July's issue of 1914 reflects that in all corners of our Eimskip network, summer is in full swing. Hiking seems to be a popular leisure activity, and we have three articles on that.
Gudmundur Nikulasson, the newly appointed Vice President of Eimskip Domestic services in Iceland gives us a rundown of the operations in the Executive chat, we salute Wolfgang Werk for his decades of Eimskip service in the Employee in focus section and much more.
We hope that you enjoy this issue!
In the United States we celebrated Independence Day on the Fourth of July, a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. Many people celebrate July 4th with fireworks, parades, barbeques, picnics, concerts, and other public and private events celebrating the history, government, and traditions of the United States.
In Norfolk VA, the 33rd annual Harbor-Fest celebration was the areas largest dock party. Tall ships from all over the world called on the City of Norfolk and nearly half a million visitors gather on the downtown waterfront for this annual celebration of our region's rich nautical heritage.
1914 is Eimskipafelag Islands' newsletter, published every third month on-line.
The name of the newsletter is a reference to Eimskip's founding year, with the company celebrating its 95th birthday this year.
Eimskip's Corporate Communications department is responsible for the publication, with all ideas on content much appreciated. Send us a mail by clicking here
Eimskip‘s employees in Norway have been flocking to the mountains like their colleagues in Iceland. There is a competition between offices to see which one is the best in hiking, and which Eimskip staff member is the best individual. The organizing committee chose 10 summits for each office, and then the total results are counted per employee-capita.
The competition between Eimskip’s Tromsö, Sortland, Aalesund and Bergen offices has been fierce, with the Fredrikstad office exempt from hiking since there are not that many mountains in the area. The employees there have a permission to bike their way into the competition, and have registered good results.
Eimskip in Sortland, with Elin Pettersen leading the way, were first when we last heard the score, with the next office holding half the points Sortland has. Elin and her colleague Knut Heen Hansen (who gets every biking trip he takes over 30 kilometres!) are in the lead in the individual competition, having finished more than 40 trips to the mountains.
The competition lasts from May 1st to September 30th, and we will be curious to see how it finishes!
(Picture taken by Håkon Iversen)
 Mountaineering in IcelandMountain-fever has gripped Icelanders old and young this summer, with several Eimskip employees hiking Iceland’s highest peak, Hvannadalshnjukur (2.110 metres). Four members of the unofficial guild E.E.M.M. (Eimskip’s Employees club of Master Mariners) climbed the peak last May. These champions are Nikulas Halldorsson, captain of Godafoss, Dagthor Haraldssson (EXP), Birgir Bachmann (PRO) and Johann Steinarsson (EIO). Their combined Eimskip-experience is a whopping 130 years, with Johann being the baby on board, celebrating his 15 years with the company on June 1st. The journey was organized by the Icelandic Tourist Association with 80 participants. The weather was abysmal when the group reached altitude, snow, wind and generally bad conditions. At 1.800 metres a few hikers experienced exhaustion, and were sent back by the group leader. The entire Eimskip troop reached the summit, but many others didn’t. A group that shared a hut with them at base camp turned back at 1.974 metres. The plan was to take a nice picture of the E.E.M.M group at the top with Eimskip‘s old banner, but due to the immense cold the group leader refused to take more than a handful of pictures, including the one attached to this article. To summarize the conditions, it can be noted that the pieces of chocolate the group was going to enjoy at the top wouldn’t melt in their mouths, but had to be swallowed whole! The hike to Hvannadalshnukur took 13 hours combined.  | Starting business with a song This July, Eimskip Italy will have its first booking to Russia, when two 40’HC from one of Italy’s largest chemical companies will lead the way. The story behind this booking is somewhat unusual, and not something we see every day in the field of international shipping. Franco and Ilya started joking about it, and this gave the two opportunities to familiarize between each other and develop the business connection as well. Since then, cooperation and communication between Eimskip’s Italian and Russian offices has increased greatly and now we have finally come to this first deal! We can truly say that from a song came a booking, and there is hope that this first shipment will start a profitable trade-lane for a mutual benefit. | Mountaineering in China In order to strengthen the confidence and consolidate the team-working spirit of Eimskip’s Chinese employees, the Qingdao office took part in climbing the famous Mt. Laoshan in June. Neither sweat nor tiredness could prevent the group from slowly ascending this majestic mountain, and after two hours of non-stop walking, the beautiful scenery appeared. Everybody had a good time and enjoyed the successful happiness through this activity. The sense of “Man above all” is of great benefit to the Chinese confidence. It is certain that everybody will carry forward the spirit of this activity, and continue to deliver the daily jobs at Eimskip’s oriental offices well. |
On July 12th, the Eimskip UK staff had an early morning visit to the Grimsby Fish Market, turning up at 06.45 and wondering what we were letting ourselves in for.
The Chief Executive welcomed us in the boardroom where our personalised white coats, hats and boots were al laid out for us. We were soon out of the office and down onto the market floor. There were just under 3000 x 50 kilo boxes being auctioned, with over 95% Icelandic. Over half was haddock and around 20% cod. We had a close look at various varieties of fish including seeing the ‘thumbprint’ on the haddock.
By then the market was in full swing with three different auction areas and fish being removed to transport as soon as it was sold. To us it all seemed rather chaotic but clearly it works!
We were given a brief outline of other business run from the fish dock, which includes providing support vessels, equipment and labour to off shore wind farms, ice making facility, chiller facility and saw the chilled area which the largest salmon producer in the UK uses as its distribution hub.
We finished up with a traditional Grimsby breakfast of smoked haddock and poached egg which was, at least for some, surprisingly delicious.
All in all an excellent and unusual start to the day, the only downside being a few complaints when we got back to the office that we had brought some of the fish dock smells back with us!
Paul Olai is just an average Norwegian who likes to be a part of the nature. He slept in the backyard of Eimskip’s office in Fredrikstad one night in May, and had 5 slices of bread in our office when he woke up.
Paul is on a one-man-expedition all over the world, and he is cooperating with the Norwegian television companies as well as writing books about his trips.
This time he will travel with both his kayak and his bicycle. The first part of the plan is the Faroe Islands for one month, and then Iceland three months.
This guy really enjoys his own company!
Eimskip is helping him out by transporting his expedition equipment free of charge, and you can read more about his adventure at the website www.paulsplanet.no. According to the information there, he arrived in Iceland a few days ago – be sure to waive if you run into him along the way!