issue 02/2011 i aroundthegloberickmers-linie.com/uploads/tx_adobbq/atg_02_2011.pdf · a new...

Coverstory

Rickmers’ roots in AsiaAsia focus

Our homeports in the Far EastIntegrated Management System

A new framework for all operations

RICKMERS

aroundtheglobe The Magazine for Employees & Partners of Rickmers

Issue 02/2011 I www.rickmers.com

Mumbai

Karachi

Cape Town

Teheran

DohaDubai

MuscatAbu DhabiBahrain

DammamPort Said

AqabaLimassol

ConstantaGenoaBilbao

Lisbon

New OrleansHouston

ZurichVienna

DuesseldorfAntwerpLondon

Douglas

Bergen

CopenhagenM'boro

Oslo TallinnGothenburg

HelsinskiSt.Petersburg

MoskowKlaipeda

Riga

Hamburg

Chennai

Colombo

BejingUrumqui

Asia

XingangQingdao

Shanghai

Tokyo

Tianjin

Dalian

Seoul

Kuala Lumpur

Bangkok

Haiphong

Hong Kong Kaohsiung

Manila

Ho Chi Minh City

Singapore

Jakarta

Africa

Australia

Europa

North America

Dear colleagues and partners,

I am very proud to present the second issue of our magazine “RICKMERS aroundtheglobe”, which has a highly visible emphasis on Asia.

Asia has always played a vital role in the business and development of Rickmers. Against the background of the geographical shift in trade and shipping routes, it felt only natural to take a closer look at our activities in the region and our colleagues behind them.

This issue shows how we cooperate across all borders and hierarchies in our worldwide organisation and gives an insight into our long -established Asian network and competence. I am especially glad about the numerous interesting contributions from our local colleagues, which have caused us to increase the number of pages considerably.

Behind all the names and faces we meet in this issue, there are countless other colleagues all over the world who contribute to the success of Rickmers Group. Our network, our passion for shipping and our diverse cultures and mentalities form the basis for strengthening our competitiveness and our leading position in the market.

I encourage you to get to know each other, establish new contacts within our organisation, be it with a colleague overseas or next door, and wish you inspiring encounters and insights.

Yours truly Bertram RC Rickmers

2 Issue 02 2011Rickmers aroundtheglobe

With the switch to steamships around 1896, Rickmers for the first time offered a regular liner service between Europe and Asia on the route Bremerhaven – Middlesbrough – Ant-werp – Suez – Penang – Singapore – Shang-hai – Yokohama and Hiogo.

Just a few years later (1899), in a cooperative venture with the trading house Melchers & Co., the attempt was made to gain a foothold in China’s river traffic with a steamer line on the Yangtze River. The business prospects for this project were considered so promising for a time that it seemed reasonable to expand operations on the Yangtze by building a small shipyard.

With the dawn of the 20th century, a long period of economic uncertainty followed for Rickmers’ ventures in Asia. While Europe sank in the turmoil of two world wars, China and the entire Asian region witnessed the fall

When China was opening up its ports in the late 19th century and commencing to trade with various European states, German businessmen were among those successful in exploiting this development. The subsidies for steamers adopted by the German Reich-stag, which made a direct link with China possible, and the formation of the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank further helped to ensure that Germany was second only to the British in China’s trading and shipping statistics as early as 1896.

It is in this period that the first Asia and China business associated with the Rickmers name is established. In the 1870s, prompted by the aim of spreading risk, the Rickmers shipping and shipbuilding company went into the rice business, transporting rice from Asia to Europe with the Rickmers sailing fleet, and investing in rice mills in Europe and Asia, among other places in Siam (the present Thailand).

The first South East Asian and Chinese business associated with the Rickmers name can be traced back to the 1870s.

Cover Story

Rickmers’ roots in AsiaThe R.C. RICKMERS in Shanghai in 1964.

3Issue 02 2011Rickmers aroundtheglobe

of the Chinese empire and went through a complete cultural and political realignment, leading to the founding of the People’s Re-public of China in 1949.

Not until the 1950s was it possible, through personal connections, to establish contact with the People’s Republic of China and re-build the East Asia liner trade.

In 1958 Claus Rickmers, the uncle of Ber-tram RC Rickmers, travelled to China and was the Western world’s first shipowner to be received by the Chinese prime minister, Zhou Enlai. He subsequently visited China once or twice a year to further enhance the long-standing friendly relations between the Chinese shipping organisations and cul-tivate contacts with the highest echelons of government in Beijing. This enabled him to assume agency operations for forwarder Sinotrans and the COSCO shipping company in 1974 and launch a regular all-container service in conjunction with Hapag-Lloyd in 1978, whereby Hapag-Lloyd undertook transportation across the Pacific and Rick-mers handled shipments from Hong Kong to Shanghai and other Asian ports. Then, with the formation of the agencies Cosrick (COSCO

and RICKMERS) and Sinorick (SINOCHART and RICKMERS), the first joint ventures emerged in the mid-eighties.

In the 1980s Bertram RC Rickmers, today’s chairman of Rickmers Group, went on a long trip through China as a guest of COSCO, where he closely examined the Chinese shipbuilding industry, an industry without export orders at that time. The knowledge he gained dur-ing this journey and the good relations he developed led, years later, to the decision to cooperate with Chinese shipyards.

Since 1985, when Bertram Rickmers put his first owned ship into service, Rickmers Group has ordered 70 vessels from China, with a total investment volume of USD 3.1 billion. Of the current Rickmers fleet, 44 vessels have been built at Chinese shipyards, representing a total investment of USD 1.9 billion.

A very successful cooperation in shipbuild-ing was developed with Dalian Shipbuilding Industry Company, from which a series of 21 × 4,250TEU container vessels was ordered, with deliveries between 2005 and 2009. In 2010 the Group received two 4,900TEU car carriers from Xiamen Shipyard, and by the

Cover Story Rickmers’ roots in Asia

The RICKMERS SEOUL passing Pudong. Photo: Rickmers



Captain, officers, a steward and two Chinese boilermen

aboard the steamship HELENE RICKMERS. The photo was

taken in the late 1880s.

An advertisement for Rickmers-Linie dating back

to 1960. The vessel shown is ETHA RICKMERS with

its heavy lift derricks.

With the switch to steamships around 1896, Rickmers for the first time offered a regular liner service between Europe and Asia.


In 1958 Claus Rickmers, the uncle of Bertram RC Rickmers, travelled to China and was the Western world’s first shipowner to be received by the Chinese prime minister, Zhou Enlai.

Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai

welcomed Claus Rickmers to China

in 1958.

end of 2011 a series of 4 × 30 K MPC vessels from Jingling will be delivered.

Besides China, a total of 14 vessels have been built at Korean yards, among them the re-cently delivered eight 13,100TEU container ships, which were commissioned from Hyun-dai Heavy Industries for an investment vol-ume to the tune of some USD 1.4 billion.

Today Rickmers-Linie calls at Asian ports with its regular heavy-lift liner services. With legs for Europe-Asia, Intra-Asia (Indonesia-Singapore-Thailand-Vietnam-China-Korea-Japan), Asia-USA, USA-Europe and USA-Asia, the service transports eastbound cargo, link-ing Europe with South East Asia and the Far East. From there, it continues on to North America before crossing the Atlantic, return-ing to Europe and setting out again to Asia. Rickmer-Linie’s senior representative in Chi-na takes part in the regular shipping consul-tations between the European Commission

and the Ministry of Transport of the People‘s Republic of China.

Offices in Hamburg and Singapore cover the full spectrum of classic ship management activities. These include the technical and commercial handling of ship operation, dry docking and crewing. Rickmers own new-building department is involved in the plan-ning of new vessels, building supervision and proprietary crewing agencies, amongst oth-ers in Manila, Shanghai and Colombo ensure the provision of well-trained personnel for the ships of the Rickmers fleet.

Furthermore, the Rickmers Group holds a 33.1% stake in Rickmers Maritime, which is listed on the main board of Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited and is a component stock of the FTSE ST Maritime Index. SP



Maritime Assets Logistics ServicesMaritime Services

Rickmers Group

Rickmers Reederei, Hamburg Rickmers-Linie, Hamburg

EVT Elbe Vermögens Treuhand, Hamburg ESSE Expert Shipping Service, Hamburg Rickmers-Linie Belgium, Antwerp

Polaris, Isle of Man Rickmers-Linie (America), Houston

Atlantic, Hamburg Global Management, Cyprus Rickmers-Linie (Japan), Tokyo

Harper Petersen, Hamburg (50%) Rickmers Marine Agency Constanta, Romania

Rickmers-Linie (Korea), Seoul

Rickmers-Linie China, 8 Offices in China

Rickmers Marine Agency Philippines, Philippines (75%)

Rickmers Trust Management, Singapore

MCC Marine Consulting & Contracting, Hamburg

Rickmers Marine Agency Colombo, Sri Lanka (51%)

Rickmers Maritime, Singapore (33.1%)

Rickmers Terminal Holding, HamburgGlobal Marine Insurance Brokerage Services, Cyprus (50%)

Vessel Companies (Fleet)

Rickmers Shipmanagement (Singapore), Singapore

Today’s Rickmers Group is a diversified group of companies active in the business fields Maritime Assets, Maritime Services and Logistics Services.

It is represented worldwide by 20 offices and more than 40 agencies, eight of them Rickmers-Linie offices in China, with further Asian offices in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Philippines, Korea and Japan.

Bertram Rickmers met with the

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao

at the Hamburg Summit in 2006.



Another naming ceremony for two 13,100TEU container vessels being built for the Rickmers Group took place on 31 May at the Ulsan shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries. TAURO RICKMERS and LIBRA RICKMERS are the final two ships in an eight-ship series being built for the Hamburg shipowner for long-term charter to Maersk Line.

The two ships were christened by family friends of Rickmers Group Chairman Bertram Rickmers. Mrs Antoinette Zornig named TAURO RICKMERS while Mrs Elke Scharfe named LIBRA RICKMERS.

A Swiss citizen and a mother of seven chil-dren, Mrs Zornig is married to Professor Dr Carsten Zornig of the Israelite Hospital in

Hamburg and is a supporter of both the board of members of the French School in Hamburg and the committee of Human Rights Watch.

Mrs Scharfe established her own non-profit association Hamburger Kinderwünsche in 2005. This organisation cares for seriously ill children during their clinical treatment at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf.

Following the ceremony, TAURO RICKMERS was renamed MAERSK EVORA and sailed to Busan to commence loading for Europe on Maersk’s AE2 service. At the end of July, Hyundai deliv-ered LIBRA RICKMERS, which under the name MAERSK ESSEX started loading in Busan on 30 July, also for Europe on the AE2 service. SP

Container Vessels

Rickmers takes delivery of its final two 13,100TEU container vessels, No 7 and No 8

Bertram Rickmers and the Sponsors Mrs Scharfe and

Mrs A. Zornig in front of the HHI Guesthouse

From left to right: Mr J.S. Lee, Mrs Lee, Mrs J. Klatten,

Prof Dr C. Zornig, Mr R. Scharfe, Mrs E. Scharfe,

Mr B. Rickmers, Mrs A. Zornig, Mrs I.M. Jacobs,

Mr F. Jacobs.


To be both cost efficient and different from your competitors, you need to build a unique value chain – an ecosystem of companies that all support the same goals in order to make every company in the ecosystem more competitive than the competition.

Together with their six sister vessels already in service, MAERSK EVORA and MAERSK ESSEX will serve Maersk Line customers on trade routes from Asia to Europe. The vessels will call at ports like Busan, Dalian, Shanghai, Rotterdam and Hamburg, illustrating the global nature of the shipping industry, of which many of us are a part.

The container business has just been through the roller coaster ride of the dec-ade – if not of the century. From a good 2007 and 2008, to a catastrophic 2009, a record 2010 and now a 2011 where I think the only safe thing to say is that we are all cautiously holding our breaths – what will happen? I think, we can say that 2011 is not – thank God – another 2009, but it will probably not be another 2010 either.

And still we all love the industry. We love the ships, we love the people and we love the trade. We invest and we grow.

But as a business person, I think we face a big challenge: How can we make this industry more stable? How can we create an industry where we can safely make the massive investments that the TAURO RICK-MERS and the LIBRA RICKMERS are such good examples of?

In the old days, you had a fundamen-tal choice to make: either you could of-fer a product that was cheaper than your

competition – or you could offer a product that was different from your competition. But today, you need to be able to do both: you must be able to offer a product that is both competitive on cost and more attractive than other products. Does that sound easy? – Well, it isn’t!

And it is definitely not something you can do on your own. To be both cost efficient and different from your competitors, you need to build a unique value chain – an ecosystem of companies that all support the same goals in order to make every company in the ecosys-tem more competitive than the competition.

In Maersk Line, we see a lot of opportunities to do this. On the vessel side, we are working intensely on both reducing fuel consumption and improving the cargo carrying capabili-ties of the container vessels we operate. We hope that leading shipyards – like Hyundai – and leading shipowners – like Rickmers – will continue to support us in these efforts. At the same time, we are working with our customers to offer the absolute best reliabil-ity and the best environmental footprint of the industry.

If we work together on these initiatives, we can together create a value chain that is truly unbeatable.

Extract of a speech delivered by SØren Andersen, Vice President of Maersk Line, on the occasion of the double naming ceremony.

SØren Andersen, Vice

President of Maersk Line.

Photo: Maersk Line

The crew of TAURO RICKMERS / MAERSK EVORA posing in

front of their vessel. Photo: Rickmers

The final 13,100TEU vessel was taken over by Rickmers Group on 22 July

2011. Paul Dolan, Managing Director of Polaris and Arnim von der Lieth,

Director Newbuilding Department, Rickmers Group, surrounded by members

of the site office. Photo: Rickmers


These diary excerpts from the maiden voy-age were provided by the ship’s command, Captain Myo Zin Maung and Chief Engineer Saw Aung.

25 May 2011 UlsanOur best crew has arrived. They will receive required instructions during the next few days so they have sound knowledge before delivery of our good vessel.

31 May 2011 UlsanThe day of the ship-naming ceremony. All crew members wore full dress uniform: neat, tidy, and very smart. All visitors were satisfied with our crew.

01 June 2011 UlsanTAURO RICKMERS, chartered as MAERSK EVORA, was delivered by the Ulsan Hyundai Shipyard today. At 1200 hours local time, all trading certificates and documents were accepted from shipyard by the master. Then on the same, day our vessel left the shipyard at 1536 hours local time and commenced her maiden voyage to Busan.

06 June 2011 HakataAfter the first loading port, Busan, we pro-ceeded to the second loading port, Hakata/Japan. As soon as we were alongside, the Hakata City Mayor, the President of the Port Authority and visitors came aboard and visited our vessel as the largest container ship ever in Hakata.

20 June 2011 YantianOur vessel continued her maiden voyage to Chinese ports. First, we arrived at the load-ing port of Dalian and waited for berth availability. In the meantime, visibility was so poor, due to dense fog, that the port was closed. During anchor time, settled all neces-saries for smooth operation, such as readi-ness of all deck and engine equipment and required charterer’s software (MSPS, Bunker and Reefer programs).

After Dalian, vessel continued to Xingang, Ningbo and Shanghai as the schedule was tight. Master and all officers took extreme caution on account of dense fog in China. Established best teamwork by master, offi-cers, engineers and crews: all MRM (Maritime Resources Management) tools were being applied on board. When we arrived in Hong Kong, port and harbour authorities staged ceremony for vessel’s first maiden call on a Maersk charter. Continued voyage to Yantian (Chinese port) for cargo operations.

24 June 2011 Tanjung Pelepas (TPP)When our vessel left Yantian, a tropical ty-phoon was waiting in the area around Hong Kong and Yantian. Master, all officers and crew took all necessary precautions for heavy weather. Master checked weather forecasts, decided best route and adjusted safe speed to arrive at Tanjung Pelepas safely. Mas-ter informed owner and charterer regard-ing above situation. Eventually, we passed through the tropical typhoon safely and smoothly.

When the vessel arrived at Tanjung Pelepas, RSS Fleet Manager, Crewing Manager, Techni-cal Superintendent, Operation Manager and Accounts Department, as well as all of our colleagues, including Mr Zaw Pe Win from Uniteam Singapore, inspected and visited our good vessel.

We had taken extreme caution in manoeu-vring, particularly when turning on berthing and unberthing at port due to very long ves-sel length. Despite difficulty in turning, the very heavy traffic, tight schedules and poor visibility at all Chinese ports, our vessel oper-ated smoothly and without any problems to continue her maiden voyage.

05 July 2011 Suez…

11 July 2011 Gibraltar…

15 July 2011 Rotterdam & Bremerhaven…

18 July 2011 HamburgWhile docking at Hamburg port, great care was taken in tight turning. In the eve-ning, Antoinette Zornig – the sponsor of the TAURO RICKMERS – visited our vessel. We prepared a very warm welcome on board for her.

20 July 2011 AntwerpBefore departure from Hamburg, Mr C. Har-resen of the IT Department at Rickmers’ Hamburg office, embarked on our vessel. During the sea passage from Hamburg to Antwerp, he installed a P.M.S computer and briefed all officers and engineers.

22 July 2011 FelixstoweAfter Antwerp, vessel arrived at port of Fe-lixstowe, which is the port on the simula-tor at our Yangon training centre. Before joining the vessel all officers, including the master, had attended the course at the training centre, which meant all officers were very familiar with this port.

Meanwhile, our good vessel has completed her maiden voyage and set out from the English Channel, bound for Asia via Suez.

MV TAURO RICKMERS • MV MAERSK EVORA

Diary of a Maiden Voyage


At the moment the team consists of Thorsten Odefey, Head of Department, and Alfredo de Guzman, Dry Dock Superintendent; a Dry Dock Controller, Glevy Ymbong.

The team is in charge of all regular dry dock-ings of the fleets under Rickmers manage-ment and is based in Singapore due to the excellent connections to the yards in the Asian region, where a substantial part of the Rickmers fleet is operating now and in the future. However, the team carries out dock-ings not only in Asia but all around the world, in accordance with the vessels’ trading areas.

The idea of having a Dry Dock Team is to pro-vide a more efficient standard throughout the fleet to reduce both off-hire time and docking expenses, which will be achieved by introducing standards based on ship type and age. In the near future all ship com-mands will receive detailed descriptions of how to prepare all the information required for good planning. As a class period lasts five years, close cooperation between the ship’s command, the responsible superintendent

and the Dry Dock Team is paramount. Anoth-er important task is that the Dry Dock Team will provide detailed budgets and schedul-ing.

As the Rickmers fleet has now grown to near-ly 120 ships, an average of 24 ships have to be docked every year. This is, of course, only a theoretical figure and the reality looks a bit different. Below is the outlook for the next two years:

• 2012→21ships• 2013→35ships

As not only the dockings will be carried out, but also the pre-docking inspections four to six months before the actual docking, plus budgeting / scheduling, the number of Dry Dock Superintendents will increase to at least three to four. In 2013 the department will be supported by the technical teams in Ham-burg and Singapore, as well as from external companies where necessary, to manage 35 ships, an average of three a month. TO/TL

Maritime Services

Rickmers Dry Dock Department

On 1 July 2011, the Dry Dock Department, the newly created unit of Maritime Services, officially started its work.

Born into a family of seafarers – all on the engineering side – it had been clear very early on what I would do in the future: become an engineer, with luck all the way to the position as a chief engineer.

After the required schooling I started my career with Blohm & Voss, a long-estab-lished and well-known shipyard in Ham-burg, to train as an engine mechanic.

It took another year of school to get my first stint on board as an engine cadet. Then, in 1986, I started working for Ham-burg Sued, another eminent Hamburg-based company with a long tradition, and worked for them until 1998 in differ-ent positions on a variety of ships – reefer container vessels, tankers, reefers, and bulk carriers – to finally qualify as a chief engineer in 1996.

In 1998 I got a call from my previous su-perintendent, Carsten Koerbelin, who asked me to join him at Rickmers, yet another well-established and renowned company, but this time in a shore posi-tion. Following a short period as Assistant Superintendent I became Superintendent in early 1999. After gaining further expe-rience I was promoted to Fleet Manager in Hamburg in 2004 and, since 2007, in Singapore, where I had the chance to start up Rickmers Shipmanagement (Singapore) (RSS) together with other colleagues from the Hamburg office and new colleagues from Singapore.

Since 1 July 2011 I am in charge of the Dry Dock Department, which is located in Singapore and responsible for all planned dockings of the entire Rickmers Group fleet.

PortraitThorsten Odefey Head of Dry Dock Department


Since its inception in 2007, Rickmers Trust Management (RTM) has been responsible for the formulation and implementation of in-vestment and financing strategies and the overall daily management of Singapore-list-ed Rickmers Maritime Pte. Ltd. (RM). RM, set up under the business trust structure, owns 16 modern container vessels of between 3,450TEU and 5,060TEU in size, leased out on long-term fixed-rate time charters to five of the world’s leading container liner compa-nies, namely CMA CGM, CSAV, Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd., Italia Marittima S.p.A. and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd.. The vessels are technically managed by Rickmers Shipmanagement (Sin-gapore Pte. Ltd.) (RSS), located in an office adjacent to RTM’s.

Managing a public listed entity entails a substantial amount of compliance and strict corporate governance. Financial results are released to investors on a quarterly basis followed by a results presentation via tel-econference. This call is attended by research analysts, journalists, investors and lend-ers dialling in from around the globe. Once a year, the Board of Directors and Manage-ment meet retail investors face to face at its Annual General Meeting. About one hundred investors turn up to receive a report on the Trust’s business operations, financial per-

formance and strategy. The investors also take the opportunity to ask the Directors and Management questions about the Trust and the shipping industry.

To increase the profile of the Rickmers brand and the Trust, Management participates ac-tively in local and international investor con-ferences, meeting with fund managers and analysts. The Management also cultivates and establishes good working relationships with the Trust’s current and potential finan-ciers.

Rickmers Trust Management is steered by its Board of very distinguished Directors. The Board is chaired by Mr Bertram RC Rickmers and further consists of three independent Directors: Mrs Lee Suet Fern, member of the Board since 2007 and the founder and Senior Director of Stamford Law Corporation; Mr Lim How Teck, who has been with the trustee-manager since 2007, is a shipping veteran with more than 20 years of experience in the industry; Mr Raymundo A Yu Jr joined the Board in 2009 and has close to 30 years of experience in wealth management, global markets and investment banking with Mer-rill Lynch International, where he held the position of Group Chairman Asia Pacific from 2000 to 2008.

Maritime Assets

Rickmers Trust Management – A small team with a global reach

Rickmers Maritime owns 16 modern container vessels between 3,450TEU and 5,060TEU, which are chartered to five of the world’s leading container carriers.

RickmersMaritime Trustee-ManagerRickmersTrustManagement

ShipManagerRickmersShipmanagement(Singapore)

Rickmers GroupOther Unitholders

SpecialPurposeCompanies ThirdPartyContainerLinerCompanies(Charterers)

• CMA CGM• Compañia Sud Amerícana de Vapores• Hanjin Shipping• Italia Marittima• Mitsui O.S.K. LinesVessels

66.9%

100%

100%

33.1%

Trust Deed Master Ship Management Agreement

Charter Agreements

100%

100%


The executive team at Rickmers Trust Man-agement is helmed by Chief Executive Officer Thomas Preben Hansen. With more than 15 years of experience in the industry, Hansen oversees the management of the organisa-tion as well as implementing strategic goals and objectives in line with the organisation’s philosophy and mission. Chief Financial Of-ficer is Gerard Low, who came on board RTM in January 2011. Apart from his financial and fiscal management responsibilities, Low is also in charge of the Investor Relations func-tion.

Together, Hansen and Low run a tight ship of five employees. Project Manager Suriyana Shah, Finance Manager Saw Bee Lay, Ac-countant Casey Lye and Executive Assistant Jolene Bun have all been with the firm since 2007-2008, each playing an instrumental role in the growth and development of the Trust over the years. The newest addition is Mindy Cai, who joined RTM as Accounts As-sistant in June 2011.

The RTM team may be lean, but it is extremely cohesive and all members work closely with one another, as well as with RSS, to keep the Trust and its 16 ships in safe and calm wa-ters.

“Managing a public listed entity with over a billion dollars’ worth of assets under man-agement comes with a considerable amount of responsibility and accountability. We re-main acutely aware that our duties can only be carried out successfully as long as we work cohesively as a team. Apart from our daily routines, we always exchange ideas on how we can continue to add value to our investors and customers. Some of these ideas develop into projects which are then implemented. For each and every milestone we achieve, the team grows stronger. I am proud of our team and all that it has accomplished,” says Hansen. RTM

Date of Listing 4 May 2007

Amount raised in connection with the Initial Public Offering (IPO) US$404m.

Number of units outstanding 423,675.000% of units owned by Rickmers Group 140,229.000 (33.1%)

Number of investors approx. 7,000 including large institutional investors

Assets under management 16 container vessels with a value of about US$1bn.

Annual revenue US$147m. (2010)

Distribution paid since IPO US$92m.

Thomas Preben Hansen and Gerard Low together with

the team of RTM (back row from left to right: Suriyana

Shah, Jolene Bun, Mindy Cai, Casey Lye and Saw Bee Lay).

Photo: Photo Craft Photography


When a master on board requires support from the shore organisation, the depart-ment’s name is probably the least impor-tant of his concerns. He has an entire ship to manage and seeks an effective and efficient solution for what he needs. The same is true of Maritime Services’ customers: owners and charterers. Their expectations are mainly re-lated to the expected output of all activities – excellent operational performance. Thus, to overcome departmental thinking and a dominant shore organisation, Maritime Services has started implementing a ship-centric and process-based approach which is reflected in the Integrated Management Sys-tem, certified according to ISO and industry standards.

The ship, the master and the crew represent the heart of the Integrated Management System, with the shore organisation pro-

viding support. The traditional approach of various manuals addressing quality, health, safety and environment separately has been abandoned in favour of a process-based in-tegration of all aspects, with clearly assigned roles and responsibilities. While ship safety (in compliance with the ISM code) remains the prime concern of all operations, the new system extends to the important aspects of quality (ISO 9001), health and environment (ISO 14001) for all critical operations in one – integrated – system.

To safeguard Rickmers’ ship-centric view, the project team was supported by senior offic-ers of the fleet, who were invited to join the System Development Team for a limited pe-riod of time. They have contributed signifi-cantly to the removal of obsolete forms and procedures and the writing of new, struc-tured procedures for all critical operations on

Maritime Services

New Integrated Management Systems for all operations

Our mission: “Safe, efficient and happy ships.”


board. Moreover, they were invited to attend process-mapping workshops together with representatives from most departments. Following the identification of start and end points for all supporting operations ashore, the responsibilities of the departments in-volved for achieving the defined outputs were put down on paper in detail. Later on, all material was reviewed and grouped in a cycle around the ship (see illustration). This cycle is known as the PDCA cycle (plan, do, check, act). Understanding and consistently following this cycle is designed to achieve the continual improvement of all operations and deliver excellent ship performance to our customers. With the PDCA method per-manently applied, we are convinced that the new system will help us to live up to Mari-time Services’ mission of managing safe, ef-ficient and happy ships.

The Integrated Management System is one of Maritime Services’ key projects and has now reached an important milestone. Nearly ten ships, serving as a pilot project, and sections of the Hamburg and Singapore offices were the first to see the results of this new state-of-the-art system, which was started from scratch by a project team about a year ago. Formal ISO 9001 and 14001 certification of some pilot ships and offices in Hamburg and Singapore is planned for December 2011, fol-lowed by full implementation on board all ships and throughout the Ship Management organisation, including the crewing office in Limassol.

Any feedback on the new system is wel-comed and will be shared in a list of FAQs, maintained in Rickipedia and distributed to the ships regularly. BS

The ship, the master and the crew represent the heart of the new Integrated Management System, with the shore organisation providing support.


Writing about Rickmers Reederei’s Fleet Teams, one might think of David and Goliath: the huge organisation of the Rickmers Group on one side and the small units of the Fleet Teams on the other. But there is a significant difference here to the biblical story: David and Goliath are not fighting each other but working together – each one benefiting from the other. While the organisation of Rickmers offers scale effects and a competitive edge over other companies, the structuring as Fleet Teams meets the need for a flexible and communicative working environment. But what exactly is a Fleet Team? It is a working unit that brings together employees from all functions relevant to the daily operation of a vessel: crewing, operations, procurement and technical. In other words, a Fleet Team – of which four exist at Rickmers Reederei – is a group of people from all of these (former) departments, working together on a defined number of vessels.

However, that is not how it has always been: back in the days when Rickmers was much smaller, there was a mostly automatic spread of information. The intensive interaction was achieved just by the fact that everyone was sitting close to each other. But with the increasing success of Rickmers, all depart-ments grew and separated more and more. This resulted in a kind of knowledge pooling

that worked fine for a while. But markets and the requirements of day-to-day operations changed substantially. For example, envi-ronmental matters became significant, the crewing situation transformed, port stays of vessels shortened rapidly and the number of vessels sailing worldwide boomed.

The new challenges called for an innova-tive approach, which led to the creation of a pilot Fleet Team in October 2010. The team went through all possible tasks in a brilliant manner and even supported the fleet outside their unit. The success of this team was so overwhelming that there was a rollout of this model for the whole fleet in July 2011. “The new configuration is just another milestone answering the communications needs of a modern ship management company – exter-nally and internally”, says Joern Krey, Director of Fleet Management. The advantages of the Fleet Teams are, for instance, an emphasis on tasks rather than functions, a stronger focus on customers and the ship-centric model, a single port of information entry, short lines of communication and an increase in inter-disciplinary understanding and team build-ing. “Among the many advantages there is one key point”, Krey adds, “Fleet Teams re-duce the complexity of a big company and still benefit from being part of it.” KR

Maritime Services

Fleet teams: Where all the good things come together

A Fleet Team is a working unit which brings together employees from all functions relevant to the daily operation of a vessel.


Crewing

Fleet Manager

Deputy Fleet Manager

Admin

Bals-LeuchtersBleuss

Knecht

Alibek

Team 1 MPCFleet Team Setup

SchmiegelRambow

Rode

PlonczakRICKMERS MASANRICKMERS POHANGRICKMERS SEOULRICKMERS SHANGHAIRICKMERS SINGAPORERICKMERS TOKYO

TuttCHRISTA RICKMERSDENDERAH RICKMERSMADELEINE RICKMERSR.C. RICKMERSRICKMERS DALIAN

VerescakoRICKMER RICKMERSRICKMERS ANTWERP RICKMERS HAMBURGRICKMERS JAKARTARICKMERS NEW ORLEANS

AbeleOrbista

Shnurkov

Christoph

Team 2 UCC

WestphalWang

Stapelfeldt

StavaracheMAI RICKMERSMARIA RICKMERSMABEL RICKMERSPAUL RICKMERSPETER RICKMERS

KardalevCHARLOTTE C. RICKMERSDOROTHEA RICKMERSFIONA RICKMERSJENNIFER RICKMESMARGRIT RICKMERS

SzambelanBERULANCAMILLA RICKMERSETHA RICKMERSURSULA RICKMERS

TaberneroASTA RICKMERSCARLA RICKMERSJOCK RICKMERSFELICITAS RICKMERSJOHAN RICKMERS

(Shnurkov)(AGNES RICKMERS)(JULIETTE RICKMERS)(SANTIAGO)

LickteigAntkiewicz

Newrzella

Adam

Baruschke

Team 3 TMC

LohmannSchweizer

Zschage

TellerDEIKE RICKMERSJACOB RICKMERSJOHN RICKMERSNINA RICKMERSARUNI RICKMERSJACKY RICKMERSSAYLEMOON RICKMERS

NeculitaSEAN RICKMERSELISABETH RICKMERSLADY ELISABETHR. SEAR. PARTNER

RosinskiDANIELAPETERSIEFKEINGA HSUSANNE

ZschageBENJAMIN RICKMERSGEORGE RICKMERS

HobussELISABETH RICKMERSROBERT RICKMERSHELENE RICKMERSWILLI RICKMERSANNA RICKMERSLARA RICKMERSVALBELLAVALDEMOSAVALDIVIAVALPARAISOMARIE RICKMERSSOPHIE RICKMERSERNST RICKMERSTETE RICKMERSLILLY RICKMERSLAURITA RICKMERS

HamannBueno

Rosenberg

Grohe

Team 4 CSBC

RennerSchneider

Winter

OlariuAENNE RICKMERSALICE RICKMERSANDRE RICKMERSANDREAS RICKMERSCLASEN RICKMERSPATRICIA RICKMERS

SchulzALBERT RICKMERSALEXANDRA RICKMERSCATHRINE RICKMERSMARINE RICKMERSSEVEN SEAS

Procurement

Operation

Superintendents

Operation (ext. Management)


Working as an Operations Executive

When 24⁄7 is more than a number

When the idea of writing an article about Fathi Rode came up, the plan was to describe his typical working day as an Operations Ex-ecutive and part of the MPC Fleet Team at Rickmers Reederei. But after just a few min-utes talking to him, it was pretty clear that this approach was wishful thinking.

Looking at the list of tasks executed by an Operations Executive shows that there is a wide range of responsibilities which call for high flexibility and leave hardly any room for routine. All of them have one purpose: to ensure smooth day-to-day ship operation by being the link between the internal or-ganisation and charterers. This could be any trading- and charter-related matter, e.g., delivery and redelivery of the vessel to and from charterers, close collaboration with the in-house chartering department, coordina-tion of dry-docking and repairs during the current charter with the technical depart-ment of the MPC Fleet Team, and reduction of off-hire periods as far as possible. But nauti-cal and navigational advice, registrations of newbuildings and the handling of certifi-cates – depending on the trading area – are also part of the job.

The Operations Executive’s objective at Rickmers Reederei is to maximise customer satisfaction by balancing the respective in-ternal organisational and commercial inter-ests. “Good customer care leads to customer satisfaction. But excellent customer care re-sults in customer delight”, says Fathi Rode, explaining his approach. This is why he is constantly collecting information and dis-

cussing alternatives with his colleagues to find the best possible solution for everyone – internally and externally. Rode is also the one communicating all relevant facts to the charterer, to ensure that he is up to date re-garding his chartered ship. “Before sending out an e-mail to the charterer, I put myself in his position. I try to think of all the questions he might have and answer them before-hand, instead of sending bits and pieces”, the ship operations expert says. What makes the Fleet Teams at Rickmers stand out is their high commitment to service and their effort to always act as reliably and quickly as they can – no matter at what time. “It sometimes happens that I receive an urgent phone call at 2 am. But that’s fine. Then I can work from my computer at home and make sure that everything is arranged before I go to the of-fice.” But there is also something else that makes Rode go to work with joy: “The spirit within our team is extraordinary. We all have a good time together.”

The MPC Fleet Team – with Fathi Rode – was also the first Fleet Team of Rickmers Reederei created in September 2010 to serve as a pi-lot model. Since the team worked out per-fectly, this new model was implemented for the whole fleet in July 2011. Today there are four Fleet Teams and each team consists of a Fleet Manager, members from the Crewing and Procurement Department, Operations Executive(s) and Superintendents. They all work together to keep the vessel well main-tained and serve all parties to their complete satisfaction.

Before joining Rickmers Reederei in Sep-tember 2008, Rode worked for several other shipping companies. His last two positions were at the Operations Department and Im-port Department of Unifeeder Germany and as a Cargo Surveyor. He also holds a Mas-ter of Science degree from the Marine State Academy of Odessa (Ukraine) and worked at sea for two years as third, second and chief mate. Born in Syria, he moved to Germany in 1995. So anyone needing to contact Fathi Rode can do so in Arabic, Russian, German or English. NM

“Good customer care leads to customer satisfaction. But excellent customer care results in customer delight.” Fathi Rode


Eighteen thousand orders in one year, equiv-alent to almost 350 orders a week – this is the number of purchases processed by the Procurement Department of Rickmers to meet vessels’ daily requirements. Divided by eight employees in Hamburg and three in Singa-pore, this means each person has to handle more than 26 orders in a five-day working week. Not to mention the fact that orders range from simple pen and paper to complex engine parts, all needing to be delivered to ships worldwide. It is easy to imagine how essential it is to have efficient strategies and structures within this department.

This is where Remco Janssen-Valen comes into play: the Dutchman joined the Rickmers team as General Manager of Procurement in April 2011. His aim is to improve the depart-ment’s activities, following the company’s ship-centric strategy. During his first 100 days at Rickmers, he analysed all activities, talked to colleagues and made up his mind. What are the key challenges, and how can they be faced? What he noticed were many day-to-day activities, resulting in a mainly operational – instead of a strategic – pro-curement organisation. “There are four main procurement dimensions, all influencing each other: cost, quality, resources and tim-ing. It’s the procurement dilemma to find the dimension to focus on”, the procurement expert explains. “By improving the existing interdependencies, we can enhance all four factors and support our main mission: to en-sure efficient, cost-effective and timely de-livery of products and services on board ac-cording to vessels’ needs and specifications.”

He identified six fields of action:

1 ContractManagementContracting critical suppliers for routine items and high-vol-ume segments to facilitate these kinds of orders, and defining quality, pricing and delivery terms

2 Logistics Improving the whole process of logistics, thus expediting pickup, consoli-dation, shipping and delivery of orders, e.g., via outsourcing to third-party mar-ket specialists

3 VendorManagement Gaining market intelligence and identifying preferred suppliers by briefing, monitoring and evaluating vendors on quality and deliv-ery timing, based on direct feedback from the ships

4 PurchasingSkills Pursuing cost effective solutions by improving purchasing skills, e.g., negotiating prices, identifying and capitalising on market opportunities

5 ProcurementOrganisation Internal and external setup of processes, systems and people to enable the execution of pro-curement

6 TechnicalCompetence Optimising the procurement process by gaining and retaining relevant technical knowledge

“Of course not all of these fields can be im-proved at once and we are dependent on everybody’s support – also outside the de-partment. But so far everyone has been so cooperative, so I have no doubt we will move forward,” Janssen-Valen says. He hopes to see first results very soon. “By the end of this year we should be able to focus our actions rather on the following month than on to-morrow; by the end of next year we will be in full control of the procurement processes.”

Before joining the Rickmers Group, Jans-sen-Valen, who holds a Master’s degree in Maritime Technology, worked for the Dutch companies Stolt-Nielsen and Mainnovation. After writing his thesis “Lifecycle Cost of Equipment on Board Ship” at the chemical shipping company Stolt-Nielsen, he started working there as a Contract Analyst in the Procurement Department, followed by three other departments. Afterwards he joined the consultancy Mainnovation as a mainte-nance consultant. At the beginning of 2011 Janssen-Valen, his wife and his son moved to Hamburg. In his new position as General Manager of Procurement he reports directly to Jens Lassen. “I feel very comfortable and enjoy working for Rickmers – everyone is so supportive. And Hamburg also welcomed us with wonderful weather, although, just six weeks after our arrival, someone decided to torch our car. That currently seems to happen more often in Hamburg. At least it showed me I was finally one of them“, he adds with a wink. NM

Maritime Services

The four procurement dimensions

Remco Janssen-

Valen, General

Manager

Procurement.

Photo: Rickmers

The four dimensions of procurement and their

interdependencies.

Quality

← Ve

ndor

→

Manag

emen

t

← Procurment →

Organization

← Contract →

Management

← Pur

chas

ing →

Skills←

Tec

hnic

al

com

pete

nce

→

Resources

Timing Cost← Logistics →


Thies Lau, Managing Director of RSS, re-members how it all began: “In 2006 the Rickmers Group decided to go to the capi-tal markets to finance its upcoming new-building programme instead of using the traditional German KG system. As the most advantageous location and vehicle for this, Singapore was selected, which, in addition to having developed into the International Maritime Centre of Asia Pacific, had imple-mented attractive tax incentives for shipping trusts. Since the business model of the ship-ping trust was to own and charter out large container ships on long-term time charters, the shipping trust needed a ship manager. Which was why RSS had been set up a few months earlier, to be in operation when the ships were delivered and the shipping trust was listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange under the name of Rickmers Maritime, be-ginning in May 2007.”

With the initial impetus for setting up RSS in Singapore, the Group was also extending its ship management activities and establish-ing a presence in the fast-developing Asian shipping industry – Singapore prides itself on being the secondbiggest container port in the world today, only recently being over-taken by Shanghai. RSS provides full crewing, technical and commercial management ser-vices for the fleet of containerships owned by Rickmers Maritime, Polaris and other third-party clients, as well as providing support

to the large number of Rickmers vessels trad-ing in the Asia Pacific region.

Thies Lau, who had taken on the task of es-tablishing, managing and developing the new ship management unit in close coop-eration with and help from big sister Rick-mers Reederei, recalls: “It was a fantastic and challenging task and opportunity to start up this company in Singapore from scratch: registration, renting an office, hav-ing telephones and IT installed and hooked up to the servers in Hamburg and – most important of all – finding the staff required to run a fullfledged ship management com-pany. Five colleagues coming from Rickmers in Hamburg and the same number of locally recruited staff opened the office on 3 Janu-ary 2007. The ISM was audited on 10 January and the first vessel - the 4,250TEU newbuild-ing MV VICKI RICKMERS - was taken over on 29 January 2007. As the initial RSS team of 10, and RSS being part of an established German group with a long history but as a new entity based in Singapore, we very quickly adapted and worked with the dynamics of the differ-ent cultures. Together we built a solid foun-dation for the scheduled growth of the RSS fleet and activities, as mapped out by our principals.”

With the listing of Rickmers Maritime on the Singapore Stock Exchange in May 2007, RSS started its close relationship with the trustee-

Maritime Services

Rickmers Shipmanagement in Singapore spreads its wings

It has been more than four years since the first piece was written to introduce Rickmers Shipmanagement (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. (“RSS”) for Rickmers Magazine. Back then, RSS started with a staff strength of ten, which has since grown to 28. Today RSS manages a total of 36 vessels, owned by Polaris Shipmanagement Co. Ltd. (17), Rickmers Maritime (16) and third parties (3).


manager, Rickmers Trust Management, as its ship manager with the management of their initial fleet of five vessels. Today the Rickmers Maritime fleet comprises a total of 16 vessels. Rickmers Maritime, being a listed trust which is subjected to very strict codes of corpo-rate governance, constantly benchmarks its ship managers with others in the industry. Upon expiry of the original ship manage-ment agreements with Rickmers Maritime in December 2009, RSS, together with some of our competitors (all very well-known names in the ship management segment), were put through a tender and selection exercise by Rickmers Maritime. RSS came through on top of the list. The extension of the master ship management agreement (together with the individual ship management agreements for all of the 16 vessels) with Rickmers Maritime in January 2010 was testimony to the confi-dence that Rickmers Maritime has in RSS for providing safe and efficient management of their fleet, both operationally and economi-cally.

After building a sufficient financial track re-cord and developing viable and sustainable

growth plans for the local entity, RSS applied for, and on 4 November 2009 was awarded, Approved Shipping Logistics Enterprise (ASL) status by the Singapore Ministry of Transport. ASL status accorded RSS a reduced conces-sionary tax rate for a period of five years (which will be reviewed at the end of the fifth year for a subsequent extension of an-other five years). In awarding ASL status, the Singapore authorities take a highly apprecia-tive view of those awarded, RSS included, as partners in the local maritime community in developing Singapore as a vibrant Interna-tional Maritime Centre.

Much has already been said about the tur-bulent and challenging times of 2008-2009 for the shipping industry. The RSS team buckled down, kept its focus and, working with the prevailing realities, coped and con-tinued to successfully manage the growing fleet between 2008 and 2009. In line with the Rickmers newbuilding programme and in accordance with the delivery schedules, another nine new vessels were added to the RSS fleet, bringing the total to 19 by the end of 2009.

Bertram Rickmers and Thies Lau together with the team

of Rickmers Shipmanagement in Singapore in 2011.

Photo: RSS

The start-up team of RSS in January 2007. Photo: RSS


On 22 February 2010, Rickmers took on the first of its two Pure Car & Truck Carriers (PCTC), MV VANY RICKMERS, much to the excitement of the RSS staff, it being the first PCTC in the RSS fleet. Then came the first of the 13,100TEU giants – with the delivery of MV PEARL RICK-MERS on 5 July 2010. RSS currently manages a total of eight of these ultra large container vessels, with the last one – MV LIBRA RICK-MERS – recently delivered, on 22 July 2011.

In July 2010, RSS concluded and secured its first pure third-party principal, Asiatic Lloyd Shipping Pte. Ltd. Asiatic Lloyd is the newly established Singaporean entity of Friedrich Bunnemann, the son of one of the owners of the Herm. Dauelsberg Group of Bremen, Ger-many. RSS is honoured to be selected as the ship manager of Asiatic Lloyd and entrusted with the management of the first two vessels of their fleet – the MV ASIATIC WIND and MV ASIATIC WAVE.

Today, with our fleet development consoli-dated upon delivery of the last of the ultra large container vessels, the emphasis is on the integration into, and the development and implementation of, the various compo-nents of the new structure of Maritime Ser-vices, such as ISO-QHSE certification jointly with Rickmers Reederei, the introduction of new ship management software, and the creation of the Dry Dock Department. Now, upon successfully building a set of compre-hensive capabilities and gradually putting in

place the relevant processes and infrastruc-ture as part of a global team by adopting an integrated approach, and with the growing presence of the major players in the ship-ping industry in this part of the world, RSS is increasing its focus on third-party manage-ment.

Almost five years on, we have had a few old faces leaving and many new ones joining. But it is heartening to note that the initial RSS team of ten, namely Thies Lau, Thor-sten Odefey, Andreas Koethe, Schmidt-Ng Lai Tyng, Patricia Tan, Bimal K Sinha, Hannes Feldhusen, Volker Arends, Sabrina Jacobs and Aida Jones, are all still with RSS today. With this initial team and the addition of TL Low as the new Fleet Manager (taking over from Thorsten Odefey, who now heads the Dry Dock Department), and with the rest of the current team – plus a positive proven track record in our résumé – RSS is poised to bring our services to the next level. With the expertise that combines the long his-tory of Rickmers tradition and experience in modern and efficient ship operation and management, coupled with an organised and synergistically combined effort with our counterparts in the Group, we are spreading our wings and getting ready to “fly with the eagles”. SNLT

A view on Tanjong Pagar Container Terminal, with the

skyline of Singapore City Centre in the background.

Photo: Marko Stampehl

Superintendents

Managing Director

Fleet Manager

Crewing Superintendent

Marine Superintendent

QHSE

Commercial & Sales Manager

Procurement

Operations Manager

Operations Executives

PurvezHENRY RICKMERSLIBRA RICKMERSMONI RICKMERSSANDY RICKMERSSUI AN RICKMERSTAURO RICKMERS

GurnaniAQUA RICKMERSCOCONEE RICKMERSINDIA RICKMERSOLYMPIA RICKMERSSUI TAI RICKMERS

TanCARY RICKMERSKAETHE C. RICKMERSSCHLIEMI RICKMERSTANJA RICKMERSVANY RICKMERS

SinhaMAJA RICKMERSPEARL RICKMERSRUBY RICKMERSSABINE RICKMERSVICKI RICKMERS

DeCostaASIATIC WINDASIATIC WAVECLAN RICKMERSEBBA RICKMERSPINGEL RICKMERS

SawDAVID RICKMERSLEO RICKMERSRICKMERS MALAYSIASAMUEL RICKMERSSCORPIO RICKMERS

Lau

Low

Yutadco

Sun

Arends

TBN

JacobsLauKwek

Feldhusen

HauertTengWu

RSSFleet Team Setup


I am thinking back to when we first arrived in this beautiful island of fun: Singapore. For sure, one of the first impressions I had was how green everything is, and despite high-rise buildings, all-electronic road-charge gantries and the “big city life” with all its perks, there are parks and trees ev-erywhere. I was certainly impressed right from the start. If only I could have under-stood a word the taxi driver was saying. The Singaporean English, or Singlish as it is called, sounded nothing like English to my ear. It is actually a mix of simplified Eng-lish, Malay and Hokkien, a Chinese dialect, and involves a lot of “la’s and le’s” at the end of each sentence, for no apparent rea-son. Now, four years later, I am quite fluent myself and people mistake me for a local on the phone and I have to say “Singlish, oso can la.”

When we left the parkway I saw women carrying umbrellas in the most beautiful sunshine! Apparently it is considered “chic” to be white, and even after four and a half years my local colleagues and friends still ask why I’ve forgotten to take my um-brella – again – after a weekend by the beach working on my tan. However, I have learned to keep that umbrella in my purse,

but just because, while it’s sunny most of the time, it might suddenly start to bucket down in a monsoon-like downpour that usually stops within an hour, leaving the city blos-som in sunshine once again.

I remember the first day in the office, in our small turquoise-coloured cubicles with matching chairs, no pens and paper, no cof-fee machine and, apparently, no ships to manage – but that didn’t last long. We soon got our stationery stocked up, our ISM Audits done within a week and took over our first vessel within a month. Now, more than four years later, the cubicles remain, the number of ships has increased, and so has the num-ber of staff. We are now a mix of Germans, Singaporeans, Chinese, Malaysians, Indians, Bangladeshis and Filipinos, which keeps our daily working life interesting in every aspect.

A clear advantage of having so many cul-tures around is definitely the food. Food is probably one of the most important interests in Singapore. You are either eating at the moment, talking about what you last had to eat, or what you will eat next. It took me a while to get used to the fact that people are genuinely interested when they ask in the afternoon “What did you have for lunch?”,

and there are days when you tell about twenty people what you have eaten that day.

Another great advantage of being sur-rounded by a mix of cultures is the public holidays and festivities. I have been invited to friends’ houses for Hari Raya and Chi-nese New Year, have spent Deepavali with an Indian colleague and his family and had friends from different cultural back-ground at my house for Christmas. I have visited Buddhist temples and seen Chinese fortune-tellers who have prayed for my luck while almost choking me with too many incense sticks. I have attended Chi-nese weddings and am still surprised they end right after dinner and before the actual party starts, at least from my Western point of view.

The great thing about living and working in Singapore is that hardly a day passes without having seen something new, tast-ing something new or having a new expe-rience in one way or another. With all these different cultures, religions and nationali-ties, nothing ever gets old in Singapore and I wouldn’t want to be without any of it. Sj

LifeinSingaporefromanexpat’sperspective

Sabrina Jacobs, Purchasing

Executive at RSS.

GettingtoknowCaptainTowLingLow -thenewFleetManagerofRSS

After realising that shipping was my future, I ventured into the shipping world for the first time in 1982, stepping from gangway to gangway of the many ships in pursuit of my dream. I would compare my career path with that of ‘a combination ladder on the ship; it incorporates the ship’s gang-way ladder with the pilot ladder’. I would clamber up the side of the ship by the pilot ladder and then step across on to the ship’s gangway to climb the remaining distance to the ship’s deck.

The period of my seagoing career be-tween 1985 and 1995 was one of the most memorable times for me; the camaraderie fostered with the crews on board various types of vessels with long sailing periods was invaluable.

After leaving my sailing days as a chief en-gineer of an oil tanker, I was on shore with Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) as a Technical Su-perintendent for the tanker fleet. This was followed by a period as Refrigeration Service Manager for Unitor Ships Services, leading a team of service engineers providing repairs and services to ship refrigeration installa-tions.

From 1997 to 2011, I spent 14 years with Ger-manischer Lloyd (GL), starting as a Surveyor in Maritime Services, working on as ISM, ISO, ISPS Auditor, Head of the Plan Approval Team and Head of the Surveyor Training Sta-tion. In 2006 I became Country Manager for GL Singapore, providing leadership to a team of professionals (surveyors, plan approval engineers and auditors). A year before join-

“Born and brought up in

Perak, Malaysia, I believe

it is the phrase ‘reap what

you sow’ that has taught

me to work hard for my

goals.” Capt. Tow Ling Low

ing RSS, I was then District Manager and Principal Surveyor responsible for all GL Maritime Services activities in South East Asia.

I look forward to taking on my new role as Fleet Manager and hope to foster the same camaraderie with all my colleagues as a team as I have enjoyed during my past al-legiances in the shipping world. I am now stepping on the ship's deck to work with all of you! TLL

Tow Ling Low (TL Low) joined RSS on 1 May 2011, taking over the position of Fleet Manager with effect from 6 June 2011. He is in charge of the technical, purchas-ing and crew management of the fleet under RSS management.


Hwang Jung Kim took over as CEO of Rickmers (Korea) Inc. in spring 2011. Since his long stay in Germany, his European business friends have known him as “Hans-Jürgen”, which refers to the initials of his given names. For this issue of “aroundtheglobe” we asked him to share some views on Rickmers Korea and his home country:

Rickmers established a presence in Korea with a representative office in Seoul in July 1999. At that time, Rickmers-Linie still oper-ated its old vessels in the new Round-The-World Service. A few years later, in 2003-2004, Rickmers introduced nine new vessels to its re-launched Round-The-World Pearl String Service. Since then, Rickmers has been well-known in Korea as a quality liner service for projects and heavy lifts. Since November 2007, the office in Seoul has been run as a wholly owned subsidiary of Rickmers-Linie, but also representing Rickmers Group in Ko-rea. The office is located right in the centre of Seoul and easily reached by our business partners, both domestic and foreign.

Eight employees work to solicit and handle the shipments of project and heavy cargoes to and from Korea. Cargoes handled consist of, for example, transformers, drilling pipes, shipbuilding materials and other various heavy and project equipment.

For about 30 years HJ Kim worked for Han-jin Shipping, where he made a career, being appointed Manager of the German Branch, Managing Director of the China Region and later Head of the Planning Group.

By working in Germany for some 13 years, nine of them in Hamburg, and another four years in Shanghai, HJ Kim was able to sub-stantially broaden his knowledge of interna-tional business practice.

Later, as Manager of the Seoul Branch and Managing Director, he was in charge of the North East Asia Region of Hanjin Shipping, which is when he built up and maintained excellent business relationships with various clients in Korea. HjK

Logistics Services

The Korean “Can-Do-Spirit”“We will overcome the challenges of the currently gloomy shipping market with the help of our “can-do-spirit” and “speediness”. Rickmers Korea will play a vital part in maximising results by reducing operational costs.” HJ Kim

Hwang Jung Kim, CEO of Rickmers (Korea) Inc.

Photo: Rickmers


About Korea

Koreans are said to have the three following typical characteristics.

“Can-do spirit” – never giving up even in the worst circumstances. An example is the hosting of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in 2018 in a country without the equivalent of the Rocky Mountains or Alps, but with a strong will.

“Harmonyandsolidarity” – the tendency to close ranks in the face of difficulties. During the IMF crisis, all Koreans voluntarily came together to collect their first-birthday gold rings, gold teeth, etc., to help the country out of the crisis.

“Speediness” – Korea is regarded as the quickest country in reacting. This can best be described with a joke: the slow prepara-tion of dishes at a restaurant is tolerable,

but woe betide if the dishes are not deliv-ered as quickly as possible.

Thanks to such characteristics, Korea has become the ninth-biggest international trading country, the leading shipbuilding power, one of the top five major plant-ex-porting countries, and the most IT-oriented nation in the world. Even though its ter-ritory is only one-hundredth the size of China, Korea hosted the Summer Olympics in 1988, the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and has just been nominated to host the Winter Olympics in 2018.

The fast development of Korea since the lib-eration from Japan in 1945 is often referred to as the “Han river miracle”. This “miracle” was made possible by the people’s creative minds and flexibility towards the rapidly changing international dynamics. HjK

MV RICKMERS SEOUL approaching the City of Masan.

Photo: Axelle Georges

The team of Rickmers (Korea) Inc. Photo: Rickmers


In the early 1980s Rickmers-Linie, at that time still 30% family owned, sent two former sea captains to China. Captain Ingo Schulz was stationed in Tianjin and Captain Helmut Koenitzer in Shanghai. Their task was to take care of the Rickmers-Linie vessels, in partic-ular due to the then extremely long waiting times at anchorage. The first Rickmers-Linie representative office was registered in Tian-jin on 11 September 1985 with Captain Ingo Schulz, supported by one Chinese employee. The representative office in Shanghai was registered on 14 January 1987. A third office was registered in Beijing on 30 August 1988.

In conjunction with the take-over of the re-maining 30% of shares by Hapag-Lloyd in 1988 and the ambitions to establish a full container service to Europe, further offices in Dalian, Qingdao, Xiamen and Hong Kong were set up under the name of Rickmers-Lin-ie. In addition to its multipurpose services, Rickmers-Linie at that time operated feeder services from various Chinese ports to Hong Kong, where containers were transhipped to Europe.

Logistics Services

China—a home away from home for Rickmers

The cityscape of Pudong in Shanghai, the dynamic

metropolis on the Huangpu River.


In 1995 Hapag-Lloyd decided to run the con-tainer services under their own brand name. Consequently, most of the offices were split into a Rickmers and a Hapag-Lloyd part, ex-cept for the Xiamen office, which was con-verted to a full Hapag-Lloyd office.

Captain Henning Brauwers from Rickmers-Linie became the first General Manager for Hapag-Lloyd in China, located in Shanghai, whereas Wolfgang Harms was appointed Representative of Rickmers-Linie in Shanghai in 1996.

Subsequently, Rickmers-Linie developed its core service activities on its break bulk Eu-rope-China-Europe service, which was op-erated on a monthly basis at that time. An intra-Asia service for break bulk cargoes (the so-called SIR Service) was established in co-operation with Samudera Indonesia.

In 1997/98 the Asia crisis represented anoth-er cut in the business activities of Rickmers-Linie in Asia, with sharply eroding rates and volumes, both for import and export cargoes. This period however also marked the begin-ning of Rickmers-Linie activities in Korea and Japan, developments being coordinated and responsibly led from the China head of-fice in Shanghai. The China to Europe service was expanded to Korea and Japan, from

where substantial cargo volumes destined for the USA were soon also sourced. Con-tinuing the service across the Pacific marked the early beginning of the Round-The-World service as we know it today.

Many of our Chinese employees from the ear-ly days are still working for Rickmers-Linie. Today Rickmers-Linie has eight representa-tive offices in China with 42 local colleagues, stretching from the Yellow Sea as far west as Urumqi in the autonomous region of Xinji-ang, bordering on Kazakhstan and Pakistan.

In order to further develop the business of Rickmers-Linie in China, more sales offices are planned in central China, in Chongqing – the former capital of Sichuan province – in Changsha, the capital of Hunan province, as well as in Guangzhou, southern China, the capital of Guangdong province. WH

Rickmers-Linie has eight representative offices in China, with 42 local colleagues, stretching from the Yellow Sea in the East to Urumqi in the far West, close to the border of Kazakhstan and Pakistan.

Wolfgang Harms, Senior Representative of Rickmers-

Linie in China, together with participants of the regular

weekly meeting. Photo: Rickmers

The colleagues of the Rickmers-Linie Representative

Office in Shanghai. Photo: Rickmers


If there's anything typical to highlight about the “Asian way” of working, then it's this: team work in a team spirit.

Working with colleagues from a variety of cultures, one immediately experiences that few other people rely on and inspire each other in a team as much as Asians do. Chi-nese society is structured and functions as a cluster of families fusing into communities, then forming the greater union of the state. Although it is a community of individuals, the Asian individual feels worthless without it. Living in a community, in a team, gives Asian people security and their reason to be. But that doesn't mean there aren't any indi-vidual feelings, desires or actions driven by the ego. Of course there are!

However, the individual is still embedded in the community because this is the guideline for peace and harmony – a strong longing for security that is essential in China. Chinese people fear nothing more than instability, which means the imbalance of harmony, as bad luck could strike in situations of disor-der. Harmony is a value rooted in a culture stretching back 5,000 years.

This individual-embedding team culture of Asia seems to be very much in contrast to the Western way. But is it really? Looking more closely at the world, one might discover that West and East – despite disputes – are not necessarily being driven apart to ever more clashes of culture, but rather organically as-similating to be not only a global business market but to become a global society.

A central idea in Chinese culture is “guanxi”, which describes the basic dynamic in person-alised networks of influence, combined with closely related concepts of relationships in-cluding that of "ganqing”, a measure which reflects the depth of feeling within an inter-personal relationship; "renqing”, the moral obligation to maintain the relationship; and the idea of "face", known as “miàn”, mean-ing social status, propriety, prestige; or, more realistically, a combination of all three.

The tradition of guanxi causes the most mis-understandings between Asia and the West. The truth is that business in Asia is quite a sentimental matter and its agents feel rather vulnerable. And that's what guanxi are for: they develop and safeguard a harmonious but still competitive business relationship aimed at people getting to know each other very well before daring to enter into the me-dias res of the business. In Asian thinking, only friendship and faith can make a busi-

In her essay, Julie Zhu, Manager of the Rickmers-Linie Representative Office in Beijing and responsible for Marketing & Sales and liaison with governmental organisations, offers an inside view of Chinese business etiquette and social values.

Asian Key Values

Teamwork is the key


ness evolve and be safe. But it's also super-stition, because there must be harmony and peace under heaven. Otherwise, bad luck might strike your business (relations) like lightning. If there weren't any communal feelings (guanxi) developed in the first place, no yinyang, no organic development of your business would ever be possible. And a non-organic business might fail.

Organic means not putting pressure on things. “If you put pressure on a thing, it might turn against you”, is a wise saying from the Chinese Dao philosopher Laoze. There-fore, take your time in Asia. In the words of Confucius: “Lack of patience with details will destroy the overall plan.”

And there's one more thing above all re-garding those famous guanxi: in Asian eyes it is not just a question of another project or business to be pipelined by relations. Guanxi do much more. They weave the net that cushions all those unforeseeable things under heaven that might come to jeopard-ise your business / project / existence, now or later. True Asian guanxi help both sides to act in an unpredictable moment, if possible.

But there is another reason why trust is so important: a trusting partnership, and team-work, tempers the Asian fear of that magic spell of “losing face”. Asian concerns about losing or keeping face are the key to under-standing the two major points to deal with in

any joint Western and Asian business: how to tackle a problem and how to handle respon-sibility. Westerners, especially Germans, tend to expect problems to happen, and keep themselves in the pole position to tackle and – ideally – solve them. Germans don't fear losing face if they fail, because what counts is that they gave it a try. Westerners think they have the power to solve it all on the spot and for good. But Asians trust in the nature of fate and its energy for the problem to work itself out. “Worries will soon appear if one puts no thought to a long-term plan,” as Confucius would add here. In an ever-changing world it is crucial for the West to assimilate to orien-tal thought, but also for Asia to understand that, for example, reporting a problem does not cause a loss but a gain of face.

To sum up: the reason why work in Asia and with Asians is always done in teams is deeply rooted in the spiritual belief that everything is ruled by heaven – “10,000 things under heaven” means everything that exists un-der the sky. It is a Chinese belief that heaven rules with a perfect overview – an overview actually like that of the eagle flying its circles and eternal figures of eight in the sky. Heav-en unites the chaos of all that is, and does so through its opposites of yin and yang. The whole is nothing without its parts. The parts make the whole. Yinyang. jZ

Although it is a community of individuals, the Asian individual feels worthless without it. Living in a community, in a team, gives Asian people security and their reason to be. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any individual feelings, desires or actions driven by the ego. Of course there are!

Julie Zhu (right) with her colleagues of the Beijing Rep-

resentative Office. Photo: Rickmers


Rickmers (Japan) Inc. was registered as a Japanese corporation on 1 June 2006. Prior to this, all of Rickmers’ business in Japan had been handled through an agent. Establishing the subsidiary reflects Rickmers-Linie’s long-term commitment to its Japanese customers and the significance of the Japanese market.

“Create one strong team with one ultimate goal - to increase the sales of the Round-The-World Pearl String Service and to in-crease our Japanese customer base.”

This was our mission in 2006 and we started with a team of six, led by Yoshiaki Kawabu-chi. Over the years we have tripled our sales, increased our customer base significantly and gained considerable recognition in the local market. We have become a major play-er in the Japanese break bulk, project and heavy lift market and acquired the majority market share from Japan to the USA.

We were proud to transport “Kibo”, the Japa-nese Experiment Module for the International Space Station, from Yokohama to Port Canav-eral. Other contracts have included rubber-tyred gantry cranes, coke drums, transform-ers, reactors, generators, presses, columns and a considerable amount of equipment that is ultimately used for the production of carbon fibre for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. To-gether with Eastern Car Line (ECL), we secured a multi-year contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for all windmill equipment from Korea to the USA.

Securing such contracts demands enormous effort from everyone and involves months, sometimes years, of follow-up with custom-ers.

Rickmers Japan was heavily involved with expansion efforts in the Trans Pacific trade between 2006 and 2009 in cooperation with ECL. Four 11,000 dwt vessels are deployed in this trade, with heavy lift gear and ro-ro ramps.

Sadly, 2010 began with the passing of our CEO, Kawabuchi-san. In June 2010, we found ourselves fortunate to have convinced Mune-chika (Mark) Shiba to stay out of retirement (and off the golf course) and to join the man-agement team in Japan. His extensive expe-rience with Maersk has proved invaluable to the team here. In 2010 we were successful in securing the General Agency of Hyundai Merchant Marine’s (HMM) project division in Japan. HMM also has four sister vessels of the RICKMERS HAMBURG Class on charter, two of which are due for delivery in October 2011.

In September 2010 we moved to a larger but equally convenient location in Tamachi, To-kyo. We are now a team of nine; one larger team and one goal! RS/MS

Logistics Services

Our history thus far!

The “Rainbow Bridge” in the Port of Tokyo.

Photo: Getty Images


“Create one strong team with one ultimate goal - to increase the sales of the Round-The-World Pearl String Service and to increase our Japanese customer base.” Richard Stinchcombe

Munechika (Mark) Shiba, Representative Director of

Rickmers (Japan).

Richard Stinchcombe, Representative Director and CEO of

Rickmers (Japan).

At the customers’ service in Japan: the Rickmers team

in Tokyo.

Mother Nature Intervenes

On Friday, 11 March 2011, at 14:46, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck.

In Tokyo, the shaking went on for an eter-nity, with constant aftershocks. As taught in earthquake disaster training, everyone dived under their desks. Our office on the fifth floor of a 7-storey building seemed to be the safest place to stay. All transporta-tion halted. The mobile phone and regular phone network was overloaded and un-usable, making it exceptionally difficult to contact friends or family to see if they were safe.

At the office, we stocked up on water and cup-of-noodles before the inevitable emp-tying of the store shelves. All staff eventu-ally made it home, and we were able to re-open the office the following Tuesday with a skeleton crew in Tokyo and 3 staff work-ing out of western Japan from their fami-lies’ homes and hotel rooms.

One ship had to be evacuated from Na-goya port and one diverted from Hitachi to Kobe, while the intended cargo for yet

another ship at Hitachi Naka was damaged by the tsunami. Rickmers headquarters an-nounced in the press that Rickmers would continue to call at Yokohama and that they would not cut the “lifeline” to Japan.

Our disaster recovery plan was put to the test and passed with flying colours. Under the leadership of Wolfgang Harms, Rickmers China assisted with administration, docu-mentation, logistics and in the diversion of cargo.

Now, more than five months on, business is getting back to normal but massive power saving efforts, including manufacturers moving production to weekends and fac-tory shutdowns for enforced holidays, are all new things to Japan.

The overvalued yen will make things tough, but with the renaissance of power projects in the US and especially of green power (where Japanese technology is key) all over the world, we anticipate healthy growth! RS/MS


Hamburg, 26 July 2011: After endless days of rain and cold, it was the first time for a while that the weather had been warm and sunny – a perfect day for the naming cer-emony of MV RICKMERS YOKOHAMA. The event was jointly organised by Rickmers-Linie and Lubeca, the Shipmanager and Co-Owner of this new multi-purpose vessel. After the arrival of about 250 guests on board the chartered excursion vessel LOUISIANA STAR, a paddle steamer, the evening began with a journey down the Elbe river to the Wallmann & Co. terminal, where the vessel and its crew were already prepared and waiting for the big event. Once the LOUISIANA STAR had been positioned right next to the new vessel, it was time for the most important part of the day: Daniela Boehe, wife of Lubeca’s CEO, Jan Peter Boehe, performed the naming ceremo-ny. Referring to the vessel’s future route be-tween India and Europe, she wished “shanti” – the Indian word for peace – three times: to the captain and its crew, to the vessel on its voyages, and to everyone working for the vessel ashore. She concluded her speech with: “May you always have at least a hand’s breadth of water under your keel in your life-time, enjoy fair sailing at all times and return

safely to your home port”. She then released the bottle of champagne to shatter against MV RICKMERS YOKOHAMA’s hull.

After the naming ceremony there were brief tours arranged for interested guests aboard the vessel, where the more than welcoming crew were extremely helpful and only too pleased to answer any questions. The even-ing drew to a close with dinner on board the LOUISIANA STAR on her way back to the city.

The RICKMERS YOKOHAMA was built by Xins-hun Shipyard in Zhejiang and entered service with Rickmers-Linie in Shanghai on 12 May, with further loading ports in Masan, Singa-pore and Phuket and – after passing through the Suez Canal – Marmaris, Split, Genoa, Sa-gunto, Bilbao, Antwerp and Riga on the list of discharge ports. On her outbound voyage to Umm Qasr and Mumbai she took on cargo in Hamburg and Antwerp. NM/MST

MV RICKMERS YOKOHAMA

Naming ceremony in Hamburg

Technical DetailsDimensionsLength over all 144.00 mLength b.p.p. 134.00 mBreadth moulded 22.80 mDraft 8.80 m

TonnageDeadweight 17.370 mtGross tonnage 12.772 GT

ClassificationGermanischer Lloyd 100 A5, Multi-Purpose Dry Cargo Ship, Strengthened for Heavy CargoCall Sign A8YA7LR/IMO No. 9480124

Main EngineType Wärtsilä NSD 6RTA48T-BMax output 8.730 kWService speed 16 kn

Lifting CapacityCrane No. 1 80 tonnesCranes No. 2 and 3 each 150 tBuilt 2011Shipyard Xinshun ShipyardFlag LiberiaHomeport Monrovia

Sponsor Mrs Daniela Boehe in front of her vessel

together with (from left): Bernhard Neitzel and Jan-

Peter Boehe (Lubeca Marine), Captain Vladmir Shorin,

Jan B. Steffens, Managing Partner & CEO of Rickmers

Group, Ulrich Ulrichs and Rüdiger Gerhardt (both

Rickmers-Linie).

MV RICKMERS YOKOHAMA passing the Kiel Canal

enroute from Riga to Hamburg on her maiden voyage.

Photo: Marko Stampehl


Executives

Rickmers-Linie extends its executive board

Executives

Change at the top of Rickmers-Linie AmericaAfter eight years at the helm of Rickmers in the United States, Jerry Nagel has been ap-pointed Chairman of the Board of Rickmers-Linie (America) Inc.

Nagel’s former position as President & CEO of our organization in America has been assumed by Sean Carney, effective 1 June, 2011. Carney joined the team in Houston in December 2010 as Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO). Like Nagel, Carney joined Rickmers from a leading shipper, in this case GE Energy, where he had been di-recting all project logistics and trade service operations for its Power & Water business. Prior roles at GE included working in the project management department in Energy and with financial services at GE Capital. Carney is a graduate in Business Finance from Utica College of Syracuse University and was also an officer with the United States Army for five years, spending signifi-cant time in logistics and operational roles. MST

The new members of the executive board: Rüdiger

Gerhardt (left, Managing Director) and Ulrich Ulrichs

(Deputy Managing Director). Photo: Michael Holz

Sean Carney is the

new President and

CEO of Rickmers-Linie

(America) Inc.

Rickmers-Linie has extended its executive board. Rüdiger Gerhardt has been appointed Managing Director and Ulrich Ulrichs named Deputy Managing Director.

Gerhardt has been working for Rickmers since 1978. Previous to his new position, he was Director for Human Resources, Adminis-tration and Finance. His new role will also in-clude leading the business division “Logistics Services“ at Rickmers Group.

Ulrichs has been in charge of Line Manage-ment since 2005 and has been Director of this division since 2008.

Both will remain responsible for their pre-vious business areas. Alongside Rüdiger Gerhardt and Ulrich Ulrichs, Jan Boje Stef-fens, Managing Partner and CEO of Rickmers Group, remains President & CEO of Rickmers-Linie. MST

Cycle raceVattenfall Cyclassics

As in previous years, a team from Rickmers Group took part in the annual Vattenfall Cyclassics cycle race in and around Hamburg on 21 August 2011. After a training phase which lasted several weeks, our team of 14 covered the 57 km distance, with all team members arriving at the finishing line unscathed and within the given time frame. Our efforts were rewarded by perfect weather conditions. We definitely plan to train again next year in order to participate in this internationally renowned and popular event. HEI


On 17 June 2011, 18 colleagues embarked on a special “vessel” to give their best for charity. Some facts about the “vessel”: Length overall 12.5 m, breadth 1.16 m and weight 250 kilos. Propulsion: 18 paddles, powered by 18 enthusiastic and sporty

colleagues. The race distance: 200 m. Not much you might think. But anyone who has ever sat in a dragon boat (chinese: longzhou) knows what it takes to arrive safely at the finishing line, as the first boat. Coordination of the paddlers is essential and although it looks so easy, it takes quite some practice. This is what we did twice before the race. Of course our 18 paddlers were accompanied by a group of supporters.

The “dragon boat race” is an annual event organised by the Michael Stich Foundation, headed by the former famous tennis player Michael Stich. Altogether 18 teams competed against each other in a total of three races. The participating companies donate a certain sum to support the work of the Foundation. This year’s dragon boat race raised €330,000. The event is a mixture of sports, fun, am-bition and party in favour of a good cause. This year, the event was held for the seventh time, with the Rickmers Dragon Paddlers, as we call our paddling team, participating al-ready for the sixth time.

Our “Rickmers Dragon Paddlers” reached a very successful fourth place. This very good result was celebrated together with all the other teams at the evening party arranged by the Michael Stich Foundation.

Set up by Michael Stich in 1994, the foun-dation helps children in Germany infected by HIV or suffering from AIDS and works all over Germany with institutions, such as AIDS support organisations, HIV outpatient departments of university children’s hos-pitals, with the health authorities and also with charity organisations. The foundation also makes an important contribution by funding positions for doctors, nurses, art therapists and social education specialists at the university hospitals. The founda-tion’s prevention campaign includes events on prevention and education at schools, display- and TV/cinema ads and the “Youth against AIDS” society founded in February 2009. MST

CharityDragon boat race in Hamburg

MV JULIETTE RICKMERS • MV MAERSK DAVAO Commendation by the Flag State


Rickmers container vessel breaks all records as she sails into the Baltic.

The arrival from China of the Rickmers-owned containership MAERSK ELBA at the DCT Gdansk terminal on 11 May marked a new era in Baltic shipping. At 13,092TEU and carrying containers 17-wide below deck and 19-wide on the hatchcovers, she is by far the biggest container vessel by far ever handled by a Baltic port.

Whilst in the port, MAERSK ELBA was visited by many dignitaries including Donald Tusk, Poland's current Prime Minister, the iconic Lech Walesa, the former union leader who successfully ran for the newly re-estab-lished office of President of Poland in 1990, and Eivind Kolding, CEO of Maersk Line. They were welcomed on board by the ves-sel's master, Captain Wojciech Kucz, whose hometown happens by coincidence to be Gdansk.

Having spent longer in port than usual, MAERSK ELBA finally sailed on the return leg of her voyage on 14 May.

Built at the Hyundai shipyard in Ulsan, MAE-RSK ELBA was actually christened SCORPIO RICKMERS by Joan Engelstoft, wife of Morten Engelstoft, Senior Vice President and COO of Maersk Line, on 17 February 2011. She was

then renamed MAERSK ELBA for the duration of her longterm charter to the Danish ship-ping line.

In total, Hyundai is building eight 13,092TEU ships for Rickmers, all of which are for longterm charter to Maersk Line. Six are now in service and the remaining two are due for delivery in June and July. The first will be named TAURO RICKMERS and renamed MAERSK EVORA while the second will be LIBRA RICK-MERS, to become MAERSK ESSEX.

MAERSK ELBA is one of 11 super post-Pan-amax containerships that Maersk Line will employ on its AE10 service linking China with Northern Europe. Eight Maersk-owned ships of 15,500TEU, currently the largest container vessels in the world, will operate alongside three 13,000TEU ships including Rickmers' MAERSK ELBA and MAERSK EDMONTON.

Maersk became the first ocean carrier to start running large deepsea vessels into the Bal-tic when it started calling at Gdansk with its AE10 service in January 2010. At this time, it was using 8,000TEU ships.

DCT Gdansk is used as a hub for the rest of the Baltic including St Petersburg. Being ice-free and with deep water, the Polish terminal is seen as ideal for this role given that, so far, no post-Panamax ships have been built to

the ice-class standards necessary for winter navigation in the Baltic.

From June 2011, the AE10 service rota-tion will be: Gdansk - Aarhus - Gothenburg - Bremerhaven - Rotterdam - Algeciras - Yantian - Hong Kong - Kwangyang - Ningbo - Shanghai - Yantian - Tanjung Pelepas - Rotterdam - Bremerhaven - Gdansk. MST

MV SCORPIO RICKMERS • MV MAERSK ELBARickmers container vessel breaks all records as she sails into the Baltic

MV MARINE RICKMERSLadies on board!

CharityRun and help

Editor: Rickmers Holding GmbH & Cie. KGNeumühlen 19, 22763 Hamburg, GermanyPhone +49 40. 38 91 77 0 | Fax +49 40. 38 91 77 [email protected] | www.rickmers.comResponsible: Sabina Pech, Marko StampehlEditorial Staff: Laurence Haupt (lH), Jörn Krey (kr), Jens Lassen (jl), Holger Strack (HS), Rüdiger Gerhardt (gE), Nilgün Melchner (nM), Sabina Pech (Sp), Hans-Joachim Schäfer (HjS), Marko Stampehl (MST), Jörgen Strandberg (jS) Contributors to this issue: Rickmers Trust Management (RTM), Wolfgang Harms (WH), Stephan Heitkämper (HEI), Sabrina Jacobs (Sj), HJ Kim (HJK), Torsten Odefey (TO), Thies Lau (Tl), Capt. Tow Ling Low (Tll), Capt. Myo Zin Maung and CE Saw Aung, Lai Tyng Schmidt Ng (SnlT), Munechika (Mark) Shiba (MS), Björn Sprotte (BS), Richard Stinchcombe (rS), Julie Zhu (jZ)Design and Layout: Alexander Wencelides andAtli Hilmarsson, Design Projects(www. studiowencelides.de and www.atli.de)Cover photo: Rickmers

Captain Kucz introducing the ship’s bridge to Donald

Tusk, Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland.

This spring, six ladies from the office of Global Management in Cyprus paid a visit to MV MARINE RICKMERS and her Captain Thomas Sohst.

Left to right: Georgia Katsifli (Marine Insurance Accountant), Ersi Paparistodemu (Personal Assistant to Managing Director’s), Andri Mouzoura (Marine RR’s Crew Accountant), Tereza Giagkou (Administrator Officer ⁄ Secretary), Cpt. Thomas Sohst, Anastasia Theodoridou (Marine RR’s Marine Personnel Officer - Crewing), Timoklia Antoniou (Marine Insurance Accountant).

A joint team from the tax consultancy company Kemsat and Rickmers Group participated in the HSH Nordbank Charity Run 2011 in the HafenCity in Hamburg. No fewer than 721 Teams with 20.012 participants took part, and the impres-sive sum of €127,500 was raised for the benefit of the Charity Organisation “Kind-er helfen Kindern” (“Kids help kids”).


Gateway to India

The best way to move your cargo

Rickmers-Linie vessels are a regular sight in the Emirates and in

other parts of the Gulf. Our services are first choice when it comes to

a regular supply chain for your projects in this area. More about our

routes and services at www.rickmers-linie.com

Project & Heavy Lift Liner Services

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