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<strong>Odfjell</strong>’s work exchange programme, to let some of our<br />
employees experience life and work at another <strong>Odfjell</strong><br />
location, does not only involve swaps with headquarters in<br />
Bergen. This summer Makoto Komatsu of <strong>Odfjell</strong> Japan went<br />
to Singapore for three months.<br />
The Singapore Experience<br />
By Makoto Komatsu, <strong>Odfjell</strong> Japan<br />
After five years working as an in-house<br />
broker at <strong>Odfjell</strong> Japan, I was happy to<br />
be offered the opportunity to visit our<br />
office in Singapore and to learn more<br />
about the activities there. In Singapore,<br />
I was involved on the commercial side,<br />
fixing cargoes for our intra-Asian fleet.<br />
I started off on the Australian trade<br />
and the north-bound route, and later<br />
on worked on securing a south-bound<br />
trade from North-East Asia to the Straits.<br />
Occasionally the job can be stressful, and<br />
it is sometimes a bit of a challenge to<br />
balance the expectations of the people<br />
in the office and those of the clients that<br />
I deal with. A good foresight is important<br />
to make the proper decisions.<br />
<strong>Odfjell</strong> Singapore, as an active player<br />
in our international organization, has<br />
truly been an eye-opener to me. The<br />
training programme has prodded me<br />
to reconsider my original job scope and<br />
has emphasised the primary focus of<br />
serving our customers through proper<br />
operation of our ships. I am very happy<br />
for the opportunity to work closely with<br />
Makoto Komatsu with members of the Singapore staff<br />
my amiable Singapore colleagues, and<br />
I really appreciate the extra mile they<br />
have gone to accompany me in and outside<br />
the office. Being away on a three<br />
months’ work attachment in a foreign<br />
country at first seemed quite daunting,<br />
but as my stay is drawing near its end<br />
I must say that everything has gone by<br />
so quickly that I really feel I need more<br />
time to gain even more knowledge.<br />
Bergen Treasure Hunt<br />
By Frode Bjørklund<br />
The annual Treasure Hunt was arranged<br />
the 9th of September in a slight drizzle.<br />
However, that did not put a damper on<br />
the teams’ enthusiasm. After a couple<br />
of pizza slizes, we hit the streets of<br />
Bergen to solve rebuses that was challenging<br />
enough to allow some time for<br />
socializing within the teams. A quiz and<br />
some pratical tasks helped distinguishing<br />
team results, and as always support<br />
from family and friends was valuable.<br />
Dinner and dancing this time was Tex-<br />
Mex and a DJ, and all teams were rewarded<br />
for their participation.<br />
The champions, from left Inger Karin H. Enæs, Gøran Johanson, Liv Birkeland and<br />
Frode Bjørklund<br />
ODFJELL Quarterly September 2006 29
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