Quarterly December 2011 - Odfjell

ODFJELL
QUARTERLY
magazine
Jan A. Hammer
Dear Colleagues,
Our Board meetings normally take place at our office
here in Bergen. From time to time however, they are
scheduled to one of our key locations overseas, the
purpose being for the Board members to get a closer
feeling and understanding of our activities abroad. For
this year’s November meeting therefore, our Board went
all the way to South America. The Board meeting took
place at our offices in Sao Paulo. In addition, the trip also
included meetings with key customers and partners, as
well as a full day visit to the port of Santos, the largest
and most congested port in South America. Here, the
Board were showed around at “our” terminals and were
also presented plans for future development etc. Santos
is a very busy port, and not unexpectedly, we had ships
there at the time of our visit. Without any pre-warning,
we managed to get on board the Bow Fagus for a very
quick tour, by nature almost a random inspection. The
ship had just berthed alongside at Barnabe Island to
discharge two parcels at Granel Quimica. She appeared
very well maintained with excellent housekeeping and
is obviously managed with style and dedication. Bow
Fagus is 16 years old, but almost looked brand new. My
thanks and appreciations therefore go herewith to the
officers and crew on board. As our Company’s CEO, it
made me feel proud.
With the Board meeting in Sao Paulo, I used the opportunity
to also visit Buenos Aires and Santiago. In Buenos
Aires, managers and key marketing personnel for and
in South America were gathered for the Annual APLA
convention. I knew beforehand that we have a strong
team and presence in the region, but this proved to
be more and better than I had expected. I enjoyed
meeting you all, and left convinced that we will be able
to maintain our strong participation in the emerging
markets in this part of the world.
During recent months we have had two Officers’
Conferences and last week a Captain and Shore
Management Workshop, all with the same theme: Our
Safety Culture. I think we have got this onto a good
track since most attendants to the conferences seem
to understand and appreciate that safety starts with us
as leaders and role models. We can and shall “preach”,
teach and give instructions, but most important is that
we “walk the talk” i.e. lead by example. Our plans for
2012 therefore, entail a stronger focus on leadership
and a number of aspects associated thereto.
From a QHSE point of view, we have made progress
this year. Our performance is measured by a number
of Key Performance Indicators, of which the majority
now seem to end better than last year. Most encouraging
in this respect is that we have seen less accidents with
personnel injuries. But we also had a serious incident
at our terminal in Rotterdam recently. It came as the
results of an unintended release of butane in connection
with a blending operation, as well as the discovery
shortly thereafter of small leakages of benzene vapour
from some of our tank roofs. The incidents created a
lot of negative publicity, both in newspapers, radio and
TV, not due primarily to the severity, but because we
failed to timely and properly report the butane release
to the authorities. A lot more can of course be said
and explained hereto. For me however, the important
aspect and the lesson learned, which I want you all
to make note of, is that we shall always be open and
forthcoming about these things, and proactively report
non-conformances.
The theme of this Quarterly is about how we are trying
to navigating through the rough global waters as the
outlook for economic growth is adjusted downwards.
In different articles we share information about some of
our efforts to better cope with these challenges and at
the same time ensure our business remains sustainable.
I hope you find it interesting.
At the time of writing, 2011 is about to go into history. It
has been an exciting and hectic year although not with
a recovery of the chemical tanker market as we to some
extent had hoped. But we have bought and sold ships
and shareholding terminals, and are relatively seen,
favourably positioned for the years to come – with or
without a recovery. The sale of ships and terminals could
not have taken place if it had not been for solid business
development, maintenance and operations over many
years. It proves in a way that our business model makes
sense, and of course, that we have a number of skilled,
dedicated and hard working employees out there.
With that I want to thank you all for your hard work and
contributions this year. I hope 2012 will turn out more
favourably from an economical point of view, and thus
become more rewarding for all of us. In the meantime
though, I wish you all a pleasant Holiday Season and
a Happy New Year.
NR.04/ 11
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