Company Magazine for the Odfjell Group - March 2005

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What they actually do Investor Relations The tasks of the Investor Relations department are in part given by its name; they obviously deal with relations with investors. But how, and when, and through what channels ”The core of it is all about creating trust and interest! We need the market to trust us as a serious and reliable company, so that we can attract interest from investors and thereby achieve as correct stock valuation as possible”. Espen Bjelland has held the position as Vice President of Investor Relations (IR) at Odfjell since 2000. Investor relations is a demanding and busy part of corporate business, and the department was recently strengthened by a new information officer, Anne-Kristine Øen. “Successful investor relations strengthens the reputation of the company, enhances interest in the market, and ultimately increases the value of the company. That is in short what we are working to achieve with our IR work”, explains Espen. “To manage this we work through different channels, applying a number of tools. The most important publications that we produce are the annual report and the quarterly reports. On a more day-to-day basis the market is informed of important events through numerous press releases that are published and distributed through the Oslo Stock Exchange and the Hugin financial communication channels”. Through Hugin, more than 3,500 interested parties receive an instant e-mail whenever news about Odfjell is published. You also produce a number of presentations of the company. Who do you normally address in these presentations Investor Relations. Espen Bjelland and Anne-Kristine Øen discussing the layout of the new Odfjell ASA annual report. “We prepare presentations on results and the general development of Odfjell to shareholders, investors, banks and media both in Norway and abroad. Internationally, most interest in shipping companies comes from the UK and the US and primarily from large institutional investors. Additionally it is important to keep contact with the analysts at the various investment banks that follow the Odfjell share” Espen points out. What would be the typical professional background of someone working within IR “IR professionals normally come from finance or information backgrounds. That makes sense, since an important part of the IR challenge is to convey financial information and to communicate it in a relevant manner externally as well as internally. My background is from finance, while Anne has experience from the communication and information field. Together we are aiming for continuous improvement of Odfjell’s financial communication”. In addition to the pure IR work, the department is also responsible for several information tasks of a more general character. They have to reply to all kinds of enquiries from the press and media, not just the ones related to financial results. Espen Bjelland is the official press contact for Odfjell. Furthermore the IR department is responsible for keeping the Odfjell homepage updated, and contributes to corporate information being published on the Intranet. ”Anne is a member of the editorial committee of Odfjell Quarterly, and we are involved in different projects with HR concerning Odfjell common competence and other e-learning applications. So, although our workload tends to peak every quarter around the release of our financial results, we are kept very busy at all times” concludes Espen. Investor relations in Norway is continuously becoming a more demanding business. This is mainly due to a shareholder market that is demanding more information and has an increased focus on immaterial aspects, such as ethics, environmental issues etc. From analysis carried out by Aksje Norge and Argument. 18 ODFJELL Quarterly March 2005
Transhipment in Singapore By Captain Frode Jusnes, Port Captain Singapore Board-to-board transhipment of chemicals has for many years been restricted in the port of Singa-pore, and thus, Odfjell vessels have had to carry out transhipment activities in nearby locations, mainly at Karimun, Indonesia. For Odfjell this has entailed that additional time and cost have had to be considered when planning our tonnage through Singapore. To review the restrictions for doing chemical transhipments alongside at Oiltanking Odfjell Terminal Singapore (OOTS) in the port of Singapore, a working group with representatives from Odfjell Singapore and OOTS has worked closely with the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA). The working group has developed a “Startup Procedure for Ship/Ship Operations”, which has been endorsed by the MPA. This has paved the way for a gradual and structured implementation of transhipment operations through three clearly defined phases; initial trials, intermediate exercises and final fullscale operations. Phase I - Initial trials: The initial phase involved trying out the transhipment processes in a small scale, with non-hazardous substances that, if spilled, would give limited damage to health or environment. The parameters of this first phase were laid out as follows: • Easy chemicals i.e. types C and D chemicals. • No concurrent operation ship/shore & ship/shore. • Maximum size of the lightering vessel to be 9,000 dwt. • Ship/Ship berthing operation restricted to daylight only. The Phase I operations were to be monitored and reviewed, and we agreed with the MPA that three successful Phase I operations were to be executed before we could move on to Phases II and III. On April 29th 2004, we carried out our first transhipments in the port of Singapore. Bow Lady was moored alongside OOTS Jetty 12 to discharge two parcels of 1,690 Mtons to shore. The lightering vessel Bow Sailor double-banked to the Bow Lady’s starboard side. Her approach and Bow Fortune transferring cargo to Bow Asia during the third trial transhipment, October 2004. . mooring was carried out smoothly by an experienced harbour pilot of PSA Marine Pte Ltd. Representatives from MPA & OOTS were present throughout to observe the first transhipment operation, and prior to commencing any cargo operations a pre-cargo conference was held on board Bow Lady. The cargo transfer of 950 Mtons N-Butanol was completed as planned and on schedule. Later on we have completed another two transhipment operations under Phase I: on June 27th Bow Pilot received four parcels totalling 5,650 Mtons of various chemicals from NCC Riyadh, and on October 23rd Bow Fortune transhipped one parcel of 2,000 Mtons to Bow Asia. Both operations were completed successfully, and thus, we were qualified to move on to Phase II of the process. Phase II - Intermediate exercises: The second phase of the transhipment project allow somewhat more challenging transhipment conditions: • Types B, C and D chemical are permitted. • The size of lightering vessels is raised to 12,500 dwt. • No restriction on ship/ship berthing operation. • No concurrent operation ship/shore & ship/shore. With the completion of the two successive phase II operations, the project will move into the final phase of de-restriction process. Phase III - Final full-scale operations: The third and last phase of the derestriction process will replicate fullscale operations, as when all restrictions are lifted: • Types B, C and D chemical continue to be permitted. • Increase the size of lightering vessels to 15,000 dwt. • No restriction on ship/ship berthing operation. • Permit concurrent operation ship/shore & ship/shore. To reach the present status of operations, many people have spent time to work with the various authorities to ensure safe operations. With Odfjell's worldwide terminal operations and extensive experience in board-to-board and multi-operations, we have been able to implement safe practices and incident-free operations. As OOTS is now also providing facilities for bunkering ex pipe from both Berths 11 and 12, we are all set for a very efficient operation and turnaround at our terminal. We thank Capt. James Foo and Daan Vos of OOTS and Per Aksnes of Odfjell Singapore for their effort to make this a successful project and to further improve our port efficiency in Singapore. ODFJELL Quarterly March 2005 19
Page 1 and 2: Company Magazine for the Odfjell Gr
Page 3 and 4: Dear Colleagues... On March 7th, Od
Page 5 and 6: Commemorating the loss of Bow Marin
Page 7 and 8: Basic training for 2005. Aside from
Page 9 and 10: During drydocking sium where a few
Page 11 and 12: The weakest link Safety and the shi
Page 13 and 14: YoungShip Shipping for the younger
Page 15 and 16: The pilot and bridge crew. From lef
Page 17: colonies. In contrast to the privat
Page 21 and 22: Tricky discharge at the Mhes Zi ter
Page 23 and 24: Sailors in snow White Christmas in
Page 25 and 26: Postcards from Chile Odfjell Quarte
Page 27 and 28: Owners and Managers Safety and Qual
Page 29 and 30: IN SERVICE FOR ODFJELL 40 25 25 YEA
Page 31 and 32: REGIONAL TRADE YEAR STAINLESS NUMBE

Company Magazine for the Odfjell Group - March 2005

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