thinking aloud and blades crossed resulted in written conclusions, which were signed by everyone on 24 January 2010. Leo Øhlenschlæger was also coordinator on this part and was now, very conveniently, able to test the theories from his ongoing coach training on “real” human beings. The many discussions on goal definitions, mutual support, conflict handling etc. were transformed into team energy.
Footwear Logistics Over the years, Blue water Copenhagen has developed a thorough knowledge of storage, pick and pack and distribution of footwear. On an annual basis, Blue Water handles more than 1.5 million pair of shoes. We collect the shoes from factories around the world, partly to keep them in stock in Copenhagen and abroad and partly for delivery to Scandinavian and European shoe stores. It is not unusual to have 30,000 pair of shoes coming into the storage at the same time, 95% of which are to be delivered to 100-300 shoe stores within very few days. This makes heavy demands on product knowledge, precision and care as well as a customer adapted IT system that makes it possible for the stores to follow the shoes from production phase to retail shop. The developed know-how and systems
can also be used in connection with other products. In October 2009, Blue Water Copenhagen made a division of 20 item numbers for 25,583 cartons in total to be distributed to 299 chemist shops in Denmark and abroad. The items were picked and packed at our new modern storage facilities, and the distribution job was performed so that all shops received their articles at the same time. Sales Manager Anders Olsen of Blue Water Copenhagen says: “Blue Water considers all items perishable articles. If an article is not on the shelf of the shop in time, it is in principle worthless. It is therefore very important that our employees are fully qualified and familiar with the special requirements to the individual articles. For Blue Water, transport is not just moving one carton from A to B. We pay careful attention to the requirements of each indi-
vidual customer and article”. If you are interested in learning more about the above services, you are welcome to contact: Anders Olsen or Kent Cyril on: sales_ cph@bws.dk
Blue Water staff scanning the many shoe boxes at the terminal. 13
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Visit to Switzerland At the start of the year, Carsten Eskildsen from Blue Water Esbjerg and Frank Junk and Michael Junge from Blue Water Kolding paid a visit to our excellent partner in Switzerland, BLG in Basel. The primary purpose of the meeting was a review of our daily cooperation. On the same occasion, we were given an introduction of the entire Ziegler Group. After the meeting we proceeded to Pratteln, to see their operations office and terminal facilities.
Visiting Hartman, Tønder Hartman in Tønder, manufacturer of egg trays among other things, is a major customer of Blue Water on various markets, including Norway, Finland and Ireland, and has also contact to the domestic and sales departments in Esbjerg, says our sales representative Glenn Ludvigsen. In order to learn more about the company’s products, which we transport around the world, and to get to know each other as not just a voice on the telephone, representatives from the above mentioned departments went to Tønder on 22.1. to have a closer look at Hartmann’s production. An interesting tour of the factory was fol-
lowed by a game of bowling and dinner in no man’s land at “Alter Deutscher Grenzkrug” together with our contacts at Hartmann, Jesper Steenholdt, Claus Barzel, Daniela Petersen and Palle Christensen.
COP 15 hotel ship During the United Nation Climate Conference, COP 15, Smyril Line’s ferry M/F ”Norröna” was docked as a hotel ship in Copenhagen. Norröna normally sails passengers and freight between Esbjerg and the Faroe Islands and Iceland. As usual, Blue Water acted as agent for the ferry during her stay in Copenhagen - just as when Norröna docks in Esbjerg. M/F ”Norröna” sailed from Copenhagen on 19 December, heading for the Faroe Islands and carrying passengers who were to celebrate Christmas on the islands.
Left to right: Thorsten Witt/ CEO, Poland Paolucci / Key Account Manager, Ulrich Matthäi/ Manager Germany & Northern Europe, Solveig Tschan/ Export/Import, Michael Junge and Frank Junk. Sapa Profiler AB and Sapa Profiler A/S visited our Aarhus office on 3.12.09. The visit was part of the ongoing constructive cooperation between Blue Water and Sapa for the past 11 years. To the mutual satisfaction of both parties, a new transport and logistics contract was made for 2010. Left to right: Carsten Eskildsen/ Blue Water Esbjerg, Poul Aarre/ Blue Water Aarhus, Lars-Bertil Karlsson/ Sapa Profiler AB, Anders Fransson/ Sapa Profiler AB, Ole H. Andersen/ Blue Water Aarhus and Jens Nielsen/ Sapa Profiler A/S.
Hockey in Herning - Kvik Køkkener vs Blue Water On 28.10., the year’s big ice hockey match between Kvik Køkkener and Blue Water took place. Last year’s match ended with a narrow victory to Blue Water, and Kvik were therefore anxious to have their revenge. Both present and former Kvik colleagues got together in order to create the best possible team. Blue Water Herning had called in reinforcement from Esbjerg and Aarhus, among others John Lauridsen, who was the evening’s undisputed top scorer, and the goaltender, Sebastian Mikkelsen, who made a countless number of tremendous saves. Both teams played with A and B chains to make the match as fair as possible. Blue Water’s B chain played a fantastic match and won over Kvik’s B chain with a considerable number of goals. The two A chains ended 14
in a draw, which settled the match – another victory to Blue Water after a fantastic match with plenty of laughter and good fellowship from both teams. The two teams finished the evening with beer/soft drinks and sandwiches, while discussing the many talents or lack of same. We now look forward to next season’s match between Kvik and BWS!
Freddy Brauwers/ Cobelfret, Brugge and his wife, Sandra, combined a business trip to Denmark with their common interest for football. It was the first match of the season for EFB (Esbjerg Football Club) playing against Randers – a rather unexciting match, which we of course are sorry for. At Blue Water Arena – left to right: Kurt Skov, Freddy and Sandra Brauwers and Claus Bæk.
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Blue Water Closed 2009
U-Rope Access, with domicile at one of our warehouses in Esbjerg, invited us to try their rappelling wall on 24.3. Naturally Jytte Kvist, who will soon celebrate her 30th anniversary (please see the article below), could not resist the temptation of challenging herself. In the picture, Jytte disappears into the hole of the tower on 1st floor down to the ground floor.
35 enthusiastic golfers from our Danish offices met at Gyldensteen Golf Course in Bogense for the annual golf tournament, with participation of both experienced as well as beginners, who were not yet completely familiar with the many mysteries of golf. The weather was fantastic, both sunshine, rain and a bit of wind and the spirits were high. The 18-hole tournament was won by Poul Henning Nielsen from Esbjerg with a convincing 38-point victory. Matthias Kipker from Esbjerg was the happy winner of a brand-new set of golf clubs for beginners. The tournament ended in a spectacular display of prizes, as many of our customers and partners had kindly donated prizes for the event. We hereby thank everyone for their contributions.
COP 15 and global warming?? Our offices in both Europe and the USA have noted that the weather does certainly not feel warmer. Blue Water Houston, Texas and Blue Water España, Barcelona sent pictures on 4.12.09 and 8.3.10 respectively of snowstorms, which are very uncommon in these areas! The destination of the annual excursion of our Sao Paulo team was the little island of Ilha Bela, where our colleagues enjoyed a pleasant weekend with lots of fun, good food and drink together with their respective partners.
This year’s Forwarders’ Cup in Esbjerg took place on 27.2. Only our old boys’ team came out as winners. Left to right: Michael Rud, Kenneth Falkesgaard, Frank Madsen, Jacob Juul Christensen, Dennis Madsen and Lennart Voss in front.
Jubilees 40 years Bent Refsgaard/ Blue Water Aarhus will be celebrating his 40th anniversary on 1.7. For the first 38 years of his career, however, Bent was part of Otto Hansen’s team in Vejle. During his entire career, Bent has been involved in sea transport and possesses great expertise in all the facets of this field. Bent is also familiar with airfreight, customs clearance etc. and is very popular among his colleagues for his quiet and humorous manner. Bent lives in Vejle with his wife Kirsten and they have a son and daughter-in-law who have made them the proud grandparents of two grandchildren Benjamin and Thomas. Bent enjoys spending his spare time with his family and for relaxation he prefers a crime novel and a glass of red wine or a game of cards with his friends.
30 years Birgit Jensen/UK department, Esbjerg will be celebrating her 30th anniversary with Blue Water on 23.6. In a distant past, Bir-
git arranged transport of goods to/from the UK from both sides of the North Sea – for some years at our Manchester office followed by a number of years here in Esbjerg. This is a long time ago and today Birgit has an administrative job in the UK department here in Esbjerg. She also performs the function of “mother”/caretaker for her colleagues on the first floor, which is a really demanding job – and when she takes one of her rare holidays, it is easy to tell! Birgit spends her leisure time in the company of friends as volunteer at bingos and concerts or together with her travel club on their annual city breaks. This year’s destination is Bergamo, Italy in May. Musical events are given high priority and she is also a bookworm. In addition Birgit has a wonderful gift for taking a genuine interest in her colleagues’ and their families’ lives. Her own son, Claes, is a big boy now (26 years old) and well on his way to become a state-authorised public accountant. Maybe this is why they have jointly invested in a car, which Birgit may apply for permission to borrow!
Birgit is a workaholic, whose working efforts Blue Water appreciates very much. Jytte Kvist will be celebrating her 30th anniversary with Blue Water on 1.7. Jytte has, as part of the economy team through all the years, been involved in many different jobs. One of the difficult tasks was training the young Allan Junge. Jytte is a fantastic colleague, caring, always full of fun and she participates often and gladly in Blue Water’s staff events and encourages her colleagues to do the same. Jytte is a very active girl. She never walks, she runs, and it is hard to keep up with her many activities – fitness, bicycling etc. Jytte is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and pitch into the work. Having renovated their summer house a few years ago, Jytte has now together with her husband, Johnny, started an extensive renovation of their private residence. In Addition, she also finds time to cultivate her interest for painting, while she leaves the cooking to Johnny. Jytte’s grandchild, Villas, is a real live wire, who has a very special place in his grandmother’s heart. 15
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Jubilees Silver jubilee On 1.7.1985, Henrik Miche Pedersen – also called Miche – started as shipping trainee with Knud Sørensen Shipping in Esbjerg. When Blue Water took over Knud Sørensen Shipping and Henrik became part of Blue Water’s staff, he acquired a taste for sales and freight forwarding – more specifically road forwarding. During his long career, Henrik has been involved in various activities and is today Business Development and Department Manager within the fields of Spain, France, Portugal and Poland. In addition Henrik also performs the function of General Manager of our Warsaw office. Henrik is extremely energetic and he takes a pleasure in his work, no matter how difficult the challenges may seem. You must get up early to be able to keep up with Henrik. It is no joke that he always carries his trainers in his bag wherever he travels. Henrik is married to Mona and they have two children, Anders and Emilie. The family’s leisure time is spent in their summer house in Blaavand, and they have now also developed a taste for skiing holidays. Henrik’s many trips to Barcelona may be the reason why he – or maybe mostly his children – have become Barca supporters. Rumour has it that he is still looking for tickets to Nou Camp!!
20 years On 1.7., Bob Tissserand can look back on 20 years as Manager of Blue Water’s airfreight department in Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Together with a couple of colleagues, Bob started the office and, after a difficult start-up phase, succeeded in attracting several interesting clients, among others Holland America Line. However, this client was later transferred to our Rotterdam office due to strategic and warehouse reasons. Even in difficult times, Bob has managed to survive and maintain the customers, and at the same time he has been responsible and done all the hard work of the AEO certification process. Bob is 54 years old, married with 2 children – a son and a daughter. Even Bob’s hobbies include aircrafts - he collects miniature model planes – and computer flying as well as volleyball. The caravan is permanently parked on Zeeland – Holland’s Cote d’Azur – where he enjoys many summer days with his 16
family. Bob’s favourite drink is single malt Scotch whisky. Nick Thomsen Pedersen will be celebrating his 20th anniversary with Blue Water Transport, Esbjerg on 15.8. Nick served his apprenticeship with Donau Express, Vojens which was then, after several years of close cooperation, taken over by Blue Water. When we, a couple of years later, decided to move the former Donau activities to Esbjerg, Nick came along and settled in the local area. Nick has always been involved in food transport to the East European markets, and may, without exaggeration, call himself “an expert” in this area. Nick is no doubt a company man and belongs to the generation that does not have much confidence in modern IT systems. He always keeps his manifests for minimum 2 years and carries his telephone book with him – just in case he might need it. Nick is always helpful, kind and generous, and he gladly shares his mother-in-law’s cookies with his colleagues. He is very particular about his food and does not at all like healthy food – fruit/vegetables. Nick devotes his sparse leisure time to his girlfriend, Rikke, and her children. Sport is not Nick’s cup of tea, but as a member of Holsted MC, he enjoys riding his motor cycle, weather permitting.
10 years On 15.5., Tonny Lifland Kjær has been with Smyril Blue Water for 10 years. Tonny has performed the function of warehouseman since 2000. He joined Smyril Blue Water a year after the company was established in Hanstholm and the goods volume was moderate. The following years the volume increased, and Tonny has worked hard to make the warehouse functional with a 6-day working week. It did not leave time for many weekends off. Tonny used to work at Claus Sørensen’s cold store in Hanstholm for 16 years and has also been a fisherman for 3 years. At present, Tonny is working at the terminal on Lillebælstvej in Esbjerg 3 days a week. He is married to Marianne and they have two sons – Joachim aged 21 and Nicolaj aged 18. Tonny’s leisure time activities include hunting and football. Neither is going well, as he is a Brøndby supporter and has not yet killed a red deer.
On 1.6.2000, Aase Bjerregaard Christensen joined our payroll department as its second member. Having taken her HR education, Aase became involved in staff administrative matters and thus played a more outward role, which made her a well-known figure around the Danish offices. In October 2007, Aase took over the responsibility of the HR department, and today the reception and canteen also belong under her wing. Last summer, Aase cycled with Team Rynkeby to Paris. Before the tour, Aase trained very professionally - both physically and nutritionally. She is always very dedicated and never does anything halfheartedly. Aase lives in Vamdrup, is married to Karl and they have two daughters. Last year, they also had a granddaughter – Linea. After Tour de Paris, Aase gave Karl a racing bike so that they together can explore Denmark by bike and enjoy the scenery. If they want to go faster, they both have a motor bike. Aase’s latest private project is renovation of a newly purchased summer cottage, where she plans to spend her leisure time and relax together with her family. Bjarne Jensen will be celebrating his 10th jubilee with Blue Water Aarhus on 1.6. After several years as truck driver, Bjarne decided 10 years ago to take the plunge and accepted a job as warehouseman. A decision neither Bjarne nor Blue Water have regretted. Bjarne is well-liked by his colleagues at the terminal and at the office, as he is diligently attending to his job. Some forwarders, however, may be tired of Bjarne complaining about inexpedient planning…! Bjarne lives in Thorsø with his wife Birthe. His greatest pleasure is camping – and with a brand-new caravan (Kabe), they go to different places in Denmark or abroad every weekend. On 6.6., Charlotte Krog Jensen will be celebrating her 10th anniversary with Blue Water Aarhus. Charlotte originally started in the domestic department. During the last 7-8 years, however, she has been dealing with export Sweden. Charlotte is a valued colleague, always helpful and obliging. Because of her positive attitude she is also good with the clients. Furthermore Charlotte belongs to our group of superusers, who teach their colleagues new things about our IT system. Charlotte lives in Galten with her husband, Gert, and their two teenage sons. They are all enthusiastic campers and their latest hobby is motor bikes. Maybe
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Jubilees we will see Charlotte in full outfit this summer, when she is out to get a breath of fresh air. Svend Poulsen of Smyril Blue Water will be celebrating his 10th jubilee on 27.6. Svend served his apprenticeship as a forwarder at Smyril Line Cargo, which on 1-4-2005 was turned into Smyril Blue Water. Afterwards he became a permanent part of the sales department for import to the Faroes – the recent two years as head of department. Svend is attentive towards the clients and always willing to make an extra effort if that is what it takes to satisfy the client. In private life, Svend has gone one step further and moved into his own house together with his girlfriend Joan. Svend is every inch a sportsman and has won several Faroese championships in different areas.
Stewart Greig of Blue Water Aberdeen will be celebrating his 10th anniversary on 27.6. Since 2007, Stewart is in charge of the office in Scotland and the 9 colleagues, primarily involved in activities within the oil and gas industry. Stewart is married to Fiona and they have a son, Liam, and a dog called Jack. Apart from the family and Blue Water, Stewart spends his spare time as coach for Liam’s football team and as Aberdeen FC and Liverpool FC supporter. Despite his silly jokes, Stewart is a very popular and respected manager (and the office IT guru).
daily airfreight and courier operation. In 2004, Jacob was appointed manager of the local airfreight department. In 2008, he became attached to the IT department specialised in web booking and customer support. As from the turn of the year (2010), Jacob became a superuser with special focus on web customers on Funen and Sealand, and at the same time he handles project-related jobs across the organisation. Jacob is known for his technical skills within electronics, and he makes the working day special with his cheerful mood.
On 1.7., Jacob Hornegaard has worked for Blue Water Odense for 10 years. Having served his apprenticeship in the airfreight department - in the fields of import/export airfreight and courier Jacob passed his IATA-Fiata examination in 2002 and became responsible for the
New Employees Esbjerg Britta Løkke Henneberg – 38 years old – is employed as assistant in our parcel department since 20.11.09. Britta is an MSc (Business Administration & Languages) and has 12 years of experience from sales jobs with various export companies.
Eske Sundal Hansen and Thomas Boulund Meng Hansen – both 22 years old – joined Blue Water’s IT department together on 5.12.2007 – in after-school jobs while they were studying computer science. After their successful graduations, they both became permanently employed as from 1.12.09, with primarily focus on system development.
We have taken on 42-year-old Johan Rask Sørensen as warehouseman as from 9.3. Johan has experience from previous warehouse and driver jobs since 1990.
34-year-old Allan Nielsen is employed as warehouseman as from 15.3. Allan comes from a job with DSV and has 13 years of experience from various port terminals – among others Leman with main focus on loading of trucks to UK.
Jesper Bach-Pedersen – 34 years old – is employed as crane operator as from 15.3. Jesper is originally a plumber, but has since 2001 worked as a crane operator for various crane companies, such as MT, Frank Segal and Esbjerg Havn, and as stevedore foreman in the port of Esbjerg for a short period.
39-year-old Arianna Fabricius – born in Italy – joined our parcel team on 18.3. Arianna has worked as forwarder in Italy for 10 years followed by a 4-year period with Kurt Beier and N & K in Denmark. Arianna will need her native language in her daily work, as her main focus will be parcels to Bestseller Italy and other Italian clients.
Blue Water Port Services In connection with the establishment of the new Blue Water Port Services department (please see the article on another page), our Esbjerg terminal has taken on the following staff to handle the activities under this new initiative: 34-year-old Martin Andresen - supervisor at the Cargo Centre in Billund Airport since 2004.
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Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
New Employees 31-year-old Martin Bjerre, has since 2004 formed part of the Cargo Centre team in Billund Airport
Brian Gjerlufsen – 47 years old – has a long experience from his previous employment with Vestfrost and not least his job as superintendent at our long-time shore base client, Odfjell Well Services. Kim Jensen – 45 years old – is originally a mechanic, trained at Ford. After a couple of years, Kim changed line of business and became a foreman at ESSI, followed by a similar job with Incado Production until he in 2007 joined Odfjell Well Services. 52-year-old Jørgen Jensen has been working in the contracting business for more than 20 years - as a mobile crane operator with Sigurd Pedersen and BMS. In his latest jobs with Frank Segall and Tonny Sørensen, Jørgen was a crane truck driver. The 39-year-old forwarder, Christopher James Sorrell, joined our deep sea team on 1.5. to be involved in overseas export. Christopher comes from a position as export manager with Scan-Shipping in Esbjerg, where he for 9 years has worked as liner agent and forwarder. Christopher originally comes from England and has been in the shipping business in both England and USA for a number of years. Copenhagen As from 1.1., we have taken on the 28-yearold forwarder Bolette Marx Dam to deal with airfreight import. Bolette served her apprenticeship with Leman and has for the past 2 years been involved in textile import at Scan Global. 18
As from 1.5., 33-year-old Kaj Mousted Hansen is employed as forwarder in our UK department and as back-up on Italy, Spain and Portugal. Kaj served his apprenticeship with Dan Cargo and has been working there since – 10 years in all - with the last 4 years as team manager. Kaj’s specialities are Italy, Spain and Portugal, but he also has wide knowledge about transport of pharmaceuticals. Baku 24-year-old Valeriya Abdullaeva started as freight forwarder on 22.10. Valeriya’s previous employments include Bertling and most recently a job as logistics manager with the local company Sabah Group (Big Trading Company). Dubai As from 1.11.09., 35-year-old Manoj Kumar Ramesh is employed to strengthen the airfreight department. Manoj’s most recent job was a 4-year employment with Lexington Freight Forwarding Dubai. Marietta Martis – 27 years old – started as receptionist on 15.11.09. Marietta comes from a job as commercial coordinator with Fly Dubai and is used to providing first class service. Bilu Ram – 48 years old – started as driver on 29.12.09. Bilu was for 11 years employed with our old customer, Muscat Cold Store, and has 5 years of experience from Dubai as heavy-duty driver. Dublin We have taken on the 32-year-old forwarder, Wayne Carrick, to support the increasing road activity between Ireland and Scandinavia. Wayne comes from a similar job with JP Jones & Sons and has also worked for EFL International Ltd. in the past.
Fort Lauderdale As from 17.2., we have taken on 32-year-old Javier Cuenca to look after documentation and bookings in the reefer department. Javier has 5-6 years of experience from the reefer trade – including the recent 3 years with Naca Logisitcs, Miami.
Port Klang Since 9.11., 32-year-old Jane Martini has performed the job as senior shipping executive and backup for Allen David at our office in Port Klang. It is an all-round job as there are only the two of them so far to share the daily responsibilities. Jane has 9 years of business experience from her previous jobs with Dacotrans Malaysia, Meridian IQ Malaysia and the recent couple of years in Denmark with Scan Global Logistics A/S in Copenhagen and Aarhus. Here she developed a taste for the Danish language/life style and is therefore able to understand and communicate in Danish.
Singapore 25-year-old Ka Man Wong is employed as administrative and accounting assistant as from 9.11. Ka Man’s previous employments include a job with Sanmina-SCI Systems Singapore.
Tbilisi 20-year-old Guram Gurgenidze forms part of our customs department since 4.2. He is, however, working in-house at one of our big clients. It is Guram’s first employment since he graduated from GeorgianAmerican University.
Certified Forwarder In December 2009, Michael Taagaard Jensen/ Blue Water Aalborg graduated as a certified forwarder with road transport as special subject.
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
Staff Redeployment Henrik Sidding Nielsen, General Manager of our Milan office since the start-up, is back in Denmark. However, he has not relinquished the reins in Milan, but will still perform his old job along with the strengthening of the sales efforts in Denmark on the Italian traffic. In Henrik’s absence – ¾ of the time – Mariluz Santos will be in charge of the Milan office. In Greenland, an extensive staff redeployment is taking place. Jeanette Kjeldgaard, our General Manager in Nuuk for the past 4 ½ years, has chosen to take up new challenges as self-employed in the field of logo garments and gift items. This has given room to Kenneth Skovbjerg Petersen (the manager in Sisimiut for the past 2 years) who replaces Jeanette as general manager in Nuuk. In Sisimiut, Mads Helmer Petersen – who has formed part of the team since the
summer of 2008 - takes over as manager. On 1.4., Katrine Linnerup Kristensen from our North Atlantic sea freight department in Aalborg moves to Sisimiut as replacement for Mads. After his first year of apprenticeship in Aalborg, Steve Egede moved back to Nuuk, where he originally comes from, to finish his second year of apprenticeship. After a period in Dublin, Morten Nyegaard is back in Denmark, where he since the turn of the year forms part of the groupage department in Kolding. Sebastian Stackelies, who recently completed his apprenticeship at Blue Water Odense, will form part of the project department in Barcelona for the next couple of years. Sebastian and his family have lived in Spain in the past, so he is already familiar with the language.
Weddings
Hannis Mortensen from Smyril Blue Water’s terminal in Tórshavn married Katy Andersen in Hoyvik Church on 10.9.
Dorthe Snow of the marketing department in Esbjerg changed surname to Heimbürger when she married Jan Heimbürger at the old Town Hall in Ribe on 12.12.09.
On 20.11.09., Fabiana Martins of Blue Water São Paulo married Beto Pereira in the Lorena Church.
On 28.1., Jesper Nagel of Blue Water Gothenburg entered into matrimony with Louise Grimell on the island of Bali.
Legal matters take up quite a great deal of the working day at Blue Water - in connection with contracts, quotations/ tenders, insurance, claims etc. We have therefore - in close cooperation with our long-time law firm, Kirk Larsen & Ascanius, and under the supervision of lawyer Niels Kaalund - agreed on an in-house arrangement. As from 1.4., we have jointly employed a young lawyer, 30-year-old Christian Muff, to attend to law matters and problems together with Jørn Bøllund. Christian graduated in law from Aarhus University in 2006 and worked for Blue Water’s law firm, Kirk Larsen & Ascanius in Esbjerg, for the next couple of years. Since 2008, Christian has been employed with MAQS Law Firm, Copenhagen, mainly involved in transport law in general and freight forwarding law in particular. MAQS Law Firm has until recently served as part of the legal department under the trade association Danske Speditører (Danish Freight Forwarders’ Association). Furthermore Christian has worked as a teacher on the freight forwarding education at Roskilde Commercial Academy as well as in the continuing education of qualified freight forwarders.
Kristian Gaunø of Blue Water Aalborg was married to Jeanette Frederiksen at Aalborg Town Hall on 20.3. 19
Blue Water News | No. 93 | April 2010
Birthdays May Christine Cox, Manchester – 50 years old Jesper Frølich Kassow, Aalborg – 40 years old Gikalov Konstantin Ivanovich, Aktau – 30 years old Jørgen Pilgaard, Hanstholm – 60 years old
6.5 15.5. 18.5. 21.5.
June Mikael Skinnerup, Copenhagen – 30 years old Randi Nystad, Oslo – 60 years old Mikkel Østergaard Kruse, Aarhus – 30 years old Dennis Jensen, Aalborg – 30 years old Trine Brosbøl Leth Hansen, Esbjerg – 30 years old
1.6. 2.6. 12.6. 21.6. 30.6.
July Søren Madsen, Aarhus – 30 years old Hans Birk, Odense – 50 years old Kenneth Birk Jørgensen, Ilulissat Kenneth Skovbjerg Pedersen, Nuuk – 30 years old Jean-Jacques le Nen, Brest – 60 years old August Elena Gadzhieva, Brest – 30 years old Rasmus Naeve Bildstrup, Aarhus – 30 years old Anders Olsen, Copenhagen – 40 years old Bent Kristensen, Esbjerg – 40 years old Helle Mejrup, Esbjerg – 30 years old Allan Junge, Esbjerg – 50 years old Heather Zhangwei, Qingdao – 30 years old
1.7. 18.7. 18.7. 18.7. 26.7.
13.8. 21.8. 23.8. 25.8. 26.8. 28.8. 30.8.
Births Baby boom in Aarhus: Rikke Skovbjerg from the sea freight department gave birth to twin girls – Caroline (3.4 kgs/48 cm) and Victoria (3.3 kgs/51 cm) - on 23.11.09 at 1101 hours and 1103 hours respectively. On 29.11.09., Sarah Hjort Bækby from the airfreight department and her husband, Carl, became parents of a healthy girl (4.2 kgs)54 cm) named Søs. A baby boy, Mathias, and a baby girl, Marie, weighing 3.2 kgs and 2.4 kgs respectively – saw the light of day on 10.12.09 at 1620 hours and 1640 hours. Simon Appel from the Norwegian department and his wife Marianne are the proud parents. Henrik Madsen from the Finland department became at father of a baby girl, Anna (3.1 kgs/50 cm), on 16.3.
On 15.12.09., Priya Reilly of Blue Water Dubai became a mother for the third time – this time of a fine baby girl – Megan Jean Reilly.
Kasper B. Olesen, sales representative from Blue Water Billund and his fiancée, Line, became parents of a healthy boy, Sebastian (3.7 kgs/53 cm) on 10.2 The second child of Finn Nielsen from the IT department in Esbjerg and his wife, Anica – a fine baby boy (2.6 kgs/49 cm), was born on 15.2. Hans Chr. Kolb’s (terminal assistant in Padborg) first child, a baby girl (3.5 kgs/52 cm), saw the light of day on 16.2. We have received this report from our seamen of Blue Water Stevedoring in Esbjerg: “Last night, Claus Clemmensen became the proud owner of another new construction. She – Maria – was launched at 0137 a.m., her gross register tonnage was 0.003480 and she measured 51 cm between the perpendiculars. The whole fleet is reported in fine condition”. Carsten Seeberg of Blue Water Kolding became a father for the second time, when his son, Christian (4.4 kgs/55 cm), saw the light of day on 26.2.
Steen Hartvigsen of the project department in Esbjerg became a father for the second time on 20.1. – of a baby girl (3 kgs/49 cm).
Marianne Girardin of Blue Water Brest became a mother on 7.3., when little Théodore, who is almost a year old, joined the family. Théodore was born in Kazakhstan just like his elder brother, who had been looking forward to having a brother.
Louise Mortensen from Blue Water Aalborg gave birth to a healthy boy (3,9 kgs/ 53 cm) on 5.2.
Martin T. Nielsen of the airfreight department in Odense became a father of a fine healthy baby girl (3.5 kgs) on 19.4.
Thomas L. Møller from Blue Water Copenhagen became a father for the first time when his wife, Helle, gave birth to a baby boy, Kaspar (3.1 kgs/52 cm), on 7.2.
Heidi Frost Kristensen of the accounts payable department in Esbjerg gave birth to her second daughter (3.6 kgs/54 cm) – Laura – on 16.4.
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Death Notice Our competent accounting trainee and beloved colleague Jakob Winum Andersen died suddenly on 28.2.1020 during his skiing holiday in Italy Our deepest sympathy goes to Jakob’s family Blue Water Shipping A/S
Published by: Blue Water Trafikhavnskaj 11 DK-6701 Esbjerg Tel.: +45 79 13 41 44 Fax +45 79 13 46 77 Layout: Claus Simony Editors: Gyrithe Skov: gskov@bws.dk Jørn Bøllund, Kurt Skov Published in: 8.400 copies E-mail: bwsebj@bws.dk www.bws.dk Print: Jørn Thomsen A/S