Onboard - OSM

OSM NEWSLETTER • 3/2010

Singapore - the shipping hub

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NEWS

A publication of the OSM Group AS September 2010 Responsible Editor: Fred A. Asdal Writers: Fred A. Asdal, Torolf Kroglund and Nancy Ugland.

OSM Group AS P.O. Box 69 4661 Kristiansand S Norway Tel: +47 38 04 12 00 Fax: +47 38 04 12 01 E-mail: onboard@osm.no Web-page: www.osm.no

A steady source OSM has evolved into an international company with 8.000 employees worldwide.

We have offices in close to 20 countries on several continents. The core of it all is in a small city far north.

OSM is a company with deep roots in Norway as well as Asia.

The Manila and Hong Kong offices were OSM’s first and second overseas offices in Asia.

Asia is strategically important for the continued supply of competent employees ashore and onboard, and also for the various business opportunities arising from this region.

Today, OSM has crewing offices in Manila, Shanghai and Jakarta with Manila being the busiest office in the Group.

Asia has provided a very steady source of seafarers for OSM in the past, and will continue to play this important role in the future. We are very glad to see that many of our seafarers have «grown» with the company, and some of their descendents are now also working with us.

In this issue we will especially be focusing

on Singapore. This city is possibly the most important metropolis in the world when it comes to shipping. In Singapore we are deeply involved in technical management.

OSM established a ship management office in Singapore in 2006, and the office has quickly gained in importance for OSM. Singapore has secured a firm position as a major maritime center in Asia.

The aim of OSM Singapore is to provide customers with the high OSM standard of ship management while taking advantage of the competitive operating costs locally. This allows us to provide cost effective solutions for our customers.

Upcoming business opportunities in the Asian marked will lead to job opportunities for seafarers all over. The Asian market is therefore important for all our employees and for those to come. It’s all about people!

Yours sincerely

Shun On Lam President OSM Asia

Content Where the sky is the limit In Brief An inspiring view Open minded and transparent Q&A «Haven» arrives Arendal 2

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Five oil tankers with divine namesakes OSM Ship Management has been entrusted a total of five VLCCs from Genmar. All vessels have been given names from Greek and Roman mythology.

The vessels from Genmar are all heavyweight. The oil tankers are more than 300 meters LOA and more than 300.000 DWT. No wonder they are named after Greek and Roman mythological figures: Ulysses, Zeus, Poseidon, Hercules and Atlas.

- These vessels are really state of the art, says Capt.

John B. Hough, Managing Director of OSM Ship Management.

Lately OSM Ship Management has been entrusted five VLCCs from Genmar Marine Management LLC in New York.

OSM took over management of the VLCC, MT «Genmar Zeus», in Singapore on the 2nd of July. She was delivered from the

yard early 2010 and sailed for Metrostar until she was bought by Genmar.

318.695 DWT, registered in the Marshall Islands. She was earlier named «Crudestar».

The vessel is 333 meters LOA with a beam of 60 meters. Her DWT is 318.325.

Heavy burdens The latest to be assigned are «Genmar Atlas» and «Genmar Hercules». These vessels are named after Atlas, the Titan who carries the heavens upon his shoulders, and Hercules, son of Jupiter and famous for his great strength.

God and hero On the 2nd of August OSM took over technical management of the vessel «Genmar Poseidon». The vessel is named after Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea.

The vessel is a VLCC of 305.796 DWT. She was built in 2002 at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering in South Korea. «Genmar Poseidon» was until recently named «Crude Progress».

On the 9th of August OSM Ship Management took over full management of the vessel «Genmar Ulysses». This vessel was the third VLCC from Genmar this summer.

Ulysses was not a god, but a legendary Greek king, and the hero of Homer’s epic poem. «Genmar Ulysses» is a VLCC of

The vessels «Genmar Atlas» and «Genmar Hercules» are 306.005 DWT. Both vessels were built at Daewoo in South Korea in 2007.

Genmar has environmental protection as its highest priority in all its undertakings and has required the same from OSM. - This fits well with our own priorities, says Capt. John B. Hough.

- And we are looking forward to further excel in this area together with Genmar, he adds.

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MARKETS

Where the sky is the limit Singapore is the world’s fourth largest financial centre and a cosmopolitan world city. It plays a key role in international trade and finance.

In four years the OSM office has expanded from four employees to forty five, and with more to come.

- We have a very strong environment here in Singapore. Many shipping companies want to be close to mangements, and for OSM it is obvious that our presence is needed here, says Shun On Lam. Lam has worked in shipping since 1974, establishing a career through several Hong Kong-based ship owners. He joined OSM in 1994, initially as Personnel Director in Norway, and since 1996 as Managing Director of OSM Hong Kong.

He has also served as Managing Director of OSM Singapore, and is now chairman of OSM’s companies in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Growing fast Today, Singapore might be the most important shipping hub in the world. The name, Singapore, means the Lion’s city.

Still, the small island off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula is both beautiful and brave. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. New York and Singapore resemble each other in more ways than one.

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Singapore is considered a strictly organized country. There is no litter in the streets, the rate of unemployment is extremely low, and the national administration works fast.

Within this well organized community the markets are growing fast. The shipping environments here are stronger than ever. More and more international shipping companies chose to establish offices here.

- The Goverment of Singapore is very supportive, I have to say. This is obvious when it comes to infrastructure. There are a lot of vessels passing by in the Pacific Ocean, Lam says.

World’s busiest port Several ports around the world claim to be the world’s busiest port, as there are no standardised means of evaluating port performance and traffic. For the past decade the distinction has been claimed by the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Shanghai and the Port of Singapore.

- Singapore is not an obvious choice as a port of call. Still, many ships stop here. It is a convenient place to stop for crewing or bunkering, and even though Indonesia

and Malaysia are nearby, Singapore is most often preferred. The reason why Singapore has turned into such a shipping hub is mainly due to the infrastructure.

Singapore might be the most important shipping hub in the world. After all it’s one of the busiest ports.

Big picture Lam works at both the Hong Kong and Singapore offices. The office in Singapore specializes in ship managment, while the office in Hong Kong works with crewing.

- We need to see the big picture, not only when it comes to big occasions, but every day. Our business is both shipping and crewing. In OSM it’s all about people.

This is how our offices in Singapore and Hong Kong complement each other, Lam says.

- We always combine. And that’s why OSM so often is a preferred company. We combine crewing and shipping, and we combine the high Norwegian standards in operations with the low cost of Asia, Lam says before he adds: - We offer the highest quality at the lowest cost. That’s the whole idea.

Shun On Lam (second from left) was at the opening in 2006, and he is now the head of the office in Singapore.

Janus Ng is the hard working manager of the OSM office in Singapore.

«Many shipping companies want to be close to mangements, and for OSM it is obvious that our presence is needed here.»

Shun On Lam

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OUR OFFICES

NEWS

News In Brief

«Arctic Voyager» visits Arendal

New OSM billboard in Manila

19th of August the LNG carrier «Arctic Voyager» visited Arendal on its way to Hammerfest, Norway.

«Arctic Voyager» has a capacity of 140.000 cbm and was delivered in 2006.

This K Line vessel was specifically constructed to lift cargoes for Statoil from the world’s northernmost LNG development, the Snøhvit-project. OSM is the crew manager of «Arctic Voyager» and several other LNG carriers operated

by K Line and their partners.

To all our seafarers: Thank you for a job well done.

Along the road from the Manila Airport in the Philippines a huge billboard has welcomed our seafarers. The billboard has been there for some time, and now it’s time for a change. A new billboard is in place. The spot and the message is still the same: Welcome home! To all our seafares Thank you for a job well done.

A scenic tour More than 150 guests from Norway, Sweden, Germany, UK, Cyprus, China, Japan, Singapore and the Philippines attended the annual OSM Golf and Sailing event held in Arendal recently.

Clients, business partners and friends took part in the golf tournament on the beautiful course at Nes Verk, a short distance from Arendal.

Many others came onboard the boat «Nidelv» for a scenic tour of the local fjord, where they both observed the jackup hotel platform «Haven» and the LNG carrier «Arctic Voyager».

In the evening, everyone gathered for a seafood dinner and drinks on the OSM Arendal office grounds. Alltogether it was a truly successful and joyful event.

Fine fishing The Filipino crew on «Arctic Voyager» experienced what fishing is all about while at anchor off Honningsvåg in the northern part of Norway.

In about three hours, 100 kg of fine cod fish was caught by the happy crew.

Most of the catch was caught by 3/ Off Cyrill Ellmark. Ellmark is an experienced fisherman, and while staying in Honningsvåg he filled up the fish room with about 200 kg of fine Norwegian cod and haddock.

From left: AB Eric Aguila, AB Larry Moncada and AB Giovanni Agnabo posing with some of the catch.

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«Brofjord» successfully launched The Platform Supply Vessel (PSV) HN 735 «Brofjord» was recently launched at STX Braila yard in Romania. The vessel is an Aker PSV 06 CD. The owner, K Line Offshore AS, is aiming for the high-end market in the Offshore Support Vessel segment. K Line Offshore is mainly targeting harsh environments and remote areas in the global market, with initial priority being the North Sea and North Atlantic waters.

OSM is entrusted the building supervision for all K Line Offshore AS new build vessels, four PSV and two AHTS. OSM will have full technical management of the vessels after delivery.

New tanker to OSM Singapore The oil tanker MT «Jelita» came under management of OSMSIN the 16th of July.

The vessel was taken over at Pulau Sambu in Indonesia.

«Jelita» was built in 1987, has Indonesian flag, and the summer DWT is 29.990 MT. The owner is PT. Jelita Maritime.

The vessel is chartered to Pertamina, the Indonesian State Oil Company.

An inspiring view OSM’s Hong Kong office serves the Asian marked, with a smile.

OSM established offices in Hong Kong while it still was under British control. Hong Kong became part of the Peoples Republic of China in 1997. In 1994 OSM’s Hong Kong office was set up as the second overseas office in the OSM group. The first office overseas was the Manila office.

FACTS ABOUT Hong Kong Official name: Hong Kong (Xiānggang) Inhabitants: 7.100.000

customers from Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore, says Lam.

Area: 1.104 km2

Staff and customers have a stunning view of the big city from the office windows, which in itself makes a visit here memorable. No wonder you see smiling staff members all the time.

Chief Executive: Donald Tsang

Spoken languages: Cantonese and English

Currency: Hong Kong dollar

- Having an office in Hong Kong is virtually mandatory. The city is the most densely populated city in the world, and the port is very important in the Asian marked, says S. O. Lam, who is chairman of OSM’s companies in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Vessels managed by OSM in Hong Kong are chemical tankers, offshore vessels, bulkers and containers. Crew resources are from the Philippines, China, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Latvia, Indonesia and Russia.The Hong Kong office today has 10 staff members.

Lam values their work for the OSM group.

- The main business area for the office is crew management and marketing functions for the group within the region, with special focus towards China. The staff mainly serves

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ONBOARD

Open minded and transparent - We work hard every day to make our customers successful. That´s our mission, says General Manager at OSM Singapore, Capt. Rajan Mathrani.

I believe in the value of transparency as an OSM Ship Management policy.

Captain Rajan Mathrani

- If you find a management more transparant than us, I’ll give up ship management and start selling cigarettes by the roadside, says Rajan Mathrani, laughing out loud.

Captain Rajan Mathrani speaks loudly.

You can hear him a long time before you see him. He also laughs a lot.

- You know, we work hard every day to make our customers successful.

That’s our mission. And so far we have succeeded well, knock on wood. You know, that is why it’s so hard to be humble, Mathrani laughs.

Good reputation Capt. Rajan Mathrani is the General Manager and loves to speak from his heart. He believes in the value of transparency as an OSM Ship Management policy.

- You can read us like an open book. We have open discussions on any matter concerning the vessels. There are no hidden agendas. That’s how we work, strictly according to our business ethics.

No skimming, no presents, no kickbacks, no paid vacations. We’re honest, and its working. We have developed a good reputation, says Mathrani.

When the OSM office in Singapore opened for business in February 2006, there were no vessels in the fleet. The employees only had themselves to manage.

- It’s hard to make money in ship management. We were waiting for business. I handled all kinds of matters at that time. And there were a lot of «helmets to wear» for one idiot, Mathrani says, laughing out load again.

- We had to prove to the market that we were accountable. Few believed that we could manage vessels as economically as we committed ourselves to. We have

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- We know what we’re doing and which buttons to push to get the job done, says General Manager at OSM Singapore, Capt. Rajan Mathrani.

succeeded in the management of the vessels we bid for, within the budgets proposed, says Mathrani.

- It’s not about the profits, it’s about integrity and reliability. We know what we’re doing and which buttons to push to get the job done. After all, this is my back yard, you know, says Mathrani.

When Shun On Lam entered the office as Managing Director in 2007, business really came to life. The first management came with some AHTVs and a DSV from Sanko.

Competitive edge - 2006 and 2007 were tough times. Today everything is different. We may not be

Now with Capt. John Hough at the helm, OSM Singapore manages several vessels, tankers, car carriers as well as offshore vessels. The aim of OSM is to achive better quality when it comes to operational, technical and safety standards.

the cheapest, but we are reliable and certainly accountable. Besides now our competitors consider us a threat, and that’s the best compliment I could get, Mathrani says.

- That’s what ship owners require from us and that’s what we’re here to give them.

We’re not a «cut throat» management, I’d like to think of us as a management with that sharp competitive edge.

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Q&A

Offshore Capt. Bent-Steinar Steinsøy at «Sea Cougar» dreams of meating Barack and Michelle Obama.

CONTRIBUTORS

Onshore Crew Coordinator Solfrid Sjurso spent the first money she earned on Leonard Cohen.

Make your world tour bigger We’ve got the whole world covered for you. Together with our SkyTeam partners, KLM gives you fast connections to more than 800 destinations – more places than you’ve got time to fly to.

Why do you enjoy working for OSM? The main reason is that OSM has management of the Deep Sea Supplys vessels, but after working here for close to 5 years I feel very comfortable being an OSM-employee. A lot of nice colleagues both onboard and at the offices ashore.

What is your professional dream?

To continue as captain of a vessel.

What do you enjoy doing most during time off?

Spending time with friends, watching football and fishing.

What is your favourite place in the world and why?

The beautiful fjords in Ryfylke (south-western part of Norway).

Because it is fantastic and amazing! Even after having been there thousands of times.

How did you spend the first money you earned?

I bought a small fishing boat with the first money I earned.

Which three things would you take along with you on a lonely island?

Knives, a nice woman and a the hope of not having to be there forever.

What was the best day in your life?

I have had a lot of good days, but I think I must say: The day I was born.

What can you forgive yourself for most easily? And others?

Smoking, I hope that I will quit someday. If other people have tried the best they can, I can easily forgive them.

What do you find most difficult to forgive?

Lies, and when someone tries to push down weak people that already are «down».

Who would you like to meet once if you get the chance?

Barack and Michelle Obama, they look like nice and intelligent people.

What would you definitely like to do at some time in this life?

Sky diving (with a parachute).

Why do you enjoy working for OSM? Never a dull moment. The opportunity to acquire new knowledge, not to mention the opportunity to meet so many nice people and colleagues from all parts of the world.

What is your professional dream?

To see an answer for every problem and to think: It may be difficult, but it is possible.

What do you enjoy doing most during time off?

I enjoy those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular. A small boat with my husband around our island, Tromøy, or being with our grandchildren and having fun.

What is your favourite place in the world and why?

Many places can be a favourite because it always depends on the feeling inside yourself and the people around you.

How did you spend the first money you earned?

I remember very well the first money I spent of my wages. It was on a LP with songs by a young Leonard Cohen. These are not only songs, but poems.

Which three things would you take along with you on a lonely island?

Maybe I should bring along «Songs by Leonard Cohen», sunshine and a return ticket home to my family.

What was the best day in your life?

This is exactly like my favourite place. There have been numerous best days in my life dependent on the feeling inside myself and the people around me.

What can you forgive yourself for most easily? And others?

When things go wrong even though you have done your best.

This applies to any other as well. No problem forgiving then.

What do you find most difficult to forgive?

People whom you cannot trust.

Who would you like to meet once if you get the chance?

Nils Arne Eggen, coach of my favourite football team, Rosenborg.

What would you definitely like to do at some time in this life?

To do Rallarvegen, the cycle route from the roof of Norway down to the Aurlandsfjord. And driving along the coast of Helgeland.

marine@viatravel.no +47 37 05 24 40

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OSM Seaman Travel Partner

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It’s all about people

OSM employs more than 8.000 people around the world, delivering the best service money can buy. We operate today more than 400 vessels and offshore units and serve our customers through the following companies and business areas.

• OSM Ship Management • OSM Crew Management • OSM Offshore & Consultants

«Haven» arrives Arendal

We want our customers to experience OSM as a small company with large resources and excellent performance. We are people serving people.

The Master Marine owned jack-up hotel platform has been transported from Indonesia to Norway for final outfitting and completion.

The platform was launched in January, ownership transferred to Master Marine, and it was loaded onto a heavy lift vessel in June for transportation to Norway. The jack-up was transported around the Cape of Good Hope by use of a Dockwise heavy lift vessel for final outfitting and completion at Nymo yard in Arendal, Norway. The rig arrived Norway in August according to schedule OSM has been entrusted the technical and crew

management of Master Marine new build jack-up hotel platform «Haven» from arrival in Arendal. The yard period in Arendal will take several months.

Preparation for operational activities is ongoing. This includes the preparation of application for Acknowledgement of Compliance (AoC) to Petroleum Safety Authority Norway for their approval of OSM operation of the jack-up «Haven» in the Norwegian

sector in the North Sea. Senior personnel have been at the yard at Batam for familiarization since March.

Master Marine has entered into an employment contract with ConocoPhillips in Norway for use of the jack-up as temporary accommodation at the Ekofisk field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea for 3 years plus option periods. Scheduled startup offshore is 4th quarter of 2010.

OSM Group AS P.O. Box 69 4661 Kristiansand S Norway Phone: +47 38 04 12 00 onboard@osm.no www.osm.no