Odfjell’s Port Captains are spread out at core ports in the US, South America and Asia, and rarely meet each other in person. Even less so in the pandemic, so there was a lot to catch up on as they gathered in Bergen for two weeks of knowledge sharing together with office colleagues.
The first week was spent at the headquarters, with sessions together with the trade groups and a tank coating session with Ship Management. From there, the program continued at the countryside Panorama Hotel and sessions with our Global Heads, Fleet Performance, Pool management, HR, the SM Technology Section and the MSG Group.
The extensive program also included presentations from external parties such as Marinecare, Gard, DNV and the Port of Rotterdam as well as a visit to Framo Fusa. On their last day, the Port Captains joined the Fleet Week’s Odfjell Tankers Day.
“It is important to meet, discuss, share experiences and just be together as colleagues and friends. My impression is that the participants really appreciated this seminar, especially since it has been three years since last time due to the Covid-19 and travel restrictions.”
Nils B. Tofterå, Teamleader MSG
The Port Captain Seminar is normally an annual event, and the next is planned for March/April 2023.
“It’s been two very interesting weeks and we already look forward to next year, where we will also add a day together with operations” Senior Advisor Quality Management, Fredrik Larsen, said.
The second Fleet Week of the year commenced on April 26. Traveling has become somewhat easier, so it was with great pleasure the Bergen team got to welcome Philippine colleagues to the event for the first time.
This new knowledge-sharing concept will take place in Bergen or Manila once every quarter for attendees from the shore organization and Captains and Chief Officers from NWE and the Philippines. With this quarterly frequency, most of our Captains and Chief Engineers will get to attend over any 12-month period.
The aim of the Fleet Week is to:
The program includes presentations from the various Ship Management teams and Odfjell Tankers – and with time to give input, discuss, ask questions and enjoy some social time together. 15 Captains and Chief Engineers attended and around 40 shore personnel, including colleagues from Manila and Sao Paulo.
Topics and discussions covered recruitment, strategy, competence development, fleet performance, demurrage, markets, vetting, procedures, IT, tech and more. The discussions led to a range of concrete action points to further improve our operations, particularly on port navigation and loss of propulsion issues. Safety was as always high on the agenda, this time with extra weight as the Fleet Week coincided with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work and Odfjell’s implementation of the nine Life-Saving Rules.
As Harald Fotland summarized:
“The most important takeaway from the seminar is the very positive feedback I received on the cooperation between our vessels and the shore organization. This was evident both on the technical and the operational side: Issues are immediately attended to and constructively solved. It has not always been like that, so this is a very positive development.”
The last week of April also saw the pilot edition of a new HQ internship for newly promoted Chief Engineers and Captains.
Captain Mark Igcasenza, Chief Engineer Joel Borromeo and Chief Engineer Rafael Batitis joined for two full days after the conference for their internship.
They had separate sessions with fleet management, technology and superintendents and met with the MSG group and the performance team at Odfjell Tankers. The internship ended with a joint session where each of the three held an introduction on safety on board, followed by discussions.
