Shipping dry cargo from the US East Coast to the Far East is nothing special. What is unusual is when inbound and outbound trade turns out to be similar in terms of volume, frequency and vessel needs. And what is even more special when a shipping company succeeds in bringing two businesses together and optimises shipping logistics for both. This is the story of Wagenborg, Alcoa and Rayonier Advanced Materials.
Wagenborg is a company that has literally broken the ice in the harshest and desolate environments in the world. Its early operations mainly involved the timber and salt trade to the Baltic, but today Wagenborg sails the seven seas. Even so, the majority of its fleet movements can be traced back to the Baltic, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Great Lakes, and Arctic waters. Why is that? Despite global warming, those areas are still characterised by harsh winter conditions, and it’s in those conditions that Wagenborg’s largely ice-reinforced fleet operates extremely well. That may sound pretty simple, but in practice, things are rather different.
We talk to Koos Zumkehr (director chartering), Coos Blaauw (chartering manager) and Hans Kroon (director Wagenborg Shipping North America) about scale, cooperation and fleet development.
In 2015 Wagenborg agreed on a three-year term contract with Nordkalk, fully owned by the Finnish Rettig Group, for the transport of limestone and with Bore Ltd. for the acquisition of four multipurpose vessels. Wagenborg was selected responsible for the transport of about a million tonnes of limestone (and related products) with destinations in the Baltic Sea. Recently Nordkalk and Wagenborg renewed this contract for another three years. Together with Julian Rohde, Corporate Shipping Manager for Nordkalk, and Coos Blaauw, Chartering Manager for Wagenborg Shipping, we look back over the past few years and glimpse into the future of both family owned and managed companies.
These are turbulent times for offshore wind energy in Europe: a prominent topic within the energy strategy of the countries surrounding the North Sea. Several offshore wind farms at various stages of operational deployment have taken hold in the German Bight; fully operational, commissioned, and under or scheduled for construction. But how is the electricity generated at sea delivered to the electrical grid?
Our meeting precedes the Operations Team-meeting (OT). We have barely shaken hands before Marc de Rijcke convincingly dives in. About the importance of an open dialogue, his ‘core-owner’-philosophy, the previous love-hate relationship between Yara and Wagenborg, and about trust in each other. Marc de Rijcke, Head of Short Sea Chartering at Yara Maritime Logistics, reviews the long history between Yara and Wagenborg.
The Danish authorities have initiated the Fjord Link project to build a new bridge over the Roskilde fjord. The 8.2 km four-lane link will be located just south of Frederikssund. The new bridge consists of 492 concrete segments that are being constructed in Szczecin, Poland. The bridge is planned to open in 2019, so the final sections of the bridge need to be in Denmark by December 2018. That’s a logistical challenge where everything depends on planning, timing, and professionalism. So we decided to ask Wagenborg cargo superintendent Albert Snijders about it.
After months of work on building hull number 850, it’s now time to introduce the “EasyMax”. The EasyMax is an open-top multi-purpose ice-classed vessel with a load capacity of 14,200 tonnes and a hold volume of 625,000 cubic feet. The combination of that large load capacity and very low fuel consumption makes this Wagenborg vessel a leader in its segment in terms of sustainability.
