The Officers' Conference in Manila was formally opened by the Captains' Workshop on the afternoon of February 19th. Like the Extraordinary Captain's Workshop in January, the session tackled the company's safety culture, the fleet's vetting performance in the past year, as well as key updates on Ship Management procedures and projects.
In addition, VP Technology Erik Hjortland discussed Odfjell's position on the new IMO 2020 regulations and shared the company's plan to handle the impending reduction on marine sulphur content cap. He also laid down the expectations to the captains as the company gradually executes the plan.
"We want to switch to compliant fuel as late as practically possible, but there shall be no — not a single drop — of 3.50% fuel on board any of our ships by December 31st, 2019."
Erik Hjortland
The Officers’ Conference followed in the next two days, attended by a total of 73 Filipino and Northwest European Management Level Officers (MLOs). Speakers from Corporate, Tankers and Ship Management covered the following topics:
Words from the Executive Management – Compass Strategy
Øistein Jensen (Chief of Staff)
Port Operations and Planning – Cooperation between ship and shore
Jared Honeycutt (Manager Port Operations Houston)
ORCA/Port Log
Jan Petter Rasmussen (Senior Advisor ERP)
Odfjell Tankers – Market, customers, topline increase, vetting importance, port performance and expectations from Tankers
Bjørn Hammer (Global Head of Tanker Trading)
MRV reporting
Kristoffer Ramstad (Senior Fleet Performance Analyst)
Competence
Torger Trige (VP Maritime Personnel)
Vetting (Best Practice) and Safety
Jan Ove Ødegård (Marine Manager)
Purchasing – future changes
Krister Bendiksen (Manager Procurement SM)
The presentations served as an anchor for the ship and shore staff to address concerns, clarify matters, and discuss improvement potential.
Captain Luisito Cantona, one of the participants, commended the thorough discussion of incidents. He commented that it is important that Shipboard Management Teams and shore leaders talk about incidents in as much detail as possible, and work together in evaluating the root cause and find preventive and corrective actions of incidents.
On the afternoon of the third day of the conference, Jan Petter Rasmussen organized group discussions on various issues aimed at improving an area of important competence. Divided into eight groups, the participants shared their insights on:
The group discussions were appreciated by participants and group leaders alike, as the sessions helped the parties understand each other's concerns.
There was also a demonstration of ORCA/Port Log on the second day of the conference, where participants got their queries answered and had the chance to try their hands on the system.
"This is exactly why we have this kind of conferences: We get acquainted with each other, we meet each other, we talk to each other, we discuss serious things with each other, and we learn from each other. Thank you for your presence and for your active participation."
Geirmund Drivenes, Global Head of Ship Management
“In 2018 we increased our efforts on the fight against corruption, and we are putting you in the frontline. The cost of corruption is very high not only for us but for global business. It impedes business growth, undermines fair competition and distorts development priorities. Odfjell has a very strong social commitment to fight corruption worldwide. We are all part of something that is bigger than ourselves.”
Øistein Jensen
“It is extremely important that we have the highest safety standards and all the necessary vetting approvals and customer acceptances. If we don’t, it will be very hard to trade the ships, and we will not be able to make money.”
Bjørn Hammer
“As we move into the digital age, data is becoming more and more important. But we cannot use data unless we are sure that it is of good quality. High-quality AOL reports are essential, especially now that this will be used by Odfjell Tankers to declare our total CO2 emission, as implemented by the European Union and the International Maritime Organization.”
Kristoffer Ramstad
“From the shore side, port planning is all about communications. Communication answers everything: it is simple, but not easy. That's why it is important that we communicate early, and often. The earlier we talk about something that’s going on, the more options we have. And having options can save us money.”
Jared Honeycutt
