COMPANY MAGAZINE FOR THE ODFJELL GROUP - DECEMBER 2004

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In this issue:

P.O. Box 6101 Postterminalen

N-5892 Bergen

Norway

Tel: +47 55 27 00 00

Fax: +47 55 28 47 41

E-mail: quarterly@odfjell.com

Internet: www.odfjell.com

Editor:

Klaus Walderhaug

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE:

Brit A. Bennett

Tor Johansen

Tor Jürgensen

Geir Mjelde

Ellen Skagen

CORRESPONDENTS:

Manila:

Kjell Johansen

Rotterdam:

Theo Kruithof

Singapore:

Atle Knutsen

Deadline next issue:

March 7th, 2005

Design: MacBox AS

Cover:

Wintry impression of Odfjell

Headquarters in Bergen, before

the current reconstruction.

4Signing ceremonyin Severodvinsk

New OdfjellTerminals venturein the Middle East

Quay 11 Project atOdfjell Terminals(Rotterdam)

Odfjell with largechemical tankerorder in Russia...4

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COMPANY MAGAZINE FOR THE ODFJELL GROUP - SEPTEMBER 2004

Warm appeciation for 12 years of service to EPCA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Foreign Economic Cooperation symposium in Jiangyin . . . . . . . . . . 11New Terminals Management system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Quo Vadis Intranet? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14Revision of MARPOL Annex II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16The way we are organized - Flumar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Safety Bulletin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19What they actually do - Port Captain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20Quality Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22The Hive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Greetings from around the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26The long way back . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Odfjell Quarterly Brainteaser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29Seasons Celebrations on board and ashore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Personnel Corner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

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We are getting close to yet another year, and itfeels natural to summarize but also to lookahead. While I would describe 2003 as a "long"year for Odfjell, the year 2004 is harder to find asuitable term for. However, if we leave out theshipping crisis in the 1970s and the company splitsome 25 years ago, I believe it is fair to charac-terize 2004 as the most dramatic year in thehistory of Odfjell. We have experienced threevery serious accidents on our ships, taking thelives of 24 crewmembers. Although there arevarious causes for these accidents, they all remindus that in addition to the general dangersattached to life at sea we handle many hazardouscargoes. Let it be absolutely clear: we at Odfjellcannot and will not accept that people loose theirlives in our service, and we are doing everythingin our power to bring all possible risk factorsunder control. We are reviewing all relevantprocedures, and put great effort into implemen-ting these both on board and ashore. At the sametime it is essential that we have the necessarycompetence and not least the proper safetyattitudes.

During the year we have seen that other shippingsegments, in particular dry bulk, crude oil andpetroleum products, have had somewhat of abonanza, and we now enjoy some improvementsalso in the chemical tanker market. However,compared to other segments we still have aconsiderable upward potential. Some outsidersseem to share this view; our stock price has morethan trebled the last year.

Throughout the last years' turbulence, we havestill managed to carry on developing the com-pany. On the shipping side we have extended thenewbuilding programme in Poland to eight units.Together with the very recent contract for eightvessels plus four options from the Russian yardSevmash, and the many new chemical tankers wehave taken on long-term time-charter fromJapan, we have established a good foundationfor the renewal and extension of our fleet. Thisshould make us well prepared to face futurechallenges.

Odfjell continues to extend our network ofstorage tank terminals. We have established ajoint venture with Chinese interests, to build anew terminal in Jiangyin near Shanghai. Thedesign work is well under way, and we aim atopening the terminal in the first part of 2006. EndNovember we also agreed with our long-termpartners Oiltanking to establish a joint venture inOman. There is also a lot going on at our existingterminals, to increase capacity and to makeoperations even more safe and efficient.

The Ship Management Department is now busytaking over management of vessels previouslymanaged by Ceres Hellenic. Change of manage-ment may in itself be complicated, because itautomatically revokes the necessary oil companyvetting approvals. When we in addition haveintroduced a new department in Singapore thatwill manage some of these vessels, the task getsparticularly challenging.

Within Odfjell Seachem, the decision to centraliseauthority in Bergen has affected the organisa-tion, in particular those who had to relocate fromHouston. On the short-sea side, 2004 has beenthe first year of operation for our new Europeanunit, Odfjell Ahrenkiel. We have also establisheda joint venture with a Chinese partner for a regio-nal shipping operation in China.

Other units and staff functions have been equal-ly busy, to meet market demand, respond toexternal requests and to serve internal needs. Allin all, we can easily say that it has been a veryeventful and active year for the company and forus who work here.

Finally I would like to thank all of you for a jobwell done for Odfjell. I wish you all nice andpeaceful season's celebrations, and I amconfident that you will join me in wishing that2005 will be a prosperous, friendly and safe year,for Odfjell and for each and everyone of us.

Dear Colleagues...

Terje Storeng, President/CEO

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End October we could finally announ-ce the order for eight advanced che-mical tankers to be built by theRussian shipyard Sevmash. The orderincludes options for another fourunits. The ships will be IMO type IIfully coated vessels of about 45,000DWT, for delivery 2007 onwards on asemi-annual basis.

With this large order Odfjell entersinto a new phase in its fleet renewalprogramme. During the last ten yearswe have added a large number ofstainless steel parcel tankers to thefleet, further strengthening Odfjell'sposition in the sophisticated end of

the chemical tanker market. The tan-kers from Sevmash will both replacesome of our older coated chemicaltankers as well as strengthen our posi-tion in the easychem segment. Thesenew ships will be very suitable also forthe transportation of vegetable oils,petroleum products and certain otherbulk liquid products. Odfjell expectsan increased commercial demand forthis type of ships due to recently en-acted stricter IMO rules and regula-tions for carrying such products bydouble-hull chemical tankers.

The first eight of the Sevmash vesselswill cost on average about US$ 41 mil-

lion each. The optional four vesselswill be priced according to a mutuallyagreed market-related formula.

Sevmash is a large, competent andresourceful shipyard, and we see adefinite potential for a long-lastingshipbuilding partnership in similarmanner as we have experienced withthe Kværner/Kleven yards as well asthe Stocznia Szczecinska yard inPoland. Through a close and efficientworking relationship with Sevmash,we are confident that the outcomewill be a success for both parties.

Odfjell with large chemical tanker order in Russia

Odfjell representatives visiting the yard in a preliminary phase of the negotiations

Ready for friendship and cooperation

Dan Odfjell signing the visitors' protocol

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Our important contract with Sevmashwas officially signed on FridayNovember 5th, a day many of us willremember with joy. Our new Russianfriends and partners had done theirutmost to make this an eventful andmemorable occasion, but most appre-ciable was their obvious and sinceredesire to embark on this business ven-ture founded on friendship and trust.Of course the language differencespose a challenge in this project, butculturally we seem to be very close.We are after all “next door” neigh-bours, although politically havingbeen separated for many years.

Before lunch, an excursion was arran-ged to the town museum, where weamongst others also met with asecond grade school-class. Then wewent on to Severodvinsk's mainbakery, for a tour of the premises anda taste of its delicious produce. Wewere also introduced to one of theregion's bee-keepers, who had travel-led some 600 km from the south topresent his activities. Obviously, thisturned out an interesting and amu-sing session, not least including ourbee-keeping Chairman. We were alsotaken to the city's naval museum for alook at its most interesting exhibi-tions. In addition we had time to seethe White Sea beaches and some ofthe memorials, one of which tohonour the 13 locals killed in theKursk accident.

After an excellent lunch, the events

started with a tour of the Sevmashshipyards, followed by the official sig-ning ceremony and subsequent pressconference. Two nationwide and onelocal TV-station and a lot of journalistspresented a number of questions onthe project. Their presence illustratesthe novelty and importance of thecontract, not only for Sevmash andthe city of Severodvinsk, but for theregion as well. When the officialduties were concluded, our Russianhosts invited us to an hour of impres-sive entertainment at the concert hall,including music, song, dance andacrobatics, mostly performed by localchildren and youth.

In the evening, as the grand finale, wewere treated to a wonderful banquetdinner where the food, drink,speeches, jokes and toasts furthercemented our good relationship.

Signing ceremony in Severodvinsk

Signing the contract. From left Vladimir P. Pastoukhov(Director General of Sevmash) and Dan Odfjell (Chairman of the BoardOdfjell ASA) Memorial visit

From the press conference. From left: Nikolai I. Kiselev (Chief ExecutiveArchangelsk region), Vladimir P. Pastoukhov, Dan Odfjell and ØyvindNordsletten (Ambassador of Norway in Russia)

Severnoye Mashinostroitelnoye Pred-priyatie, in short Sevmash, was esta-blished in 1939 in Severodvinsk on theWhite Sea, just 35 kilometres south-west of Archangelsk. It started off as amilitary yard, building war-ships andsubmarines for the Soviet navalforces. During the 1950s and 60sSevmash became the centre forconstruction of nuclear submarines,and to date the yard has built morethan 100 such units, the fastest onebeing able to do about 45 knots sub-merged.

In the 1990s Sevmash also venturedinto civil projects, and has since built anumber of tugs, barges and othersmall ships for both Russian owners aswell as Western companies. In recentyears the yard has also taken up con-

struction of large offshore platformsand modules for the oil and gasindustry.

Today Sevmash employs some 30,000people, and is as such the main econo-mic basis for the city of Severodvinsk.The ship-yard has the largest buildingslipways in Russia, with atotal area of 100,000 m2.Currently it may build shipsof 200 metres length, up toabout 100,000 DWT. Due tothe hostile winter climateon the White Sea, allconstruction facilities arein-doors.

The order for eight to twel-ve coated 45,000-tonnersfor Odfjell is Sevmash's first

entry into the tanker segment.Considering the need for renewal ofthe world's tanker fleet, this shouldoffer a promising new line of businessfor the yard.

Sevmash- Our Russian shipbuilding partner

Sevmash is also involved in civil shipbuilding

From the city of SeverodvinskOne of the many submarines built at Sevmash

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”Chemical tanker for carrying chemi-cal products of IMO type II includingtoxic cargoes as well as refined petro-leum products” is what we will getfrom Sevmash in 2007 and onwards.Let’s take a look at the details.

Just by looking at the size of thevessels, 45 000 DWT, and the choice ofyard, one would think that Odfjell hasordered a series of product tankers.Then take a look at the followingdescription, and you will see that wehave actually ordered state-of-the-artchemical tankers – fit to serve ourneeds as high-end transporter of bulkliquids.

Acquiring such versatile vessels natu-rally starts on the drawing boardwhere all wishes must be merged into

a consistent design. In order to pleaseour customers and of course to makean acceptable return on our invest-ments, we have paid much attentionto efficiency, optimal stripping andcleaning, the relation between power,propulsion and hull form and finally30 years lifetime achieved by easymaintenance, and anticipation offuture legislation and industrydemands.

Cargowise, a longitudinal cofferdamwill offer enhanced cargo protection,and two 300 Cbm. stainless steel deck-tanks can carry more specialisedproducts. Dedicated lines and pumpsensure full segregation. The advancedepoxy and zinc silicate cargo tankcoatings offer superb resistance tochemical and CPP cargoes. Further

cargo care is achieved through a highcapacity cargo tanks dehumidifier anda high capacity inert gas generatorcombined with a high purity nitrogengenerator.

Safety and protecting the environ-ment have been core elements of thedesign. The design of tank internals,lines and pumps, with vacuumdraining, minimises pre-wash resi-dues, which together with fixed tankcleaning machines secure very effi-cient cleaning. Controlling cargovapour emissions is also given a lot ofattention, and on the S-class (S forSevmash...), also the fuel tanks havedouble hull protection.

The “super-long stroke, slow speed”main engine is de-rated to be as fuel-efficient as possible and the electricalpower is supported by a shaft genera-tor and auxiliary diesel generators ofproven design.

Commercially, the vessel’s 52,000 Cbm.capacity can be utilised either forhomogeneous cargoes or up to 22different grades. A cargo unloadingrate of 3,600 Cbm. per hour allowsunloading down to 14 hours. Cargotanks are designed to allow cargo spe-cific gravity as high as 1.5 mts/Cbm.Finally, the favourable DWT to cargocubic relationship and the long servicerange of 14,000 nm should make theS-class a dream to operate.

Introducing the S-Class - The new state-of-the-art chemical tanker

S-class particulars

Length over all 182.72 m.Length between

perpendiculars 175.22 m.Breadth, moulded 32.20 m.Depth, moulded 18.35 m.Draught design 11.70 m.Draught scantling 12.50 m.Service speed 14.50 knots# tanks, including deck tanks 22Deadweight at scantling draft 45,000 DWTDeadweight at design draft 40,750 DWTCargo tank volume (98%) 51,800 Cbm.Unloading capacity 3,600 Cbm. per hour

Karsten Sævik, Vice President Project/Newbuilding, at a visit to Sevmash

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On November 30th, Odfjell ASA andOiltanking GmbH signed a contractwith the Sohar Industrial PortCompany (SIPC) for the exclusive ope-ration of the liquid berthing facilitiesand the possible development of astorage terminal in the Port of Soharin Oman. SIPC is a joint venturebetween the Sultanate of Oman andthe Port of Rotterdam for theconstruction of a world-class portincorporating oil, gas and chemicalinvestments. Odfjell and Oiltankingwill also operate through a jointventure, the details of which are notyet finalised.

Our joint venture will initially operatethe multi–purpose marine jetties, con-sisting of seven deep-water berths forvessels up to 100,000 DWT. This will bethe second Odfjell/Oiltanking project

in the Middle East, the most impor-tant petrochemical production area inthe future due to the inexpensivefeedstock.

Sohar is experiencing a tremendouspetrochemical development. DowChemical and local interests are plan-ning to build and operate a down-stream polyethylene plant. Otherplans include an EDC plant involvingNPC of Iran and a 2 million tonnesannual methanol production unit. Theplants will come on stream 2006-2008,and the output is in general targetingthe Asian markets. The petrochemicalindustry in Oman is starting fromscratch, but the volumes of theprojects are significant.

Oiltanking is the second largest inde-pendent storage provider worldwidefor petroleum products, chemicalsand gases. The company owns andoperates 71 terminals in 19 countriesin Europe, North and South Americaand Asia, with an overall capacity ofover 10 million cbm. Our coopera-tionwith Oiltanking started in 2001 withthe agreement to develop OiltankingOdfjell Terminal Singapore.

Port of Sohar during construction(Source: Port of Sohar web-page).

By Siri-Anne Mjåtvedt and Svein-Gustav Steimler

The fourth ship in our series of 40,000 DWT stainless steel chemicaltankers from Stocznia Szczecinska Nowa was launched on November 6th.The vessel, which you see will be named M/T Bow Sky, was set afloatnicely without any difficulties whatsoever. According to plan she will bedelivered March 2005, to take up her service in the Odfjell Seachemdeep-sea fleet.

Launching of M/T Bow Sky

New Odfjell Terminals venture in the Middle East

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The European Petrochemical Asso-ciation, EPCA, is an international non-profit association with purpose tobring petrochemical business peopletogether, provide exchange of infor-mation and to promote projects ofinterest to the petrochemical industry.The association is headquartered inBrussels and has a full-time staff of 10people. EPCA’s mission is achievedpartly by organising conventions suchas the Annual Meeting (end ofSeptember) and the Logistics Meeting(end of October), events that many ofour chartering and marketing peopleattend and as such, are familiar with.Full member-ship to EPCA is onlygranted to manufacturers of petro-chemicals. As a service provider,Odfjell has been an associated mem-ber for many years.

EPCA has a Board of Directors and aLogistics Committee. Our former exe-

cutive, Mr. Olav Tangerås has since1992 been representing Odfjell as amember of the Logistic Committee.As from 1998, as the organisation’sTreasurer, he has also been a memberof EPCA's Board of Directors. Duringall these years Mr. Tangerås has pro-udly been a good ambassador forOdfjell.

But time goes by and since Mr.Tangerås already has reached thenormal age of retirement, it was timethis year for Olav to say good-bye toEPCA. On Mr. Tangerås' recommen-dations I was elected his successor toEPCA, and thereby the one to con-tinue his duties. This fall I had theprivilege therefore of attending anumber of functions and good-byeceremonies, and not surprisingly, Olavreceived plenty of good words for ajob well done. It was nevertheless aneye-opener for me as the new Odfjell

representative in these circles, towitness his high standing in the orga-nisation. I believe few of OdfjellQuarterly’s readers are aware howinfluential Olav has been, and alsohow strongly involved he has beenwith the full-time staff in Brussels. Asmentioned in several speeches, Olavhas handled these duties with enthu-siasm, respect and understanding, andas you can imagine therefore, thewords of appreciation, gifts and hugswere warm and plentiful. OlavTangerås is most definitively going tobe missed in the EPCA environment.It is with great humbleness therefore,I take on the task to follow in his foot-steps at EPCA, an assignment that Inow realise is far more challengingthan first anticipated.

The new Odfjell representative to the EPCA Board of Directors, Mr. Jan Hammer together with his predecessor, Mr. Olav Tangerås.

Olav Tangerås receives warm appreciation for

12years of service to EPCABy Jan A. Hammer

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Odfjell Terminals (Rotterdam) is wellon the way in developing our fifthberth for deep-sea vessels. At presentOTR has four jetties for sea-goingtankers, handling both mineral andchemical products. In the last yearsOTR, in line with other terminals inRotterdam, has seen a significantincrease in the traffic of ships andbarges. This has given a considerablerise in berth occupancy, which againleads to congestion and thus, to morewaiting and increased costs. OTRrecognised the need for anotherberth to improve the situation, andthe Quay 11 Project was initiated.

In close cooperation with theRotterdam Port Authorities, theowner of all land in the RotterdamHarbour, we have developed a planfor how OTR may expand our berthcapacity for ships and barges.

However, finding space in the crow-ded Rotterdam Harbour turned out tobe a difficult task. Having evaluated anumber of possibilities, we concludedthat the best alternative for all theparties involved was the relocation ofa neighbouring company, PortContainer Services (PCS). PCS will soonmove to another location nearanother of their facilities, thus

concentrating their activities inRotterdam.

For OTR this is the perfect solution,enabling us to construct a new quayon the (former) PCS location justsouth of OTR. This will be OTR's firstquay, since the existing four berthsare jetties. The new quay will have alength of 460 metres, of which 250metres will have a draft of 12.65metres for sea-going vessels. The restof the quay will be built for coastersand barges. The project includes deve-lopment of all substructures, e.g. quayand jetty, and also all superstructuressuch as hose towers and pipingbridges. As part of the project we willalso rebuild Jetty # 10. An additionalplatform will be constructed togetherwith a new access walkway, whichrequires the demolition of the presentwalkway.

According to the projects schedulethe first construction activities willstart in September 2005 and theproject is targeted for completion inSeptember 2006. During the construc-tion period business must go on “asusual”, requiring close liaison withour Operations and PlanningDepartment for optimal perfor-mance. We have a busy time behindus and still ahead of us. The project-team is now under full power, spiritsare high, and we look forward toreceiving the first ship to the newquay.

The Quay 11 Project Team, from left: Hans Meijvis (E&I engineer), Dick Vrolijk (mechanical-piping engineer), William Anker (process engineer),Aad Bardelmeijer (lead engineer mechanical), Nils Wiering (CAD piping designer), Dick Roubos (senior engineer mechanical/piping) and Marc Boelhouwer (project manager).

Quay 11 drawings

Quay 11 Project at Odfjell Terminals (Rotterdam)- Well on its way

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October 18th 2004 Odfjell Terminalswas invited to attend the ForeignEconomic Cooperation symposium inJiangyin, together with GarsonGroup, our joint venture partners inthe new Odfjell Terminals (Jiangyin).Jiangyin is situated in the middle ofthe Yangtze River delta, covering anarea of 988 km2 and with a popula-tion of 1.2 million people. Ever sincereform and opening up, Jiangyin hasbeen one of the main growth centresof China. The people of Jiangyincreates 1/250 of the total ChineseGDP, with just 1/1000 of the total areaand population. In 2003, the cargohandling capacity at Jiangyin Portexceeded 21.8 million tons, thusbecoming the most important cargocollection and distribution base onthe lower reaches of the YangtzeRiver.

Many delegates from differentcountries attended the symposium,together with important politiciansand Party members from the region.In connection with the symposium,Garson and ourselves were invited tothe City Hall for a private meetingwith the Party Secretary and theDeputy Mayor of Jiangyin. The

symposium itself was held atHuangshanhu Park, where all the

participants were met by thousandsof children with flowers and balloonssinging ‘welcome, warm welcome. Aspecial invitation was granted to ourSenior Vice President, Mr. Svein-Gustav Steimler, as one of the fewguest speakers at the symposium.

At the reception banquet held in theevening we received very positivefeedback on Mr. Steimler's speech aswell as much interest for our Jiangyinterminal project.

By Siri-Anne Mjåtvedt

Odfjell Terminals participates in

Foreign Economic Cooperation symposium in Jiangyin

Siri-Anne Mjåtvedt and Gudmund Valen at the Huangshanhu Park

Svein-Gustav Steimler delivering his speech at the symposium

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Over the last fewyears our terminalbusiness has grownfrom a single owned/-operated terminal inHouston to become abusiness area with sixfully or partly ownedterminals. As of todaywe manage four ofthe terminals, but we

lack a set of common ICT applicationsin use at these. Our two largest termi-nals for instance, have different ICTmanagement systems that both willhave to be modernized and/or re-placed within some years due to thegeneral technology development.

Odfjell has ambitious plans for furthergrowth through investment in newfacilities, and new projects are alreadyinitiated. Accordingly, it is now impor-tant to apply ICT in an appropriateway.

In order to ensure a stronger degreeof know-how transfer and bestpossible use of our resources, Odfjellhas formulated a strategy for deve-lopment and implementation of ICTsolutions. The most importantelement of the ICT strategy is themaking of a new common TerminalManagement system. This will be animportant tool to structure the way

we want our terminals to be mana-ged. The idea is that it shall preserveknowledge, ensure transfer of experi-ence and reduce dependency on indi-viduals. The new system shall be a toolboth for the individual terminal butalso for easier (stan dardized) controland supervision at a corporate level.

The vision statement for the newTerminal Management system says:

A new user-friendly Odfjell Terminal Management system is built on optimized work processes and proven features from replacedapplications.

The system should accomplish safer operation, increased administrative efficiency, better customer service, regulatory compliance and reduced proba-bility of mishaps, leading to lower costs, higher revenues and increased customer satisfaction.

The new Terminal Management system will be a robust and flexible platform to build on, thereby driving Odfjell Terminals to business excellence by supporting and swiftly embracing future business requirements.

The Terminal Management systemwill facilitate planning and schedulingof the work at the terminals, toachieve better resource utilisation andimproved reliability. Flexible contractmanagement is another essentialelement to enhance customer service.The system must also facilitate e-capa-bilities towards the customers andconstitute a robust platform forimplementing local or universalcustom-made services. Single-pointdata entry and consistent data valida-tion will ensure the quality of routineswithin the system as well as that ofprocesses interacting with othersystems.

The new Terminal Management sys-tem will also contribute to safer ope-ration, in terms of both personnelsafety and environmental protection.By validating new work-ordersagainst the status of other work-orders and resources known to the

An overview of the new TerminalManagement system.

Tom Hagesæther of UlrikenConsulting, leading the work withthe first phase of the project.

Odfjell Terminals to develop

New Terminal ManagemBy Tor Jürgensen

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system, through a set of soft and hardrules (breakable and unbreakablerules), the system will reduce the pro-bability of mishaps and suggest recti-fication of inadequate procedures.

Better data presentation and dataquality supporting the resource utili-sations planning processes, will giveenhanced asset utilization. In general,we will gain reduced operating costsat the terminals as well as reduced ICTcosts due to centralization of adminis-tration, competence and optimizedwork processes.

As you can understand we have esta-blished an ambi-tious project, whichwill take at least 24 months to com-plete. The decision to develop a newterminal management system wastaken already in 2003, but due to vari-ous reasons the actual work didn'tcommence until June 2004. The deve-lopment project will be carried out inthree main phases:

1. Mapping business, user, operational requirements and functional features.

2. Based on above, decide whether to purchase an "off-the-shelf" product or to develop our own system .

3. Implementation of the newsystem at the terminals.

The work on Phase One is led byexternal consultant Tom Hagesætherfrom Ulriken Consulting, who knowsOdfjell well from several other deve-lopment projects. The rest of theproject team consists of Marcel vanden Nieuwendijk (OTR), Paul vanHerrewegen (OTR), Sam Dufilho(OTH), Larry Pipkin (OTH), ErikAndreassen (OTH), Morten Albriktsen

(OT Bergen) and Jan Peder Arnesen(Odfjell ICT Bergen).

To direct the work there is appointeda steering committee under the lea-dership of Svein-Gustav Steimler,Senior Vice President OdfjellTerminals. It's other members areBernt Netland (OTH), Zeger van Aschvan Wijck (OTR) and Tor Jürgensen(Odfjell ICT Bergen).

We will follow up with more informa-tion as we proceed with this new andchallenging task.

ment System

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To me the word"portal" soundsrather science fic-tion, but it is real-ly, by definition,just “a site featu-ring a suite ofcommonly usedservices, servingas a starting pointand frequentgateway to theWeb (Web portal)or a niche topic

(vertical portal)”. B2E (Business toEmployee) indicates that the servicesworks within the enterprise. Like ourIntranet, portal services have ingeneral become both important andpopular. Online banking and stockbroking, travel booking, eBay andGoogle are some of the services uponwhich we to an increasing extentdepend, and we must expect a steady

development of new and betteroffers.

Seven years ago, when joining Odfjell,I was proud to receive an e-mailaccount (a tool not previouslyenjoyed). Our old mail system evenhad an electronic notice board thatactually grew as people saw the valueof sharing information. In 2001, busi-ness and staff units agreed to let this“Intranet” have a try, but the systeminitially just replaced our old noticeboard as a nice place to archive shareddocuments. Next, messages of corpo-rate or general character carried bybulk e-mail were instead displayed onthe Intranet “front page”. Infor-mation was accordingly the firstIntranet element and it has grown inmagnitude and sophistication.Corporate news, Market news andPersonnel information are the domi-nant “dynamic” services, whilst the

menu points contain information ofmore “static” kind. The information isthere to help us make better decisionsand ease tasks and processes.

The last year has introduced moreelements to the portal. Firstly we nowfind Applications, both business unitspecific and corporate ones. TheHuman Resource and ICT departmentshave nicely integrated the Agresso HRWeb and the Competence Centre,both good examples of B2E inter-activity. Further, we have tried tomake the system in general moreuser-friendly both in performance(speed), browsing and design.Regarding the latter, the “split” of theIntranet in three layers – Corporate,Business Unit and My Page allows ahigh degree of personalisation of thecontent. The idea is to add morespecific content, applicable for thevarious business units and/or offices

Quo Vadis Intranet?The Matrix is the Future!By Frode Bjørklund, Infomaster of Odfjell Intranet

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only. The Corporate (Front) page willbe a mix of corporate and local officenews. The Business Unit page willenable all employees in the samedivision, like Odfjell Terminals orOdfjell Seachem, to browse the samecontent, whilst My Page will be a mixof local/office information and yourown “pick and choose” of variousnews channels and other features.

Regrettably, there are currently somelimitations to the Intranet. The vesselsdo not have access, and shore-basedcolleagues without a personal office-PC may find it less relevant. Further,many abroad offices must depend onbrowsing by logging on to HQ termi-nals, thus reducing performance.Hopefully, in the not so distant futureall systems will be easily available toall Odfjell units and employees.

The potential of the Intranet is actual-ly huge, and I believe the true bene-fits of operating the portal will revealitself if or when we come to the stageof using the Intranet as a tool forCollaboration. The technical platformis quite flexible and may allow bettercommunication both across and wit-hin the locations and business units,also known as matrix structure. Wehave a great oppor-tunity to buildbasic systems for immediate know-ledge transfer regarding:

customers and opportunitiesproducts and handlingoperational and administrational best practicestechnical know-howsuppliers and performancesupply chain coordinationteam/project workspace

Taking this step does however requiredemanding organisational efforts liketop management involvement andpromoting a culture for informationand knowledge sharing. The goodnews is that the tool is already acqui-red, it just takes the determination todevelop and use it. Thus touching thefield of Organisational Learning, letme cite Sir John Brown, the CEO ofour valued customer/supplier BP: “No matter where the knowledgecomes from, the key to reaping a bigreturn is to leverage that knowledgeby replicating it throughout thecompany so that each unit is notlearning in isolation and reinventingthe wheel again and again.”

The last portal element to be desired,at least from an analyst’s point ofview, is Enterprise Reporting. Such afeature will allow pulling statisticsfrom the various financial and opera-tional systems, either by selectingamong standard reports or by provi-ding the parameters necessary totailor reports. Anyhow, decisionsupport would be a few clicks away -anytime.

We strive to make the portal user-friendly and outline the potential forexpanding the use. The future of theOdfjell Intranet is now in the hands ofthe users. To create more value, allunits should ask “How can we workand share better” and subsequently“Do we want the Intranet to be a partof this”. There are many answers tothe first question, to the second onlyone: YES!

Insert: The Intranet is a great tool tosupport our organisational principles,as these are stated in the OdfjellCommon Competence course.

Clarksons' Shipping IntelligenceNetwork (SIN 2003) is available to theentire organisation. SIN 2003 is aweb-based tool, located atwww.clarksons.net. This comprehen-sive application provides lots and lotsof shipping-related information,amongst others:

Publications, including the well-known “Shipping Intelligence Weekly” Vessel specific dataRates, earnings, bunkerprice, S&P transactions, etc.

Odfjell holds a global license for thisservice. To launch this website, justpress the "C" icon on the upper rightcorner of the Intranet. For furtherdetails on use and access, type “SIN2003” in the Intranet search engine.Good luck!

Intranet services:SIN 2003 - a powerful shipping information tool

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A revision of current cargo categori-sation has come into effect. As from2007, many products previously beingtransported by product tankers will,in effect, be reserved for chemicaltankers. This includes all vegetableoils, but also a number of other com-modities moving in large volumes.However, there are also features ofthe revision that moderates theconsequences. In this article we lookat the regulation changes.

IntroductionIn the Odfjell Quarterly October 2004issue we discussed how severe oilpollution, following the shipwrecks of'Erika' and 'Prestige' led to stricterregulations including double-hullprotection. To minimise the risk of oilspills in case of collision or stranding,single-hull tankers were to be phasedout for trading in oil and oil products.

The phasing out of single-hull tankersapply to ships carrying mineral oilsregulated by Annex I of MARPOL, theinternational convention for theprevention of pollution from ships.However, the International MaritimeOrganisation (IMO) worked in parallelon a revision of the so-called Annex IIof MARPOL, regulating the transpor-tation of chemicals in bulk. Thereason for this revision was to adaptthe IBC code (the international codefor transportation of hazardous bulkcargoes) to an international overallstandard for product classification. Asa result of this process, most productscurrently listed in the IBC code hasbeen reassessed and reclassified. But afew still remain.

Revision of the IBC code and MARPOLAnnex IIIMO's Marine Environment ProtectionCommittee (MEPC) adopted the finalversions of the IBC code and MARPOLAnnex II during the October 13-15meeting, effective as from January 1st2007. The most important changesare:

As from 2007, many of the cargoescurrently unregulated, e.g. metha-nol, MTBE and ethylene glycol, willbe covered by the new IBC code, hence these products can there-after only be carried by chemical tankers. Today such products may be transported by product carriers as well as other tankers dedicated for such purpose.

All vegetable oils and animal fats are reclassified, and will require transportation in tanks of shiptype2, meaning, double side protection of at least 760 mm, in addition to the double-bottom requirements of 1/15 of the vessel width. The reason, for including vegetable oils and animal fats in the revision, being that the products have been found to represent an equal threat to the marine environment as that of mineral oils. Thus, the revision reflects the conclusion, that comparable protection is required.

So-called "oil-like substances", among which toluene and xylene are the most notable, will cease toexist as a separate product category allowed to be carried by product carriers. Following the revision, these products can only be carried by chemical tankers.

The revision will thus impact thedemand for chemical tankers.Preliminary calculations made byIntertanko indicate that the volumesrequiring ship-type 2 cargo space willmore than treble, from 2003 to 2007,to some 93 million metric tonnesper year. Nevertheless, the world'schemical carrier fleet seems sufficientto cover this increased demand. Basedon "normal" trading patterns as wellas utilisation rates, still there seems aslight overall supply surplus, when theregulations come into effect in 2007.However, this excludes or leaves little

room for the considerable volumes ofclean petroleum products that thechemical carrier fleet is currentlytransporting.

Compromising on the vegetable oilsDespite calculations indicating thatthe market would be able to absorbthe consequences of the now adoptedrevision, there were and still is someconcern, voiced in particular by vegoilproducers and their clients, thatthere might develop a transportationcapacity shortage. Consequently, toensure sufficient tonnage availablefor vegetable oils and animal fats,

Revision of MARPOL Annex II- Just another change?By Svend Foyn-Bruun and Klaus Walderhaug

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MEPC in the final round agreed on acompromise proposal by TheNetherlands, Panama and the US. Thecompromise opens for allowing, ifindeed a shortage can be demon-strated, to exempt certain ships fromthe basic requirements (ship-type 2)meaning vegetable oils and animalfats could thus be carried, providedthe vessel complies with the followingconditions:

The tanker shall meet all requirements for ship-type 3 as per the IBC code except for cargo tank location. This means that it needs a chemical code certificate, which again demands certain

safety equipment, revised/enhanced operational procedures and arrangements, and crew training/certifying.

Width of double side (or tanks notused for such products) has to be at least 760 mm.

At first sight it may appear that thecompromise opens for letting thebulk of ship-type 3 tankers continuetrading in vegetable oils. In fact, mostmodern product carriers and chemical& oil tankers built after 1993 docomply with the requirements for hullprotection, i.e. double sides and

double bottom. Even quite a few pre1993 ships qualify.

New stripping requirementsHowever, as from 2007 new andstricter stripping requirements,warranting the maximum acceptableamount of cargo left in the tank andvessel cargo lines, following dis-charge, will apply for all regulatedchemicals, including vegetable oils.The new limits for the transportationof vegetable oils are 150 litres for exis-ting tonnage and 75 litres for tankersbuilt after 2007, quite a challenge.Product carriers with separate pump-rooms will hardly be able to comply,and a large number of other ships willhave to install more efficient pumpsand/or rearrange the tanks sumps toachieve sufficient stripping capacity.

The real impact on the market willprobably be less than what at firstassumed. Already a majority of thevegetable oil imports to Europe andvegoil trade to and from the US aremoving by chemical tankers. In otherregions, e.g. exports from SouthAmerica and Inter Asia, the productcarriers have a more dominating posi-tion. It remains to be seen howeverhow the flag states will enforce thenew regulations, in particular thestripping requirements.

The revision of the IBC code andMARPOL Annex II, together with theaccelerated phasing out of single-hulltonnage, have received much atten-tion and caused a considerableamount of debate. From experiencewe know, that the market has aremarkable ability to absorb andadapt to changes. Thus, the impact onthe chemical carrier market is far fromclear, the more so since scrapping ofold ships currently is deterred by ahealthy market for oil products. Andthere is of course the evolution ingeneral of the supply and demandside in the interim.

We can conclude that environmen-tally the MARPOL revision is welcomenews, and tentatively that is commer-cially good news to our industry.

I

As a result of the intensive work andinvestments applied by the OdfjellGroup in South America during thelast four decades, we have nowreached a leading market position inthe region, both in sea transporta-tion and storage services. The serviceswe offer have become increasinglyimportant components in the logisticschain of our customers engaged inimports and exports of bulk liquids.

In 1999 Odfjell entered into a newregional venture through the acquisi-tion of 50% of Flumar, a Brazilianshipping company. The remainingshares were held by the groupsKristian Gerhard Jebsen of Norwayand Louis Dreyfus of France. Byadding the Brazilian cabotage intoOdfjell’s service network, a new linkwas made available for our logisticsoffer. Since this trading is restricted toBrazilian flag vessels, Flumar openedthe access to this activity, allowingnew commercial possibilities to serveour customers.

In 2002 the Flumar headquarters wasmoved from Rio de Janeiro to SãoPaulo, joining the premises of OdfjellBrasil, Granel Quimica and Hoyer-

Odfjell. The move hascontributed to improveinterchange between thedifferent business teams,to increase the knowled-ge about the needs ofour common customers,as well as to identify newcommercial opportuniti-es. In this sense, the conc-lusion of a long-termcontract for the transpor-tation of clay slurry fromMunguba (north Brazil)and the storage of theproduct at the GranelQuimica terminal inSantos, constituted onepractical case involvingthe negotiation of com-bined services.

The Flumar organisation presentlyconstitutes of 15 people ashore andabout 160 at sea. Commercial charte-ring, ship operations, accounting andfinances are handled from São Paulo,whilst technical management andcrewing activities are outsourced toV-Ships of Norway.

Flumar operates four chemical tankerson the Brazilian coast, from which

two are fully owned (Angelim andAraucaria) and two are bare-boatchartered (Jacaranda and OWLTrader). In addition we operate twogas tankers, the Jatai (owned) and theAragas (time-chartered). The averagecarrying capacity of the vessels opera-ted by Flumar is about 9,500 DWT,some 1.2 million tons (excludingAragas) are expected to be transpor-ted this year, and the average sailingtime between ports is only three days,illustrating how hectic our activitiesare.

A main challenge for the near futureis the development of a newbuildingproject to provide the necessary fleetrenewal. According to prevailingrules, in order to benefit from theexisting official financing system andto obtain the Brazilian registration,the vessels must be built in Brazil.Flumar is already engaged in such aprocess, which besides the technicaland economical details is quite depen-dent on political issues. We expectthat a considerable amount of timeand effort will be required, and thiscertainly demands full support fromall colleagues at Flumar, to assurea long and healthy future for thecompany.

Flumar– a genuine Brazilian shipping companyBy Roberto Ferreira

A warm smile of welcome to Brazil

The Flumar staff. From left: Ederlan Lacerda, Thiago Rocha, Otacilio Borges, Sandra Adolpho,José Francisco, Monica Pereira, Amilcar Gonçalves, Alex Diez, EdsonRodrigues, Elaine Modesto, João Barros, Isabel Areas, Kaare Endresen,Roberto Ferreira, Knut Ovrebo

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To make safetyand safety im-provement aprimary issue ineverything weare doing, fromthe very top andthrough-out thewhole Odfjellorgani sat ion ,will be animportant chal-lenge and goal

in the coming year. Our Chairman, Mr.Dan Odfjell addressed the aforemen-tioned in a letter to all ships mastersin August this year. In 2004 tragic andserious accidents related to the cargowe carry and its handling have occur-red, both within our own companyand in our industry. As this article isbeing written, we received the sadand shocking news of yet anotherchemical tanker, the Chilean ownedM/T Vicuna, that exploded violentlywith catastrophic results; loss of lives,cargo, the ship and significant envi-ronmental damage. This is anothersharp reminder of the risks our sea-farers and ships are exposed to.

As part of our loss prevention workfollowing the accidents we have suf-fered on ships in the Odfjell fleet thisyear, the class society DNV was taskedwith doing a risk assessment of ourtank operations. The process includedreview of ship and shore-side systemsand personnel involved in tank opera-tions. It also covered relevant opera-tions, equipment and tasks, from acargo is booked to it is off the shipand the tank(s) used are ready for anew cargo. The report was completedlate October 2004 and will be a veryhelpful instrument for Odfjell in ourefforts to improve our procedures andoverall safety performance.

At Risk Management we have justcompleted our internal report on theNCC Mekka accident and submitted itto the ship’s Flag State Authorities,Norway. Their official investigationreport is still pending. We are alsoexpecting the Bow Mariner report tobe completed by the US Coast Guardand submitted to the ship’s Flag StateAuthorities, Singapore, in the nearfuture.

New shipboard procedures have beenmade and existing ones revised. Ourmain focus with regard to correctiveactions and loss prevention this timehas been on tank cleaning. We havemade our procedures clearer andmore in line with the guidelines inInternational Safety Guide for OilTanker & Terminals, ISGOTT, andTanker Safety Guide Chemicals, TSGC.Most significantly, we have made itmandatory to bring a flammable tankatmosphere into a controlled state,either gas free or too lean, with mini-mum use of time and “activities” inthe tank. We have also incorporatedother important elements found inindustry guidelines like ISGOTT andTSGC into our internal procedures, toreduce the need for cross-referencesand subsequently the complexity and possibility for failure.

Effective implementation of new andrevised procedures is equally impor-tant, and we will strengthen our focusand efforts on work related to opera-tional Risk Management issues. Fournew marine superintendents are inthe process of being employed, andalthough the positions will be placedunder the line management they willwork closely with our experiencedRisk Management inspectors andauditors. The main objectives andtasks connected to these new posi-tions are to enhance safety and

quality standards. Vetting and auditreports have shown room forimprovement. Preparation and otherwork related to vetting will be anot-her priority task for these new posi-tions. In addition we will put focus oncontrol with ships on time-charter orotherwise employed by Odfjell.

We will also enhance “hands-on”superintendence of the fleet we ope-rate, and are transferring manage-ment on 15 owned ships back toOdfjell. This will bring ships managedby Odfjell up to about 50. This fleetwill be divided into four sections andone of these, counting some 15 plusships, will be located in Singapore. Asthe main chemical hub in South EastAsia, Singapore is frequently visitedby most of our ships. The movewill therefore bring us in ShipManagement closer to the ships weserve. This change of managementplaces significant burden on everyoneduring the transition period because,amongst others, such a changenormally influences vetting approvals.At the end of the day we areconfident that the result will be good.

A goal for next year is to avoid accidents by improving awareness andcompliance.

YEAR END – status & challengesBy Toralf Sørenes

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From mariner to Port CaptainIn March 1998, I decided to go ashoreand accepted the job as Port Captainfor Odfjell in Saudi Arabia andBahrain. In Saudi my position wassplit: the bulk part of my tasks wasrelated to the operational side ofthings, but I also assisted in commer-cial matters. At that time the officewas located in Riyadh in the inland,and I had many a long drive to andfrom the port city of Al-Jubail to serveour ships, about 480 km each way.Al-Jubail is our main port in SaudiArabia, located on the east coast ofthe country.

In September 1998 my family joinedme, and we had almost five goodyears in Riyadh until the unfortunatebombings in May 2003. We lost somefriends in these attacks, and to ensurethe family's safety we decided toleave the kingdom. Since Odfjellalready had an office in neighbouringDubai, it was natural for me to move

there to continue my duties as PortCaptain for the Middle East region. InDubai my tasks have changed a little.I now work only on operational issueswith responsibility for Saudi Arabia,

Bahrain, Iran, Oman, Qatar and theUnited Arab Emirates. However, ifneeded I can of course also assist onthe commercial side.

Wall-wash on board Bow Puma

NCC Yamamah discharging in Bandar Imam Khomeini, Iran

By Willy Thorsen, Port Captain

Port Captain for Odfjell in the Middle East

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The main duties of a Port CaptainThe overall responsibility of a PortCaptain is to ensure that the vesselscalling our area have as quick, smoothand safe operation and turnaround aspossible. Time is money, both forowner and charterer, and there ismuch to gain by minimising time inport. It is important that each ship hasreceived all necessary information foran efficient cargo operation, likedensity of cargo, correction factors,loading temperatures and wall-washrequirements, in order to be 100%prepared to do the job expected ofthem. Another crucial issue is thecommunication between ship, agent,port and terminal; everybody involvedshould be kept well advised of thevessel’s progress at all times, to avoidany delays and to make sure cargoand vessel tanks are ready. My job isto advise and assist the ships, and ifrequired I also go on board to help. Inthis part of the world it is not alwayseasy to have vessel tanks ready to loadsome sensitive cargo, e.g. methanol.To be on the safe side we need tocheck the cargo tanks 3-4 times, some-times even more, prior to arrival. Weare talking about 100 to 180 wall-washes before we can present thevessel ready for loading. It goeswithout saying that climbing in andout of cargo tanks in 40-50 degreesCelsius is not an easy thing, but it isdefinitely good exercise. However, wedo what is necessary to make surethat we transport any cargo from A toB and deliver it in the same conditionas it was loaded.

It is very important to establish goodand regular contact with the localagents, port authorities and sur-veyors. This makes it much more easyto solve problems locally in a quickand efficient way, so that all involvedparties are happy. As one of thelargest players in the global bulkliquid petrochemical transportationand terminals market, Odfjell candraw on our many years of experiencefrom the rest of the world to showhow we can improve the efficiency inthis region. There is always room forimprovement: although doing a good job, we can doit even better next time. If we try tobe one step ahead all the time, wewill in my opinion always be betterprepared to handle challenges andtake care of opportunities.

The commercial and operational sidesof our business go hand in hand, andit is crucial that we do our best to allo-cate the optimal hardware for the jobin hand. If we select the appropriatevessel in respect of ETA and lastcargoes to start with, we will mini-mize or even avoid any unforeseendelays. Odfjell has about 150-200port-calls to the Middle East regionper year. I have to say that I'm proudof our vessels' performance. As anexample; in 2003 we had no tankrejection on any of our ships loadinghere.

Future challenge in the Middle EastThe petrochemical industry in theMiddle East is going through a rapidand extensive development, and thevolumes of chemicals to be shippedout of this region will be more thandoubled in three years time. From alogistics point of view, the mostimportant thing will be to developthe necessary storage and shippingfacilities to make sure that each portcan handle as many ships as possible.After all, it is in the best interest of allparties to ensure the quickest andsafest turnaround of the vessels.

Finally, I would like to take the oppor-tunity to thank all of you – on board

and ashore - for good co-operationand splendid performance in this partof the world. Keep up the enthusiasm,resolution, drive and good mood, andwe will succeed in the future as well!

WillyThorsen wasborn in 1968,and grew upin a fisher-man's familyin the smallvillageRørvik inbeautifulTrøndelag

(mid Norway). He started hisshipping career as Deck Cadet ona deep-sea vessel in 1989. JoiningOdfjell in 1994 as First Mate, hesoon was promoted to ChiefMate. Since 1998 he has beenPort Captain for Odfjell in theMiddle East. Willy Thorsen ismarried to Anne Merethe, andtogether they have two sons,Georg, aged 8, and Ole, 5 years old.

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By mid October, allOdfjell business unitshave submitted theirfeedback to ourCorporate Qualityassessment request,providing status asto customer focus,business processes,

business process risk, measurement ofquality and supplier quality. The feed-back is considered an important basisfor the next QRP priorities.

The main project efforts are currentlywith Odfjell Seachem and OdfjellTerminals.

Odfjell Seachem has defined its maincore business processes as fleet plan-ning, chartering and vessel operation,backed by customer follow-up andvarious support processes. The charte-ring and operations processes are the

key processes currently being revie-wed, as they are critical to customersatisfaction, service reliability, profitand safety. The chartering proceduresare now being detailed by a dedica-ted task force headed by MortenNystad. Having recently concluded anextensive internal review, the proce-dures for spot cargo fixtures and con-tracts of affreightment procedureswill be implemented in the nearfuture. A similar team led by Mr. KnutHolsen is currently detailing theoperational procedures.

Feedback from Odfjell Terminalsinvolved the terminals in Rotterdamand Houston. Based on conclusionsfrom the 2004 terminals summitmeeting, the business processes areidentified as “Selling of Tank Space”,“Planning - and Execution ofServices”, “Maintain Facility“, “Secureand Maintain Attitude and Right

Competence” and the “RegulatoryCompliance Process”. Odfjell Termi-nals will develop a common businessprocess model to harmonise standardsand practises across the terminals. TheTerminal division will further developand harmonise their Key PerformanceIndicators for subsequent terminal-wide implementation, to identify bestpractises for benchmarking and expe-rience transfer purposes across theterminals.

The challenge with a project like thisis to break down the project objec-tives into workable and operationalelements for individuals that providesfor harmonised practise and high-level quality behaviour across thebusiness units.

Harmonisation of our quality tools is akey task for the Quality RenaissanceProject. Management Review (MR) isan important tool to enhance organi-sational performance, and we arecurrently focusing on this to harmo-nise and improve our practise acrossthe organisation. I know for sure thatvarious parts of the organisation carryout MRs and have been doing so forquite some time. Even so, a harmo-nised practise will be beneficial forseveral reasons: it will provide for anefficient review process as well assupport you in complying with therequirements of the quality andenvironmental standards you are orwill be working in accordance with.

To utilise MR as the dynamic tool it isintended to be, MR’s should be

carried out on a frequent basis. Pastexperience indicates that semi-annualintervals or even more frequentreviews lead to better progress on theefforts and actions decided.

Value adding MR’s require planningand preparations, it is a formal reviewwith a pre-defined agenda followedby documented minutes includingactions, deadlines and responsibilities.The content of an MR will vary basedon the type of business and standing.However, there are some issues thatare important to achieve a successfulreview, among which some of themost important include customerfeedback, audit results, processperformance, action status, resourceneeds, and changes affecting thequality management system. Well-

developed organisations measuretheir performance through KeyPerformance Indicators that providevaluable information about the stabi-lity of the business processes and theimpact of an effort towards sustain-able and improved performance.

The MR is also an important follow-uparena to make sure decisions are actu-ally carried out and completed.Remember: a decision is not a realdecision unless it is followed by realaction!

The Corporate Quality Section is morethan willing to assist the various busi-ness units and to support you in yourwork. Consequently it is my intentionto involve myself in future manage-ment reviews on an annual basis.

Quality Renaissance Project

Phase 2 Highlights

Quality Tools

Management Review

By Freddie Fosse, Corporate Quality Manager

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To follow up on Odfjell's focus onsafety awareness, Odfjell Manila hasfor the last six months arrangedseveral workshops with topics solelyrelated to safety. This enhancedsafety initiative culminated with asafety seminar for vacationing Filipinocrew in Manila on November 16th and17th.

During the seminar a number ofsafety topics were discussed; Odfjellpolicies, culture andawareness, operationaland administrationalprocedures and perfor-mance statistics. Thespeakers included Mr.Jan D. Lorentz, SeniorVice President ShipManagement and seve-ral other Bergen andManila managers. Ourvalued customer BPalso contributed onproduct handling.

The seminar stressed

the importance of ensuring thateverything is taken into account anddone to guarantee a safe operation.This includes the following keyelements:

Instructions given are understoodProcedure(s) are followedChecklist(s) are properly used/filled inPPE and safety equipment is usedEquipment/ tools are in good working condition

Firefighting and/or pollution prevention equipment is maintained on stand-byWhenever a task categorized as critical is carried out, an experienced officer shall supervise.

However, it does not stop here: safety will always be at the top of theagenda during future workshops andseminars.

The seminar gathered a large and attentiveaudience

The participants contributed actively withquestions and comments

Officers Safety Seminar in ManilaBy Kjell Johansen, Odfjell Manila

On October 16th, Odfjell Terminals(Korea) reached the target stipulatedby the Korean Industrial Safety regu-lations of operating for 380 consecuti-ve days without any accidents. This isthe second time since the start of the

terminal that OTK has achieved thisambitious feat, the first time being onJuly 11th 2003.

To celebrate our outstanding safetyperformance, the company presented

everyone with a letter ofgratitude from the CEO,Mr. Rob Meijboom, and agift-certificate as an award.At a particular ceremony,Safety Health Environment

Officer Mr. YC Gill received a safetyaward from the Korean Ministry ofEnvironment.

OTK always emphasizes the impor-tance of safety, not only for theemployees but equally essential fortheir families and the community as awhole. We will keep up our safetywork procedures as well as the out-standing performance as a continuousaim for the future, to further developour terminal to an even better andsafer place to work.

By end November Odfjell Terminals(Korea) has continued avoiding anyaccidents, hence actually reaching 424consecutive days without Lost TimeInjuries.

Odfjell Terminals (Korea) -

380 days with zeroaccidents

The zero-accident recording board.

Receiving the Safetyaward. From left: RobMeijboom (President/CEO),YC Gill (Safety HealthEnvironment Officer), SK Lee (ManagerTechnical/MaintenanceDepartment)

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Odfjell Terminals (Korea)

Celebrates the 500th vessel callingBy Trond Garshol, Odfjell Korea

By Dave Ellis

On October 5th 2004, our Odfjell Asiaemployed vessel Bow Pilot calledOdfjell Terminals (Korea) for loadingdimethyl cyclics (DMC) as vesselno.500 to berth at OTK since the ope-ning of the terminal.

The terminal arranged a ceremony onboard the vessel, with OTK’semployees and the crew. CEO of OTK,Mr. Rob Meijboom, presented CaptainRogelio H. Posing with flowers, OTK’sbanner and a bottle of Odfjell

Vineyards Armador. While Bow Pilotwas staying at OTK, Capt. Posingshowed all visitors around his nice andtidy vessel.

Bow Pilot at OTK. From left: Eric S. Cruz (Chief Officer), Robert D.D. Cuenco(Chief Engineer), Rogelio H. Posing (Captain), Rob Meijboom (CEO OTK)

From left: Svein Aage Daae, Knut Dybvik, Capt. J. P. Asenci, Dave Ellis and Peter Waugh.

On October 12th, Capt J. P. Asenciaccepted, on behalf of the officersand crew of Bow Hunter, an awardfrom BP Chemicals. The award wasprovided by BP’s Luis Sierra, RegionalVice President Marketing and JeffFoshee, Director of Logistics, in recog-nition of Bow Hunter's attention tosafety during her handling of BP

cargoes while loading at OdfjellTerminals (Houston). BP was not ableto attend on board the vessel duringthe recognition, so Odfjell's SveinAage Daae, Dave Ellis, Knut Dybvikand Peter Waugh presented theaward and extended congratulationsto the Captain.

Bow Hunter receives BP safety recognition

We all know we have an industriousChairman “busy as a bee”. DanOdfjell in fact is a devoted hobbybeekeeper who shares with us, fromtime to time, from his surplus honeycrop. In the picture to the left we seehim next to a strange-looking wood-carving which calls for some explai-ning, of course... At a dinner banquetfollowing the naming of M/T BowSpring, Stocznia Szczecinska, ourlong-time and excellent shipbuilders,presented Mr. Odfjell with a most sur-prising gift, this wooden figure. Sowhat is the story?

We must realize, first, honeybees havebeen known and useful to mankindfor honey, wax, propolis, pollen andpollination since times immemorial.Bees have been ascribed mythicalqualities, their products serve medicalpurposes, and many a thesis aboutbees have been written and rewrittenup through the ages, since Aristotle(384-322 B.C.) and even before. Inmost pre-capitalist societies wherebeekeeping has been prevalent,honey has been used in the paymentof taxes and tithes. As recently as inthe 1980s, when the vicious Mujahidinstill ruled Afghanistan, would takeone-tenth of the beekeepers' honeyharvest.

In any event, the magical thing aboutbees is that, even after some 8000years of attempts to domesticatethem, they never really do work formen. It is impossible to enslave them.You have to work “along with them”and, only to a certain extent may youmanipulate them.

Stone-age men hunted down wildbee nests in the woods. The earliesthives in Poland were of the so-calledupright-log type. Being a heavilyforested country, Poland’s honey-hunters naturally associated bees withthe hollowed-out trunks where thebees usually made their homes. Whenthe Poles graduated to the first primi-tive form of hive beekeeping, theyhollowed out their own tree trunksand set them, upright, in rows tomake an apiary. In early times, thiswas all that they did. But Polishbeekeepers, and they are renownedfor having contributed greatly tomodern-day beekeeping, grew veryfond of bees, and sometimes wantedto express this fondness. So occasio-nally, before settling a swarm, theywould carve out the hive log into theshape of a giant human being. In this

way, bees would live in a human body,flying in and out of the chest or thenavel, as can be seen in our picture.These human hives were made else-where in Europe too, and sometimestook the form of the body of theVirgin Mary.

The favourite drink of the Vikingsincidentally was mead, an alcoholicbeverage made from fermentedhoney. Most of the mead and honeyconsumed by the Viking times came infact from Poland, and neighbouringcountries.

A further curiosity, some believe theword “honeymoon” refers to theancient Viking custom in which thebride and groom would eat honeyedcakes and drink mead for the firstmonth of their betrothal. Till this day,in Morocco the newly married groomis supposed to feast on honey for itsaphrodisiac effects.

In conclusion, perhaps we can say ourChairman seems to be on to some-thing.

"The Hive" is also the title of a bookpublished this year, with the subtitle"The Story of the Honeybee and Us".

The Hive

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On Monday September 13th I had thepleasure on behalf of Odfjell Seachemto award students at Tisand HighSchool in Esikhaweni with diplomasfrom the Institute of ChartereredShipbrokers (ICS), for successful con-clusion of the course "UnderstandingShipping". In 2003 Odfjell Seachemsponsored seven students with bursa-ries for the ICS course, and in 2004 thisnumber has been increased to ten.Odfjell pays monthly visits to theschool giving lectures on various areasof shipping, e.g. ship chandlery,

agency, voyage calculati-ons, etc. When possiblewe also arrange visits onOdfjell ships callingSouth Africa.

The maritime studiesform a valuable part ofpre-matriculate educati-on, especially in schoolslocated near ports.Tisand is just some 20 kmfrom Richards Bay, andsuch courses make thestudents aware ofcareers available in themaritime sector prior toelecting their field fortertiary education.

The general behaviour, manners andenthusiasm shown by the Tisandstudents are exemplary, and it is anabsolute pleasure for us to play a role,albeit small, in the furtherance of theeducation at Tisand. It is quite remark-able to see the level of devotionshown to the Maritime Studies Courseby Tisands' resident lecturers CaptainGordon Oxley and Maureen Stilwell,whom together have a wealth of sea-

going and land based maritime indus-try experience. Odfjell would alsowish to pay tribute to the SchoolHeadmaster Mr. Dennis Le Roux forthe very tight and well-structured shipthat he runs. It is our hope that theeducational authorities continue toavidly support maritime studies, bothat Tisand and other schools offeringthe subject.

Odfjell has been involved in terminalbusiness in South America since 1968,and is today operating a total of ninetank terminals in the region. The ship-ping activities, in addition to our

deep-sea operations, include OdfjellVapores and Flumar.

In connection with the APLA (LatinAmerica Petrochemical Industry

Association) Conference in BuenosAires November 7th to 9th, we arran-ged on November 10th an internalmeeting with colleagues from ship-ping and our terminals in SouthAmerica. The main purpose of themeeting was to focus on cooperationand to further facilitate logistics solu-tions towards our customers. Theparticipants presented statistics andstrategy plans for their respectiveareas, shipping and terminals. Anumber of fruitful suggestions wasdiscussed, and we have prepared anaction plan on how to proceedfurther.

This kind of meetings is an importanttool to further enhance the day-to-day relationship between shippingand terminals. We thank all partici-pants for taking the time to preparematerial, and we look forward to thenext gathering. Our special thanks toour Argentinean friends responsiblefor organising both the APLA atten-dance and our subsequent meeting.

By Mel Pinks

By Ronaldo Gimenes, Odfjell Brasil

Headmaster Dennis LeRoux, MelPinks, Slindokuhle Mzoneli

The participants of the South America summit. Front row from left: Roberto Ferreira, Bjorn Baug, Ronaldo Gimenes, MarceloPedriel, Adrian Zocchi. Back row from left: Ary Serpa Jr., Bruce Clark, CarlHenrik Odfjell, Knut Ovrebo, Arturo Sciaroni, Horacio Marquez, AndresContador, Arild Viste, Carlos Bussoli, Alessandro Pereira de Souza.

Maureen Stilwell, Terrence Mzimela, SphamandlaMpanza, Freedom Dube, Gordon Oxley, Slindokuhle Mzoneli,

Odfjell sponsors «UnderstandingShipping» bursaries

South America Summit Meeting in Buenos Aires

On November 16th, Odfjell Singaporehosted a "train the trainer" seminaron the precautions and proper hand-ling of acrylonitrile. Odfjell is shippingabout 340,000 mts. of acrylonitrileannually, a product that needs to behandled carefully to avoid personnelboth on board and ashore beingexposed to toxic gases or liquids. Theseminar took place at Odfjell'spremises in Singapore, and we werepleased to get Mr. Vern Shirley of BPChemicals to do the training. Inaddition to our own staff inSingapore, there were invited partici-pants representing ship managerswith vessels on time-charter to OdfjellAsia, as well as representatives fromOiltanking Odfjell Terminal Singaporeand Odfjell Korea. The seminar wasdivided into four blocks, where Mr.Vern Shirley focused on

the hazards of acrylonitrile, signs, symptoms and medical response to acrylonitrile exposure, marine incidents, andloading/unloading of acrylonitrile.

The feedback from the participantsafter the seminar was very positive,

and many expressed the value offurther training also in similar issues.We have not yet decided the agendafor our next bi-annual meeting, butfor sure, it will include some topicrelated to safety - closely connectedto our business.

Acrylonitrile handling seminar in SingaporeBy Einar Samset

The attentive audience.

This is the tale of the deep-seaseamen who went freshwater fishing.The idea and plans for the expeditionwere born more than one year ago.Colleagues and acquaintances, intotal eight brave men including Capt.Gunnar Ove Kortsen, Capt. JohnnySolbakken and my father, ex. Pump-man Rolf Magnus Jenssen, wererecruited, and on August 23rd we setoff.

The trip from Storbørja to Borkamoennear Brønnøysund turned out a verytough trip with hours and hours of

walking, but also a magnificentexperience. The first day started on afishing boat to reach the startingpoint, and after some seven hours ofdrudgery we reached our first camp.The next day we walked intoStrompdalen, a valley with anamazing wild nature and even wilderriver. The weather improved frompartly clouded with a few rain-showers, to clear blue sky with the sunshining in the mountains, and encou-raged by this we finally reached thewaterfall Breilifossen. The uphillahead was something we didn’t look

forward to, so a good rest with freshcoffee was important. Three hourslater, and after being convinced atleast a hundred times that we werethrough, we finally reached the topand soon camped at lake NedreBreivatn. After a quick celebrationwith our shot-glasses, tents were putup and the fire made, and after agood meal we prepared the fishingrods to get down to "business".

The next days were spent fishing,eating fresh trout, telling firesidestories and just enjoying the beautifulweather in the spectacular nature.The sun was shining and the tempera-ture was much higher than expectedat this time of the year. On the fourthday, when reaching our final destina-tion, I think we were all exhaustedbut happy to have been a part of thisadventure.

Odfjell Freshwater FishingBy Torgrim Jensen, Chief Mate Bow Cedar

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The Odfjell team with some of today'scatch. From left: Rolf M. Jenssen (exPump-man), Johnny Solbakken (Capt.Bow Cedar), Torgrim Jenssen (ChiefMate Bow Cedar) and Gunnar OveKortsen (Capt. Bow Flower).

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The long way back- Kenneth Sandmo returns to seaIn July 2003 Deck Cadet Kenneth Sandmo was severelyinjured during a working accident on board Bow Cecil.Despite his serious injuries he managed to fight his wayback through strong will-power and dedicated training,and only twelve months later Kenneth Sandmo was ableto go on board again and return to active duty. OdfjellQuarterly has met with this determined member of ourseafaring colleagues during a safety course in Bergenearly November.

The accidentOn July 12th 2003 Bow Cecil was atthe TGL terminal in Aratu, Brazil.Among the crew was Deck CadetKenneth Sandmo, aged 24 at thetime. 'I had completed four months ofmy cadet period on board with justone week to go before returninghome', he says. Early in the afternoonthat day he took part in a routine testof the MOB-boat lowering system. Itwas when they had let the boat sometwo to three metres down that thehydraulic accumulator tank cameloose from the davit and hit the deckbefore crashing into the MOB-boat.The cylinder, which weighs about 150-200 kilos, hit Mr. Sandmo on his rightside and arm and he was thrown intothe water. 'All went black when it hitme', says Mr. Sandmo to OdfjellQuarterly. Luckily two crew-mates onthe main-deck saw what happened.They threw two lifebuoys after himbefore jumping overboard to assistand rescue him. With a crushed pelvisand a severely injured arm he wastaken to hospital in nearby Salvador.'Being hit by the cylinder was a strokeof bad luck', he comments soberly,'but I was also fortunate. If it hadstruck me in my back I would probablyhave been crippled for life'.

The recoveryKenneth Sandmo was operated inSalvador, and the extensive surgeryinvolved piecing together his crushedpelvis like a jigsaw puzzle. Odfjell didthe best to mitigate his hardships andarranged for his fiancé and closestfamily to visit him at the hospital.'I am very grateful for Odfjell'ssupport during this difficult period',he says. 'In particular GerdKristiansen, who really went out ofher way to help me and my family'.

After one month hospitalised in Brazilhe was flown back to Norway. First hestayed one month at the hospital inTromsø, followed by three months inTrondheim, before he could returnagain to his hometown of Tromsø tostart the convalescence.

His determination to achieve a fullrecovery was apparent even from hisinitial hospital stay in Brazil. ‘Thedoctors made it clear to me that Ineeded to train hard to be able to getup and be functioning again', Mr.Sandmo remembers. 'But in the

beginning I underestimated the in-juries and expected to recover muchsooner'. He could be awake at nightfrustrated with not being able tomove his arm properly. When beingtold that he probably would be in awheelchair until Christmas, he simplyrefused to accept it. The training waslong and hard. He recollects: 'First Imoved around with a rollator, then oncrutches, before I was able to startwalking again without any aid'.

The returnDespite the injuries and the pain,Kenneth Sandmo was never in doubtthat he would return as a mariner.The trial was to pass through the"needle's eye" to get his health decla-ration allowing him to go to seaagain, but he got this without muchado. And in July this year, only twelvemonths after his accident, at last hecould embark Bow Century where heis now Third Mate. 'It felt very goodand natural to be back, and things areworking just fine now', he says.His hip is still a bit stiff, and he isexperiencing some nerve problems inhis left leg. 'So I'm not able to move asfast as I used to, although things haveimproved remarkably only during thefour months since I started workingagain'.

Odfjell Quarterly wishes KennethSandmo all the best in the future,with his words of advise to anyoneexperiencing similar difficulties well inmind: 'It's all about thinkingpositively'.

With one of the doctors at the hospital in Salvador

Back to work, during an onshore fire-drill in Bergen. No, the photoisn't blurred, but there sure was a lot of smoke in the room...

By Klaus Walderhaug

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Solution to the previous Odfjell Quarterly Brainteaser:

In the previous issue we asked thereaders to help our hero Fan Oddbowestablishing in just one single ques-tion whether or not there really is atreasure on Wabble Island, withoutknowing whether the respondent is atruth-telling wibbler or a lyingwobbler, and which of 'zil' and 'ding'means 'yes' and which means 'no'.

There are probably several solutions,but one way to do it is to have Fan askthe question: "If I asked you if there isa treasure on the island, would youthen answer 'zil'"? Let us say thatthere really is a treasure on the islandand that the respondent is a truth-telling wibbler. If 'zil' means yes, 'zil'would be the response to whetherthere is a treasure, and thus, 'zil' (yes)would be the truthful reply towhether he would answer 'zil' to thator not. If 'zil' means no, then 'ding' (inthis case yes) would be the trueanswer to whether or not there is a

treasure, and, when asked if he/shewould answer 'zil' (i.e. no) the truth-telling wibbler would say 'zil'.

What if the respondent is a lyingwobbler? If 'zil' means yes, and therereally is a treasure, then the wobblerwould lie and answer 'ding' (no) towhether there is a treasure. But whenasked whether he would answer 'zil'he would lie again and say 'zil' (yes). If'zil' means no, the wobbler's responseto whether there is a treasure wouldbe 'zil', but when asked whether hewould answer that he would lie againand say 'zil'. Hence, no matter if therespondent is a wibbler or a wobbleror whether 'zil' means yes or no,provided there is a treasure on theisland the answer to Fan's questionwould always be 'zil'. Based on thesame argument, if there is no treasureon the island the answer wouldalways be 'ding'.

Unfortunately, and to my great dis-appointment, we have only receivedtwo suggestions to solutions this time,

thus bringing the response rate downto less than 0.03 % or something likethat. And I thought this was a fun andinteresting puzzle. The respondents,both ladies based east of Suez andwest of Panama, suggest trying tomake the wabbler show where thepossible treasure is hidden, if neces-sary by promising a cut in the riches.Although perhaps an effectivestrategy in other parts of the world -money is indeed a strong incentive -I'm afraid it wouldn't work onWabble Island. A wibbler wouldalways tell the truth whilst a wobblerwould always lie, no matter what. It'ssimply in their nature.

To conclude, no prize will be awardedthis time.

Bow Tricky has a crew of 24 officersand rating, twelve Filipinos, sevenGreeks and five Norwegians. Duringtheir off-duty hours, five crewmem-bers play in the ship's rock'n roll band,half the crew are members of the BowTricky karaoke club and one third playin the basketball team. Among the 18crewmembers participating in at leastone of the three activities, none do allthree and only seven crewmembersdo more than one. None of the latteris Greek, but at least all the Greekstake part in some activity. The activeones among the Norwegians all parti-cipate in more than one pastime.There are twice as many Greeks asNorwegians in the band. If fourFilipinos do neither, one Greek playsbasketball and three times as manyFilipinos as Norwegians sing karaoke;how many Filipinos are in the rock'nroll band? How many Greeks singkaraoke? And how many of theNorwegians belong to the basketballteam?

We await your suggestions for solu-tions before March 10th 2005 at the

very latest. The winner will, in addi-tion to the honour of being reckonedamong the brightest brains in thecompany, be awarded the prestigious

Odfjell Quarterly Brainteaser prize,which is a very nice Cross ballpointpen. Good luck!

Off-duty activities on Bow Tricky

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SEASONS CELEBRATIONS O

Last year NCC Madinah leftRotterdam on December 23rd for avoyage to Durban. With two ladiesand the Catering Superintendent onboard, this sure looked to be a niceChristmas in open sea. However, thebeginning of our journey could havebeen better. Radar no. 1 broke down

when the Maas pilot disembarked,and radar no. 2 said goodbye in DoverStrait, with no possibility for the ship’screw to do the repair. Luckily wedidn't have one single hour of poorvisibility during the entire voyagedown to Durban, but we had to makesome adjustments to the passage-planto avoid the most densely used sea-lanes.

Our lady passengers did an excellentjob preparing for the celebrations,and nobody could have decorated forthe holiday season better than them!Their presence also further improvedthe already good tone on board; it isremarkable how “rough sailors”change their behaviour when ladiesare around.

The Christmas Eve in the Bay of Biscay,with flat sea and bright, starry sky,brought a warm and friendly atmos-phere we'll never forget. The ChiefSteward and his crew had preparedan excellent Christmas dinner, andafterwards it was time for someChristmas merriment. It sure wasappreciated when the ladies dancedwith each and every one of the crew.

Of course, Father Christmas (and hisassisting brother) came to present theChristmas gifts from the Company.Indeed, a night to remember.

On November 27th, Odfjell Terminals(Rotterdam) arranged the traditionalSinterklaas party for the staff andtheir children, to celebrate the returnof Sinterklaas and his servant Zwarte

Piet from their retreat in Spain. Alongwith them they bring plenty of nicegifts and sweets for the good chil-dren. Naughty kids gets smaller pre-sents, or, if really bad, may be taken

away in Zwarte Piet's bag back toSpain. We are confident that none ofthe OTR offspring suffered such afate.

Christmas at seaBy Captain Otto Vollan, NCC Madinah

Crew from all departments helpedserving behind the bar. The Christmasgift, the sunglasses already in use.

Captain Vollan and his wife Gudrundancing

Zwarte Piet finally released afterbeing stuck in the chimney

Who's afraid of Sinterklaas?Sinterklaas is also friendly to thesomewhat older children

Father Christmas and his brother handing out the presents.

Sinterklaas celebrations in Rotterdam

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ON BOARD AND ASHORE

Eager crewmembers on Bow Pilotwere putting up the Christmas deco-rations already 34 days beforeChristmas eve, to get the wonderfulChristmas Spirit of joy and peace.Hopefully they have secured itproperly, to ensure it makes itthrough to Christmas.

Christmas preparations on Bow Pilot

Christmas in the Philippines revolvemainly around the spirit of giving andmerry-making. Manila serves as a hubthat blends the diverse FilipinoChristmas traditions, and thus, iscapable of illustrating how thisblessed occasion is celebrated throug-hout the 7,000 plus islands that com-pose the Philippines.

After 350 years of being the centre ofthe Spanish colonial rule in Asia, it isnot surprising that the city of Manilacelebrates Christmas with muchresemblance of what was the practiceat that time. Misa de Gallo, for in-stance, is the pre-dawn mass cele-brated during the nine days prece-ding Christmas. We also have severalinternational customs, like theChinese Ampao (red envelopescontaining bills for the children) andthe US/European traditions of SantaClaus, the Christmas tree and socks bythe door and window sills.

As early as September, public areaslike shopping malls and bus terminalsstart setting up their decorations andbegin playing Christmas songs. Theold city of Manila, Intramuros, has allchambers, gates and dungeonsturned into leisure parks and venuesfor public performances. The WorldHeritage San Agustin Church, theoldest stone church in Manila, offers asolemn mood within its premises,with the scenic decor made ofPhilippine handicrafts from variousregions.

A few metres away from theIntramuros’ walls is the famousManila Tourist Belt. This area iscomposed of the Ermita and Malatedistricts, where also Odfjell Manila'soffice is located. Both districts offerantique and art galleries, souvenirshops, cafés, music and karaoke

lounges, and performance theatres.Restaurants and bars are busy withvarious corporate, personal, familial,and ad-hoc gatherings in celebrationof the season.

Shopping expeditions, being thefavourite pastime of Filipinos in gene-ral and even more so at this time ofthe year, add spice to the Christmascraze. Countless bargain oppor-tunities are offered in malls andtiangge (flea markets) where a lot ofaffordable items can be bought foreither exchange gifts or corporategive-aways.

Another significant part of theChristmas craze in Manila is thetraffic. Major streets and side roadsare clogged up even outside rush-hours during this season. As every-body is out for their usual last-minuteshopping and social gatherings, andvendors are everywhere, the trafficsituation is chaotic. Indeed Manilaturns itself to an urban jungle during

the most important holiday of theyear.

Although experiencing growing socialproblems, the Philippines still mana-ge to maintain the reputation as theland of smiles. While Christmas songsand stories mention of snow, sleighs,jingle bells, and reindeers, Christmasin the Philippines has gone beyondthe usual holiday celebration.Christmas has become a state of mindshared by the entire nation, cherishedby the people, and celebrated with alltheir hearts.

Christmas in Manila

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The

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rner

Mona EllingsenEkerhovdShip Operator01.11.2004

Ronny JohansenShip Operator01.11.2004

Anne-Kristine ØenInformation Officer01.11.2004

Ole Kristian AarnesShip Operator15.11.2004

Per Ove SjåstadShip Operator15.11.2004

Dag NesfossenPMS Surveyor01.12.2004

Sofie DemeulenaereDemurrage Analyst01.12.2004

Jeroen KensmilAssistant HeadProduction PID01.09.2004

Priscilla Chew LianCheeShip Broker01.10.2004

Arthur BoermaManipulation Co-ordinator01.09.2004

Huub van VeggelQuality Manager01.11.2004

Tineke Haazen-BroekhuizenDesk Co-operator08.11.2004

Frank PensonDayshift-operator01.12.2004

Helge OlsenRelocated toSingapore15.11.2004

Ove NormannTemporary relocatedto Singapore15.11.2004

NEW HIRESHeadquarters Bergen

Odfjell Terminals (Rotterdam)

RELOCATIONSOdfjell Singapore

IN SERVICE FOR ODFJELL 2525YEARS

Frits ForselCustomer RepresentativeOdfjell Terminals (Rotterdam)01.11.1979

Harry van KapelAdministrator BOdfjell Terminals (Rotterdam)05.11.1979

Jurgen SchrageC-operatorOdfjell Terminals (Rotterdam)01.12.1979

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The upgrading and reconstructi-on of the Bergen office buildinghas been going on since thissummer, and we are happy tosee that the project is well on itsway. Adding a fourth floor tothe building, while keeping busi-ness going at the same time, is achallenge. Needless to say, as aresult we have some noise, dust,disturbances and even at onetime leaks, although the OdfjellBuilding Team and the workersdo their utmost to mitigate anyproblems. We still have a longway to go before the project iscompleted, but anyhow wewould like to present somepictures giving an impression ofthe process and how the buil-ding is going to appear.

Editor’sCornerAt this time of year I tendto dream of warmer lati-tudes and a far moreagreeable climate thanwhat the Bergen weat-her-gods currently have

to offer. Having lived all my life inScandinavia, it is tempting to imagineChristmas somewhere on the southernhemisphere as something of a bliss. Wakingup to eternal sunshine, going to work inshorts and t-shirt, popping out duringlunch-break for a stroll along the beach,maybe even a short swim. In the afternoonit's time for barbequing and drowsing inthe shade, while waiting for Santa Claus (nomore puns, please! I've heard them all) toshow up dressed in his red hot-pants andHawaii shirt with Rudolf and his reindeerfriends donning their Ray-bans. And afterhaving opened the gifts, a dip in the poolbefore it's time for food and then to bed.Well, before all you colleagues down therestart sending angry e-mails; I know that it'sprobably not like that all the time. Butwouldn't it be nice? Still, wet and miserableweather has its few but definite advan-tages. Except avoiding any danger of get-ting sunburnt, it's quite stimulating to theproductivity; when it's so unpleasant out-side you may as well work.

The attentive reader will have noticed thatwe have made some substantial changes tothe layout of the magazine this time. This isthe very first issue of Odfjell Quarterly to beproduced by MacBox AS, and we havetaken the opportunity to brush up thedesign. The Editorial Team is happy andsatisfied with the new look, and we hopeand trust you will agree with us that thenew Quarterly is even fresher and nicerthan the old one. Although the layout isaltered, we work hard to maintain theeditorial line and quality of the content.However, as mentioned many times before,for us to be able to continue producingOdfjell Quarterly, we simply have to havemore interaction with and contributionsfrom our readers. Remember that all of ushave a responsibility to submit material tothe magazine, thus we expect everybody tobe more active in sending articles andpictures.

Finally I would like to send season'sgreetings to all our readers. And if youhappen to be short of New Year's wishes, inaddition to quit smoking and startexercising; how about having it as a goal toprepare something for each issue of OdfjellQuarterly? It sure would be appreciated!

RegardsKlaus

Impressions from theBergen headquarterdocking

Haakon Ringdal and GunnarMjaaseth, inspecting theprocess at an early stage ofthe project.

What will soon becomeoffice space.

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Flee

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iew GLOBAL TRADE

STAINLESS NUMBERSHIPS BUILT DWT CBM STEEL,CBM OF TANKS

Owned: Bow Spring* 2004 39 942 52 126 52 126 40Bow Star * 2004 39 832 52 126 52 126 40Bow Sun 2003 39 842 52 126 52 126 40Bow Firda * 2003 37 427 40 515 40 515 47Bow Chain * 2002 37 518 40 515 40 515 47Bow Favour 2001 37 438 40 515 40 515 47Bow Century 2000 37 438 40 515 40 515 47Bow Fortune 1999 37 395 40 515 40 515 47Bow Cecil * 1998 37 345 40 515 33 236 47Bow Flora 1998 37 369 40 515 33 236 47Bow Cardinal 1997 37 446 41 487 34 208 52Bow Faith 1997 37 479 41 487 34 208 52Bow Cedar 1996 37 455 41 608 34 329 52Bow Fagus 1995 37 375 41 608 34 329 52Bow Clipper 1995 37 166 41 492 34 213 52Bow Flower 1994 37 221 41 492 34 213 52Bow Sea 1978 27 950 34 656 21 035 43Bow Hunter 1983 23 002 25 026 21 031 28Bow Pioneer 1982 23 016 25 965 20 969 28Bow Eagle 1988 24 728 32 458 19 662 25Bow Viking 1981 33 590 40 956 21 745 36Bow Fighter 1982 34 982 41 184 6 299 34Bow Lancer 1980 35 100 42 468 6 252 34Bow Heron 1979 35 289 42 109 5 882 31Bow Cheetah 1988 40 258 47 604 - 29Bow Leopard 1988 40 249 47 604 - 29Bow Lion 1988 40 272 47 604 - 29Bow Panther 1986 40 263 47 604 - 29Bow Puma 1986 40 092 47 604 - 29Bow Petros 1984 39 722 47 963 - 28Bow Transporter 1983 39 738 47 963 - 28Bow Lady 1978 32 225 41 354 3 077 42Bow Princess 1976 32 362 42 480 1 400 42Bow Peace 1987 45 655 52 173 2 167 23Bow Power 1987 45 655 52 173 2 167 23Bow Pride 1987 45 655 52 173 2 167 23Bow Prima 1987 45 655 52 173 2 167 23Bow Prosper 1987 45 655 52 173 2 167 23Bow Fertility 1987 45 507 52 173 2 167 23Bow Fraternity 1987 45 507 52 173 2 167 23Bow Maasstad 1983 38 039 48 866 - 22Bow Maasstroom 1983 38 039 48 866 - 22Bow Maasslot 1982 38 039 48 866 - 22

Time-Chartered: NCC Jubail 1996 37 499 41 488 34 209 52NCC Mekka 1995 37 272 41 588 34 257 52NCC Riyad 1995 37 274 41 492 34 213 52NCC Yamamah 1977 28 053 34 656 21 035 43NCC Jizan 1976 28 024 34 656 21 035 43NCC Jouf 1976 28 026 34 656 21 035 43NCC Madinah 1976 28 053 34 656 21 035 43NCC Asir 1983 23 001 24 965 20 969 28NCC Arar 1982 23 002 24 965 20 969 28NCC Baha 1988 24 728 32 458 19 662 25Bow Sky 1977 28 083 34 656 21 035 43Bow Neptun 1976 28 060 34 656 21 035 43Bow Saturn 1976 28 030 34 656 21 035 43Bow Merkur 1975 27 952 34 656 21 035 43Bow Santos 2004 19 997 21 846 21 846 22Bow Americas 2004 19 707 22 050 22 050 36Brage Pacific 1997 17 460 18 620 18 620 24Brage Atlantic 1995 17 460 19 587 19 587 22Isola Blue 2001 26 660 28 115 28 115 27Bow Andino 2000 16 121 17 270 17 270 30Hibiya Park 1990 13 921 16 053 10 721 24

Number of ships: 64 2 160 315 2 531 313 1 244 214

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YEAR STAINLESS NUMBERREGIONAL TRADE SHIPS BUILT DWT CBM STEEL, CBM OF TANKS

Owned: Bow Master 1999 6 046 6 878 6 878 14Bow Mate 1999 6 001 6 864 6 864 14Bow Pilot 1999 6 000 6 865 6 865 14Bow Sailor 1999 6 000 6 870 6 870 14Bow Antisana 1989 8 192 9 899 5 777 22Bow Gorgonilla 1989 8 192 9 899 5 777 22Bow Andes (50 %) 1977 28 060 34 756 21 136 43Bow Pacifico (50%) 1982 18 657 22 929 10 849 31Owl Trader 1982 12 450 14 482 8 070 22Angelim (50 %) 1985 10 259 10 136 6 500 18Araucaria (50 %) 1984 10 259 10 159 6 500 18Jatai (50 %, LPG) 1979 4 452 4 031 - 3

Time-Chartered: Bow de Rich 2003 12 452 13 300 13 300 22Bow Wallaby 2003 11 951 13 485 13 485 22Bow de Feng 2002 12 514 13 289 13 289 22Bow West 2002 12 503 13 299 13 299 22Bow de Silver 2000 11 747 12 296 12 296 20Bow de Jin 1999 11 752 12 296 12 296 20Bow Asia 2004 9 901 10 866 10 866 20Bow Singapore 2004 9 888 10 867 10 867 20Bow Wave 1999 8 594 9 225 9 225 20Bow Wind 1999 8 587 9 226 9 226 20Jacaranda (50%) 1978 9 970 9 924 5 877 17Aragas (50 %, LPG) 1983 9 300 8 026 - 5Multitank Balearia 1998 5 870 5 941 5 941 20Multitank Batavia 1998 5 870 5 941 5 941 20Multitank Badenia 1997 5 870 5 941 5 941 20Multitank Bolognia 1997 5 870 5 941 5 941 20Multitank Bracaria 1997 5 870 5 941 5 941 20Multitank Brasilia 1997 5 870 5 941 5 941 20Multitank Bahia 1996 5 870 5 941 5 941 20Multitank Britannia 1996 5 870 5 941 5 941 20

Number of ships: 32 300 687 327 395 263 640

YARD DELIVERY DWT OWNER

On order: NB Szczecin - B588/III/4 3/2005 39 500 OdfjellNB Szczecin - B588/III/5 9/2005 39 500 OdfjellNB Szczecin - B588/III/6 3/2006 39 500 OdfjellNB Szczecin - B588/III/7 9/2006 39 500 OdfjellNB Szczecin - B588/III/8 3/2007 39 500 OdfjellNB Sevmash #1 9/2007 45 000 OdfjellNB Sevmash #2 3/2008 45 000 OdfjellNB Sevmash #3 9/2008 45 000 OdfjellNB Sevmash #4 3/2009 45 000 OdfjellNB Sevmash #5 9/2009 45 000 OdfjellNB Sevmash #6 3/2010 45 000 OdfjellNB Sevmash #7 9/2010 45 000 OdfjellNB Sevmash #8 3/2011 45 000 OdfjellNB Fukuoka 10/2005 19 700 Time-charterNB Shin Kurishima 12/2005 19 990 Time-charterNB Kitanihon 8/2005 30 000 Time-charterNB Kitanihon 5/2006 30 000 Time-charterNB Kitanihon 9/2006 19 800 Time-charterNB Kitanihon 11/2006 19 800 Time-charter

Number of newbuildings: 19 696 790

* Vessel beneficially owned through financial lease.

TANK TERMINALSSTAINLESS NUMBER

LOCATION SHARE CBM STEEL, CBM OF TANKSOdfjell Terminals (Rotterdam) BV Rotterdam, NL 100 % 1 540 000 31 000 300Odfjell Terminals (Houston) LP Houston, USA 100 % 270 563 81 902 92Odfjell Terminals (Dalian) Ltd Dalian, China 64 % 59 700 5 750 35Odfjell Terminals (Korea) Co Ltd Onsan, Korea 50 % 109 500 2 850 39Oiltanking Odfjell Terminal Singapore Ltd Singapore 50 % 213 000 5 700 51VOTTN Ltd (Ningbo) Ningbo, China 12.5 % 63 500 7 900 3

2 256 263 135 102 553

TANK CONTAINERS8 146 units operated as per 31 October 2004.

MAIN OFFICEOdfjell ASA - Odfjell Seachem ASConrad Mohrs veg 29, P.O. Box 6101Postterminalen5892 Bergen, NORWAYTel: +47 5527 0000Fax: +47 5528 4741Fax: +47 5527 9070(Chartering/Operations)

INTERNATIONAL OFFICESOdfjell USA LP12211 Port RoadSeabrook, TX 77586, USATel: +1 713 844 2200Fax: +1 713 844 2211

Odfjell Singapore Pte Ltd6 Shenton Way, # 27-08/09 DBS Tower 2SINGAPORE 068809Tel: +65 6349 1300Fax: +65 6224 2285

Odfjell Japan LtdOgawa Bldg. 8F2-2 Uchikanda 1-ChomeChiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0047, JAPANTel: +81 3 3259 8555Fax: +81 3 3259 8558

Odfjell Netherlands BVOude Maasweg 6, P.O. Box 50103197 XC Rotterdam-BotlekThe NETHERLANDSTel: +31 102 953 666Fax: +31 102 953 668

Odfjell Brasil LtdaAv. Paulista 460 - 18 andarCEP 01310-904 Sao Paulo SP, BRAZILTel: +55 11 3549 5800Fax: +55 11 3549 5808

Odfjell ShanghaiUnit 2309 23/F CITIC Square1168 Nanjing Road WestShanghai, 200041 P.R. CHINATel: +86 21 5298 4068Fax: +86 21 5261 0288

Odfjell Argentina SAAlicia Moreau de Justo 1960Office no. 202 - Puerto Madero1107 Buenos Aires, ARGENTINATel: +54 114 313 7837Fax: +54 114 313 4619

Odfjell Australasia Pty LimitedSuite 4, Level 1443 Little Collins StreetP.O.Box 1279Melbourne VIC 3001 AUSTRALIATel: +61 3 9642 2210Fax: +61 3 9642 2214

Odfjell IndiaA-26, Nandbhuvan Industrial EstateMahakali Caves Road, Andheri (East)Mumbai 400093, INDIATel: +91 22 5695 4701Fax: +91 22 5695 4707

Odfjell Seachem South Africa Pty LtdB & P House84 Armstrong AvenueLa Lucia RidgeDurban 4051, SOUTH AFRICATel: +27 31 572 8180Fax: +27 31 572 8188

Odfjell Korea Co LtdRoom 1301, Dongbu-Dadong Bldg.#103, Da-Dong, Jung-GuSeoul, KOREATel: +82 2 775 9760Fax: +82 2 775 9761

Odfjell Manilac/o Magsaysay Maritime Corp.5th floor, 520 t.m. Kalaw StreetErmitaManila, PHILIPPINESTel: 63 2 526 9773Fax: 63 2 525 7720

Odfjell Dubaic/o Sharaf Shipping AgencySharaf Building, Al Mina RoadP.O. Box 576,Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATESTel: +971 4 351 9785Fax: +971 4 351 9756

Odfjell (UK) Ltd14 Headfort PlaceLondon SW1X 7DHUNITED KINGDOMTel: +44 207 823 0605Fax: +44 207 823 0606

National Chemical Carriers Ltd CoRoom 301, 3rd Floor, Al-Akariyah Bldg No 1Sitteen Street, Malaz AreaP.O. Box 8931Riyadh 11492, SAUDI ARABIATel: +966 1 477 3934Fax: +966 1 476 4328

Terquim SAMolo Sur s/n, Casilla 148San Antonio, CHILETel: +56 35 211 050Fax: +56 35 211 161

REGIONAL OFFICESOdfjell Asia Pte Ltd6 Shenton Way, # 27-08/09 DBS Tower 2SINGAPORE 068809Tel: +65 6349 1300Fax: +65 6224 2285

Odfjell Ahrenkiel Europe GmbHGurlittstrasse 11Postfach 100 22020001 HamburgGERMANYTel: +49 40 24838 307Fax: +49 40 24838 319

Flumar Transportes Fluviais e Maritimos LtdaAv. Paulista 460 - 18 andarCEP 01310-904 Sao Paulo SP, BRAZILTel: +55 11 3549 5800Fax: +55 11 3549 5807

TANK TERMINALSOdfjell Terminals (Houston) LP12211 Port RoadSeabrook, TX 77586, USATel: +1 713 844 2300Fax: +1 713 844 2355

Odfjell Terminals (Rotterdam) BVOude Maasweg 6, P.O. Box 5010Harbour Number 40403197 KJ Rotterdam-BotlekThe NETHERLANDSTel: +31 102 953 400Fax: +31 104 384 679

Odfjell Terminals (Dalian) LtdNo. 3 Binhai North RoadZhongshan DistrictDalian 116001, P.R. CHINATel: +86 411 8262 9701Fax: +86 411 8262 3707

Odfjell Terminals (Korea) Co, Ltd136, Cheongyong-RiOnsan-Eup, Ulju-GunUlsan, KOREATel: +82 522 311 600Fax: +82 522 376 636

Oiltanking Odfjell Terminal Singapore PteLtd1 Seraya AvenueSINGAPORE 628208Tel: +65 6473 1700Tel: +65 6479 4500

VOTTN, Ningbo LtdJetty No. 16 Zhenhai Port AreaNo. 1 Zhaobao Shan Road, Zhenhai DistrictNingbo 315200, P.R. CHINA Tel: +86 574 627 5929Fax: +86 574 627 5931

TANK CONTAINERSHoyer-Odfjell BVOude Maasweg 6, P.O. Box 5025Harbour Number 40403197 XG Rotterdam-BotlekThe NETHERLANDSTel: +31 102 631 600Fax: +31 102 631 699

Hoyer-Odfjell BrazilAv. Paulista 460 - 18 andarCEP 01310-904 Sao Paulo SP, BRAZILTel: +55 11 3549 5800Fax: +55 11 3549 5839

Hoyer-Odfjell China21C East Ocean Centre588 Yan An Road EastShanghai 200001, P.R. CHINATel: +86 21 6351 9641Fax: +86 21 6351 9747

Hoyer-Odfjell Dubaic/o Sharaf Shipping AgencySharaf Building, Al Mina RoadP.O. Box 576,Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATESTel: +971 4 3520 555Fax: +971 4 3511 467

Hoyer-Odfjell Singapore6 Shenton Way, # 27-10, DBS Tower 2SINGAPORE 068809Tel: +65 6223 4073Fax: +65 6225 6798

Hoyer-Odfjell USA16055 Space Center Blvd.Suite 500Houston, Texas 77062 USATel: +1 281 853 1000Fax: +1 281 853 1199

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