VEFF Magazine 2021

VEFF//21 VEFF – THE DNV EMPLOYEE ASSOCIATION VEFF MAGAZINE 2021

With the whole world being in the same boat, we have just had to find new ways to get together, share and connect

Meet

Meet

Meet

ALL MEMBERS OF ELT MARITIME

KNUT ØRBECKNILSSEN CEO

REGIONAL MANAGERS AND EKSPERTS

I EDITORIAL I

The VEFF magazine is produced by employees in DNV and sponsored

by VEFF union, which is a union for DNV employees.

© VEFF 12-2021 Editor: Nina Ivarsen Front cover photo: DNV Brand Central Back cover photo: ©DNV Design and print: Bodoni, 125875

Global economy projected to continue to grow 5,6% in 2021, but at a slower pace in 2022 with 4,4%.

The VEFF Board wants to raise a big thank to all of you for your contributions and collaboration in 2021, and especially a warm thanks to our members. The re-opening of DNV is slowly emerging, but we still need to extend our thoughts to colleagues that still work under difficult conditions around the globe. In Desember, Norway is closing down again. The Covid teams have done a remarkable job worldwide. We will end this year with alltime high economic growth and together we have secured a sustainable start of the new year.

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© iStock

In this magazine we have invited

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the Maritime organization to present

themselves together with colleagues

worldwide. You will meet CEO Maritime

Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen and his ELT

on a personal note. You will also meet

Regional Managers and technical experts

working with them.

”

I CONTENTS I

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EDITORIAL

6-46 Interview

CHAIR OF VEFF, NINA IVARSEN Committed to a cleaner future, the global shipping industry is undergoing a transformative journey. The global economy is projected to grow 5,6 percent in 2021 and 4.4 percent in 2022.

Prospects for emerging market and developing economies have been marked down for 2021, especially for emerging in Asia. As a contrast, the forecast for advanced economies is revised up. These revisions reflect pandemic developments and changes in policy support. The 0.5 percentage-point upgrade for 2022 derives largely from the forecast upgrade for advanced economies, particularly in the United States, reflecting the anticipated legislation of additional fiscal support in the second half of 2021 and improved health metrics more broadly across the group.

Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen Jostein Furnes Yuri Sakurada Trond Hodne Vidar Dolonen Anne Moschner Ioannis Chiotopoulus Tuva Flagstad-Andersen Geir Dugstad Torgeir Steeri Camilla Kjelsaas Geir Fuglerud Christina Saenz Marianne Valderhaug Anthony M DSaouza Nobert Kray Mike Br ogan Thomas Xu Marie Roholt Sundal Martin Høegh

47 Covid-19 Ellen Marghrethe Phil Kronstad

Rapid progress in innovation will emerge from alternative fuels to new technologies and gives voice to those calling for increased regulation to deliver a sustainable future as DNV. The Maritime organization are committed to meet the IMO’s decarbonization goals with green hydrogen. Green hydrogen is recognized as one of the zero carbon fuels that could be vital to meeting the IMO GHG goals, but as with other new fuels, there are still significant challenges regarding its safe and widespread implementation.

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I EDITORIAL I

Growing in the decade of transformations - enabled by exceptional people.

WHAT DOES EXCEPTIONAL LOOK LIKE? In our strategy implemented in 2021, we are defined as exceptional people. This special word means a lot of different things to all of us, and in one way or the other we are all exceptional. In DNV it is our people, with their deep and broad experience and knowledge, who make our purpose, vision and strategy come alive. Their combined expertise, engagement and contribution make a difference to our customers and our diverse, global organization. Hence, we attract, retain, and develop highly competent, high performing and engaged people who are committed to our purpose, vision, and values. ”To be ’Exceptional,’ the employee not only does everything phenomenally, but consistently reaches beyond the job description – taking on extra work, performing in a leadership role, coaching peers and colleagues, innovating practices and taking initiative,” said William Garrity, University Library.

Truly exceptional workers are those who always act in a professional manner at the workplace and never let their emotions get the best of them at any point in time. They act in a manner which is expected of them, and they never disappoint their seniors in terms of the way in which they act.

Exceptional people are clear and persistent in who they are, where they are headed and what they want from their life and relationships to be happy. In being deliberate other people know where they stand with them. The exceptional get what they want in life because they are clear in saying what they want.

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Exceptional people typically possess a healthy

dose of each of the following five-character traits:

responsibility, persistence, delayed gratification,

a thirst for knowledge and conviction.

References: IMF.org World economic outlook

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I EDITORIAL I

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This New Year we thank you for providing us

the opportunity to serve you and we promise

to make your experience a satisfying and enriching

one in the coming year, Chair of VEFF Nina.

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May this season find you among those you love,

sharing in the twin glories of generosity

and gratitude.

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Christmas gives us an

opportunity to pause and

reflect on the important

things around us.

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In our perfect ways.

In the ways we are beautiful.

In the ways we are human.

We are here.

Happy New Year’s.

Let’s make it ours.

”

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It has been a rewarding experience

working with you and may this New Year

bring forth many such rewarding moments

for us to share.

© iStock

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I INTERVIEW I

Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen CEO DNV MARITIME

2021, what a year it has been. For someone who normally spends a fair share of their time travelling, hitting the pause button and having to lead DNV Maritime from my home office has been quite an adjustment. While at the beginning, I was worried that the pandemic would make it much harder to connect with customers and grow in the market, my experience has been quite the opposite. With the whole world being in the same boat, we have just had to find new ways to get together, share and connect – at all levels of all organizations.

Away from the job, spending more time at home in Norway meant I had a lot more time for family and pursuing some personal goals, such as mastering the art of salmon fishing, kayaking and taking cross country skiing to the road more often using inline skates. At home, I learnt very quickly that my leadership role is strictly limited to shipping.

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With my three children – Marte (29), Marius (25) and Matilde (20) – out of the house, either working or studying, our dog Lussi – a Japanese Spitz – has used this time to firmly establish her position as Chief Executive Officer of our household, second only to the Group President, my wife Britt.

In the maritime world, it has been fantastic to see how seamlessly the industry, and we in DNV in particular, have switched to new ways of working – supporting customers virtually wherever appropriate and possible. The more than 30,000 remote surveys carried by surveyors in our operational center and DATE hubs are a testament to this. Of course, we are very fortunate to belong to an industry that is at the heart of global trade and doesn’t come to a halt, not even in the face of a global pandemic. But I would also like to highlight that our organization’s preparedness for what I like to call

the ‘Maritime Renaissance’ has given us a head start – to beat the competition now and during the next strategy period leading up to 2025. The pandemic has propelled digitalization forward in maritime. Everything is being looked at with fresh eyes and there is a palpable thirst for innovation, new ideas and new ways of working.

DNV Maritime has played a key role in facilitating this change, and I would like to personally thank our members of staff for this – your dedication and commitment to upholding our standards and propelling classification to the next level has put us in the position we are today.

Where is that, you may ask. If we look at the market, this translates into impressive market shares. Recent figures show that DNV remains at top of the leaderboard, securing 31 per cent of newbuilding contracts based on tonnage. The DNV orderbook has now reached 40 mGT, which is

I INTERVIEW I

“

In fact, COVID has had the unusual

side-effect of putting us at least half-

a-decade ahead of where we would

have been, had things progressed

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‘normally’.

twice the volume of 12 months ago, half of it refers to the container segment. So far, 2021 has seen extraordinary global contracting levels at shipyards, fueled by low newbuilding prices, mounting pressure from incoming environmental regulations as well as ambitious emissions reduction targets set by financiers and charterers. One of the segments that has boomed particularly is container shipping. Looking ahead to 2022, we expect contracting to even out again. Clarksons predicts a 25 per cent decrease in contracting compared to 2021, with considerably fewer container ships and a more significant number of oil tankers. This means that there is no time to rest on our laurels – we have to sink our teeth into every opportunity we can find.

For me personally, it’s an exciting time to be in this job. Not only because as an organization, we have managed to successfully navigate through the challenges posed by a global pandemic – but

because we are an important part of a puzzle that, when completed, will have a positive impact global sustainability and help tackle the grand challenge of our time: Decarbonization.

When I look back to when I was studying to become a civil engineer in Edinburgh, thinking about which industry to go for; or even when I first joined DNV as a structural engineer in 1990 – shipping seemed like a good choice. The ups and downs of the maritime world seemed constant, predictable, a bit like the tides.

The issues we faced were palpable, solvable, you knew where you were headed.

Today, our industry faces challenges more complex than ever before. And with many different ambitions and players, the regulatory landscape is very fragmented. As Class, we have an important role to play in holding it together – be it through constantly evolving state-ofthe-art rules, our work at the IMO, or by highlighting the different pathways

towards decarbonization in our Maritime Forecast report. Collaboration is a key part of this. And this why it’s so important to invest in joint development projects and reports on emerging fuels such as methanol or ammonia, and to support collaborative initiatives such as the Singapore-based Global Centre for the Decarbonization of Shipping, the Green Shipping Programme and the Maritime Technologies Forum. These are just some examples, there are many more.

The world we operate in is in a state of flux and the maritime value chain is evolving. So, for Class, staying on the road to success will require more than what we offer today, more than safeguarding the role we already have. It means evolving as well. One of the goals that is particularly close to my heart is expanding assurance services to grow beyond class. This could, for example, entail supporting financiers with their climate responsible finance portfolios

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I INTERVIEW I

or verifying data on fuel consumption or C02 emissions. It could also mean digitalising processes for managing congested ports to enhance safety, efficiency and transparency in this field.

In the immediate future, our next challenge will be to move from fully remote operations back into the ‘physical world’, without going back into the exact mode of operation we were in before. So, it’s about finding a new footing in this hybrid world – both for me personally and in the wider context of maritime operations. For example, this includes finding the right balance between remote and attending surveys. And

finally, safety is and will always be the foundation of what we do. And as with everything else, safety issues are evolving.

Working on emerging safety risks such as cyber security, connectivity and the challenges surrounding the introduction of new fuels will need to be balanced with issues that may seem quite basic but are still out there; things such as cargo liquefaction, fires and risks during manoeuvring. Preventing these issues lays the groundwork for keeping crews and vessels safe in a time of unprecedented transformation.

Thousands of people across the world work to break down all these challenges into issues we can face one day at a time.

Our job in maritime classification sometimes reminds of me of something I like to do when I am not at work: Hiking up mountains and skiing down again.

I try to do this at least once a year. It’s hard work in the cold, the stakes are high; sometimes progress seems awfully slow and you’re definitely more likely to succeed if you do it together. But when you reach that mountain peak, enjoy the view and feel the rush as you take to the slope, there is nothing else like it.

We can’t do any of this without a diverse, motivated and committed workforce.

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These commitments are reflected in our

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Maritime Strategy towards 2025. With eight

strategic goals, including enhancing

customer centricity and account

management, doing our utmost to develop,

motivate and engage our workforce and

growing our business in Asia, we will

certainly have our hands full.

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I INTERVIEW I

Jostein Furnes FINANCE DIRECTOR, MARITIME

I joined DNV in 1988 as the assistant corporate treasurer in the DNV Group Treasury Center after graduating with an MBA in Finance, Investment, Banking from University of Wisconsin, Madison, following a Bachelor’s degree from Norwegian School of Management (BI). Since then, I have held several different controllership and management positions across the company, working and living in Japan and Singapore for 10 years, being the DNV Group CFO in the period 2006-2012 and the Maritime Finance Director for two periods and 15 years in total.

I was born and raised in Stranda – a small town in the fjord and mountain area at the north west coast of Norway.

A fantastic place to grow up and spend my childhood years. Enjoying sports and being close to nature and the magnificent scenery that people travel around the world to be able to see and experience for themselves. The yearly flow of tourists coming to my area stimulated the curiosity in a young boy – and prob-

ably impacted my choice later in life about studying and living abroad. For the same reason, seeking employment with an international company like DNV felt like a natural step to take and the Maritime and Shipping sector has always been of interest to me.

In my younger years I thought I’d never leave my hometown. There seemed to be no good reason for doing so, having

plenty of friends and opportunities for outdoor activities and sports, as well as possibilities for work in one of the local businesses run by one of the many entrepreneurs in the community. However, I eventually left home, but I still love to go back and visit family and friends as often as possible – skiing and/or hiking in the mountains is always part of the agenda.

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I INTERVIEW I

“

Moving out at the age of 18, doing my

army service in the military police, was in

many ways the start of my work-life journey.

The year in the army opened new opportuni-

ties, which allowed me to work as a police-

man in the summer months during my

”

studies.

The work as a policeman puts you in close contact with people - often in special and challenging situations. However, you always need to remember that you are dealing with people while you are tackling the various issues you are confronted with – being a good listener and communicator – ensuring that people understand you. In hindsight it is safe to say that I learned a lot during these years which has been helpful in management positions later in life.

Studying International Management and Marketing at Norwegian School of Management (BI) in Oslo was interesting years, and I quickly understood that I wanted to pursue a career within international business. Similarly, the MBA in Finance, Investment, Banking at University of Wisconsin, Madison was a journey in professional and personal development, which amongst other things provided me with the opportunity to observe Black Monday from the front seat in US in October 1987. Studies provides you with knowledge, tools and process understanding and builds character, but most important it gives you the possibility to create friendships and networks. Some of us have now met for one extended weekend every year for the last 35 years. A wonderful way of maintaining both professional and personal networks.

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Joining DNV in 1988 was the start of what should become a long and interesting chapter in my life. At the time I joined the company DNV was undergoing a massive restructuring and working itself out of the financial crisis in the mid-late 1980’s. I soon realized how lucky I was working in an international organization with such wealth of competence. The situation offered a steep learning curve and there was always experienced and competent people to discuss with. In my opinion, the structures and direction put in place in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s was essential in shaping the DNV we have today.

These were exiting years both professionally and personally, and it was also in this period I met my wife – Randi. She was from my hometown Stranda and surprisingly we met for the first time in Oslo. We got our first child Ann-Kristin in 1990, and in 1992 we also embarked on our first international experience together as a family. Having the opportunity to work as a regional controller in Japan for four years was exciting professionally, but the years in Japan were also rich on personal experiences and we have so many fond memories from these years – the biggest gift being the birth of our second daughter Tonje in Kobe.

While staying in Japan we also had the traumatic experience of the Great Hanshin earthquake in January 1995. It was truly painful and sad to experience the loss of life and destruction in Kobe and the surrounding areas, but we were safe in our house which was located very close to the epicenter. It was good to see how people reached out to support and help each other, and even in this traumatic situation for the Japanese people they also knocked on our door to ask if we needed help. The weeks and months that followed were challenging and offered a quick and real-life introduction to crisis management. Luckily all employees and colleagues in Japan survived this horrifying experience and we managed to stay operational throughout the crisis.

Later the same year we moved to Singapore where I took up the new assignment as the Financial Controller for Asia & Pacific. This opportunity offered me the opportunity to work with a variety of financial topics and challenges all over Asia. I was exposed to different cultures and met with so many fantastic people. It was a life-time experience for the whole family and again a child was born in a new country – this time a son Magnus Emil in 1996.

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It was with very mixed feeling the family was leaving Singapore to go back to Norway in 2001 where I took up the position as Finance Director Maritime.

On one hand extremely happy to have had the chance to live and explore Asia for so many years and at the same time sad to leave it all behind. Coming home to Norway was perhaps more challenging than going abroad, after all 10 years is a long time. The role in Business Area Maritime offered vast opportunities and was perhaps my first real possibility in influencing the direction and ambition of the company. Working together with an extremely well experienced and qualified management team this became fun and rewarding years.

In 2006 I took up the assignment as Group CFO, a position I held until 2012.

During these years DNV expanded its busines volume significantly, grew from 6 000 to 12 000 employees. DNV added new competencies through acquisitions of KEMA and companies in the wind and health sector in the US. These positions were taken a decade ago and is providing us with excellent business opportunities today. For me personally this period will for always be shadowed by the loss of my wife to cancer in 2008.

Some relief was found in the good memories and all the experiences we had together in, but I am also thankful for the care shown from so many friends and colleagues.

Following my years at Group I went back to Maritime again as Finance Director, where the first assignment was to work on the DNV merger and integration – delivering on the synergies from the merger. Currently we are well underway in transforming the way we deliver classification – developing services beyond class and utilizing the opportunities that exist in digitalizing parts of our deliveries. All challenging projects emphasizing on delivering value to our customers, improving our own performance without compromising on quality.

WHAT KIND OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE AND WORK EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE Personally, I feel the studies in International Business & Marketing and Finance, Investment, Banking - combined with my international experience and various controllership and management positions - have been good building blocks for the challenges I have faced. Learning on the job from experienced colleagues along the way has been essential. As with many things in life it is not one single thing that can explain the results you get, usually it is a combination that brings the results you strive for. A few years with the large Norwegian Ship Owner Wilh. Wilhelmsen in the early days of my career was also helpful in getting a better understanding from a customer perspective.

YOUR ROLE IN DNV Building on my formal education and work experience I have always felt there has been a need to connect the gaps and perhaps build some bridges between different professions and areas of competence in DNV. By showing interest and respect for roles and responsibilities of other colleagues you also got the attention needed to put focus on the financial aspects that is included in my own roles and responsibilities.

Increasingly, our daily life is supported by enterprise end-to-end systems, which means it is important to understand the complete work process and data flow, the information and value that can be created from this and not only your own part of the picture. This means that even more than before we will have to work across professional roles and responsibilities to find the best solutions.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT AT WORK When not working I try to spend time on some of my favorite hobbies together with my partner Anne Cecilie, our families and friends. We both like gardening, golf and outdoor activities. In the wintertime we love cross country skiing in the local area and alpine skiing in the mountains. Travelling is of course another favorite – which for obvious reasons has

been restricted to domestic travel during the pandemic.

IMPORTANT ISSUES YOU ARE BURNING FOR Commercial awareness is an area where I still see significant room for improvement in DNV. Sometimes it seems to be forgotten or falling between chairs.

This is not only lost revenue, but in many cases also lost opportunities for additional business in new areas where DNV is creating significant value for the customer – far beyond the issuance of a certificate.

Similarly, discussions on commercial topics and business models need to become an inherent part of our innovation and business development process. If we shall succeed in taking the commercial advantage of the customer value, we are offering our production, marketing/sales and finance disciplines need to collaborate at an earlier stage in the process than what is typically happening today SOME FINAL WORDS I have had a fantastic journey in DNV for more than 30 years.

It does not mean that working elsewhere cannot be fruitful, I have tried that as well. However, it is not greener on the other side – it is not better or worse – it is just different. The difference that made me stay in DNV for all these years was really the competent and talented people, and the opportunities for learning in an organization working for safeguarding life property and environment.

I believe our new values are good attributes, supporting our purpose of being.

Personally, I feel we have a well-balanced approach to the care and share aspects, while I hope we all can become better at daring. A colleague once said to me “Do not wonder if you have what it takes, ask yourself if you take what it has” – a few words that sometimes can provide important guidance in life.

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Yuri Sakurada PEOPLE DIRECTOR MARITIME

I was born in a traditional Osaka merchant family as the eldest of three. My parents were running each their own business since young age. Perhaps due to lack of opportunities for higher education for themselves, they were focused on the education of their children and put a very strict discipline to us, particularly our mother. Like any children, we wished more easy and friendly parents at times, but as adults, we are ever more grateful. We won’t be who we are today without their conviction and persistence.

It may sound nowadays somehow old fashioned, but we value nonetheless.

My childhood dream was to become a writer and later a journalist from my pas-

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sionate desire to see the world and tell the story to others. However, I decided to study something in applied science for I wanted to be more of “homo universalis” complementing my obvious interest in human science, and to be honest, with one eye on future career prospect (a distance echo of my mother’s life advice to be financially independent). Why naval architect among many disciplines is a bit of coincidence and mystery.

WHAT KIND OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE AND WORK EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE I am a naval architect by education and a ship surveyor by background. I am currently People Director for Maritime in Hamburg since 2018 June. I have done all sorts of job at 10 locations across 7 countries in 3 continents ever since I joined DNV in Kobe as a new building surveyor 27 years ago.

I am married with my longtime best friend from Belgium for 8 years. We have no children and just enjoy being a super sweat “sugar uncle & aunt” to our lovely nieces and nephews in Japan.

First 14 years, I worked in production across all services starting with NB/CMC survey, then design approval, and finally FIS survey. From Kobe to Høvik, Rotterdam, St. Nazaire and Marseille. I have wonderful memories from every places.

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I stepped into leadership position for the first time in 2008 as a Country Manager responsible for France and North Africa.

Just before my current job, I was an Area Manager for Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.

A FEW STORIES HERE AROUND THE CHANGES I MADE IN MY CAREER. When I decided to become a FIS surveyor after merely 4 years in business, I saw some challenges ahead since I had no experience in FIS and there were hardly any female FIS surveyors out there. That calls for a courageous manager to take me in, and I needed to convince them that I can do the job somehow. Long story short, I crafted an opportunity to join a FIS survey in Rotterdam as a part of my holiday attraction - a damage survey on an old bulk career. I followed an experienced surveyor whole day to inspect a crack on ship side in a muddy ballast tank where the sea water was pouring in, to assess the damage and agree on repair. This day excursion made me ever more wanting to become a FIS surveyor. Perhaps it also helped for the station manager to picture me in the job as I got a job later in Rotterdam.

Another interesting change was from leadership in Maritime to PM in O&G. Shortly after returning to Japan early 2012, a new opportunity came across, a project management of the onshore LNG facility (a part of INPEX Ichthys project) in Australia. The prospect of expanding the technical competence and taking a part in O&G mega project appealed to me, so I gave it a go.

Yet, another small challenge. I had no experience either in the industry or the discipline. I was obliged to go through 3 months’ probation period before I was accepted by the customer. I felt like a student taking an exam again after 18 years of technical and leadership career.

The experience humbled me, made me more courageous and confident at the same time. I worked on the project for 4 years first in Japan and later in Australia.

forget to mention that it would have been impossible without support and encouragement from many wonderful colleagues.

The most significant and difficult change I made in my entire career is actually to step into my current job, but this is a story for another time. I am ever more curious; “what’s next?”.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT AT WORK I am very interested in human activities - our achievements and our mishaps, and how the society is being shaped. I explore them by traveling, reading literatures and non-fictions, and watching documentaries and movies from all over the world.

We visited many countries over years.

India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, and more. COVID deprived us from traveling but gave us more time to read and watch. We are looking forward to travel again to meet people and to see beautiful thing human created - buildings,

paintings, sculptures, and all.

Another thing we take pleasure exploring is “taste”. We regularly go to restaurants to try new creations of the world top chefs with great wine. We also spend a great deal of time and effort to create our own at home. We both enjoy cooking but in very distinctive ways. While my husband is very systematic and disciplined, I am uncontrollably spontaneous and undisciplined. Not hard to imagine that his result is consistent and mine sporadic.

IMPORTANT ISSUES YOU ARE BURNING FOR Time goes by and nobody has an eternal life. While becoming increasingly impatient with my own limitations (intellectual and physical capacity) by the age knowing there are still so many things to learn and explore, I am more reflective on the fact that I have always been preoccupied with taking “input” and now started to think how I can give more “output”.

SOME FINAL WORDS Be flexible, commit to learn, have courage to step into unknown territories and be accountable for my own action.

That is in a nutshell, the summary of my career in DNV and life at large.

India 2008 Ethiopia 2006

Dutch Mariner-First complete renewal survey on chemical tanker

This is why I am still here - fantastic opportunities. And, I shall never

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Trond Hodne DIRECTOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT – BUSINESS AREA MARITIME

At present, I’m in a strategic and operational business development position at DNV, but my career in the maritime industry started back in 1991 at Høvik with offshore structures and hull approval. My master’s degree in Ocean Engineering, as well as my experience gained from class approval and maritime advisory, have all been useful and relevant knowledge for my present position.

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Manager / Country Chair, a position that also included being the Honorary Norwegian Consul.

ASIA CALLING After five years in Høvik, my wife, also a DNV employee, our two children and I moved to South Korea, where we stayed for two years while I worked for the Approval Centre in Busan.

In our free time, we travelled around Japan. We walked a couple of times to the top of mount Fuji, amongst others.

It’s a fascinating country – very safe, very organized, with an amazing culture and a lot of beautiful places despite the large population. A funny story is when I – absent-minded as I can be – left my wallet in the Shinkansen train one day.

Later, when I arrived in the office, somebody had already found it and delivered it to the office – naturally with all the content inside.

After our time in South Korea, we became fascinated by the Far East. So, when a position in Japan came up, we took the chance and returned to the Far East while the children were still young.

This was in 2002, and we started a more than six-year adventure in Kobe, said to be the pearl of Asia. I was first head of the Approval Centre and later Regional

TAKING A NEW TURN In 2009, we returned from Japan to Høvik when I took over the business development group in maritime from Wilhelm Magelssen, who had then (almost) retired. In this position I am responsible for market strategies, sales and marketing, and business development within DNV Maritime globally.

A lot has changed over the years – and some things have remained the same.

After the merger with Germanischer Lloyd in 2013 we are the undisputed market leader in the maritime classification business. Our role in the industry and core work as class society hasn’t changed much. However, the way we have developed and are how now deliver our services has changed significantly over the last years. It is driven by customer demands, stronger competition, decarbonization and the toolbox offered by digitalization. Also, new stakeholders’ requirements – in particular those from charterers and financial institutions – have strongly influenced the maritime industry. These developments have been beneficial for us as an innovative class society and with maritime advisory as a strong and competent differentiator.

Decarbonization is now the main driver behind both regulations and other stakeholder requirements, where shipowners need to make tough decisions towards existing vessels as well as for newbuild-

I firmly believe the opportunities that we have today we have never had before. ings when it comes to operations, new technologies and alternative fuels.

Fortunately, we had predicted these developments and reflected them in our past strategies. We foresaw the coming developments and started building up competencies, new class and advisory services, as well as relations with new stakeholders, in particular the charterers and financial institutions. I believe these are the main reasons main reasons for or strong market positions and not at least our high newbuilding market shares over the last few years. Now we are all ship and offshore segments, and especially this year in the container segment with a 50% market share. The latter I would say is clear evidence for a successful merger between DNV and GL. “Strongly being connected to the market and customer has always been close to my heart.”

ASSURANCE BEYOND CLASS “The beyond class” strategy is the next big goal we are working towards. And I firmly believe the opportunities that we have today we have never had before.

This strategy we have in place has the possibility to change how risk management work is performed in the maritime industry, with potential for DNV to take new assurance positions. In five to ten years, I believe we will continue our leading role as a classification society through major transformations, and at the same time take a leading role in the digital transition of assurance in the maritime market and taking new thirdparty roles within a wider part of the value chain.

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At DNV, we are rather unique because we have strong knowledge in core competencies and technologies, we have strong technical and operational knowledge, a deep understanding of the maritime industry, and at the same time a unique and trusted role in the maritime industry. Thanks to this position, we can safely guide our customers through their major transformations, while building a growing and sustainable business for DNV in the years to come.

we have seen the importance of shipping in world by keeping the supply chains running as well as and how important and robust the classification business is.

A PASSION FOR SHIPPING I have always found our purpose a source of inspiration, and over the years have understood more and more that the work we do really makes a difference towards safety as sea. We are listened to for advice, and we are trusted by our customers, industry stakeholders and regulators. I cannot imagine a more exciting industry to work in than shipping. It’s fully connected to the global economy, and it is the lifeline for operations across the world. Throughout the pandemic,

And I share this passion. I like being close to the water; it calms my mind. I like fishing, and I like boating – with or without an engine. I use both types frequently, and the rowing boat is also used during winter. We have an apartment in Italy, in the north by Lago di Iseo. Here, too, we are close by the lake. In this area, we have the famous boat builder Riva and the end of the lake, the area Franciecorta, which produces the best Italian “champagne”. Life is short – better to keep it interesting.

I have learned that people who come to work within shipping become fascinated by this business, and most tend to stay for life. If you ask shipowners, who might have different business interests, they will say that shipping is where their true passion is.

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“

What I found most fascinating

about DNV was the vast

technical expertise available

in the company, and the

willingness to share it with fresh

employees like myself.

Vidar Dolonen REGIONAL MANAGER KOREA & JAPAN MARITIME I am 50 years old married to Sunghee and living with our daughter Celina (14) in Busan, South Korea. Celina is attending 9th grade in the International School of Busan.

My background is from the Royal Norwegian Navy where I spent eight years all together from the age of 18, including my education. I graduated from the Norwegian Naval Academy in 1993 and sailed as engineer on fast patrol boats for three years, the last year as Chief engineer for a five-vessel strong flotilla.

In the armed forces you get leadership training and responsibilities for people and costly equipment at a very early age.

You also get development opportunities and challenges that are hard to come by anywhere else.

After a short spell ashore as Instructor for the Navy’s Technical Training school I moved from Bergen to Asker and started in DNV in 1998. My start at DNV was a very good experience.

It is unique to have several of the best experts in the world within so many fields of engineering under one roof. In the beginning it felt a lot like being back on campus, and I enjoyed it very much.

I started working in the Machinery Ships in Operation section supporting our world-wide network of fleet in service surveyors on machinery related issues.

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After some time, I really felt the need to try out the surveyor life myself to better understand how I could support our surveyors better. In 2001 I was lucky to go to Singapore for a three-month exchange as FIS Surveyor. It was an intense work period as I wanted to gain as much experience and qualifications as possible within the limited time. The good thing with Singapore is that you have all types of ship surveys and advanced repair jobs coming at you all the time with great possibilities for learning.

When returning to Norway I got the chance to qualify as Condition Assessment Programme (CAP)-Machinery surveyor. Some of the CAP surveys I attended deserves a story of their own, but for sure, there was again great learning involved.

January 2002, I arrived Geoje, Korea to start a new era in my career with DNV as Newbuilding surveyor. It was also where I met my “wife to be” a few months later, making coming to Korea the best decision I ever made to date…

I started as PTM on shuttle tankers and 4500 TEU container ships in SHI, which at that time was in the larger end of the scale. I then got my first job as PM for two shuttle tankers flying Canadian flag.

It was a very challenging project both with regards to Canadian regulations and huge quality problems with thrusters

”

and CPP propellers. It was the biggest quality case in SHI for 25 years requiring lengthy re-dockings and design changes.

I was lucky to gain the type of experience only challenging projects and strained customer relations can teach you already on my first project as PM. My next project was the world’s biggest LNG carriers at the time (216K QFlex) and the first in the world with re-liquefaction capabilities built for Qatar Gas

by SHI. The very international owner’s site team had 250 years of newbuilding experience between themselves divided among 15 people. The hull supervisor had built ships in Japan, Korea and China since 1971, the year I was born.

The lead on Machinery had delivered several ships as owner’s site manager before I entered middle school. In short, it was all about team work on DNV’s side to prove that we had something to contribute and make a difference. I am very proud of how all my DNV colleagues rose to the occasion and made the project a success.

In 2007 I took the first management position in DNV as station manager in Samsung. In 2008 I moved to DSME yard as District Manager for Koje area.

From 2010 to 2013 I took the role as Head of Class Operation Korea, which was a new set up that later became Area Korea. At the time we were in the middle of the biggest super cycle in the history of newbuilding for both ships and offshore installations. It was a very exciting time with great challenges with record high production levels, onboarding and upskilling of many new colleagues and handling quality issues in a booming market.

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After 11,5 years in Korea it was time to go back to Norway in the summer of 2013. Besides building ships, we had also built a family, and my wife and I wanted our daughter to get to know her second home country in time for starting school as a first grader. Living in Norway was a big change and it took some time to adjust for all of us, except Celina, who just loved every bit of what Norway could offer a 6 year old active child.

Coming back to Høvik I first took on the role as Head of Section for Class Systematics and Port State Control. After working mostly with Newbuilding for so many years it was at times a big contrast to deal with the older part of our fleet and owners that struggled with avoiding getting arrested by PSC. In 2015 I got the chance to move back to more Newbuilding related work as Head of Department Systems and Components in Høvik. This was my first time working with approval in DNV and it was another great experience. In the role I was also Head of Notified Body and got involved in many interesting issues concerning time bound certification. It was very rewarding to work with colleagues with so many different fields of expertise. It again gave me a feeling of being back on campus with many new areas and fields of competence to lead.

In 2017 I got a phone call that I will always remember. My family and I were in Hamburg for a small vacation when Knut asked me whether I would like to take the Regional Manager position in Korea & Japan. It was a great honor to be asked, and I humbly accepted the challenge. The decision process was very

quick. The entire family were happy to be able to move back to our first home country and start another chapter of our lives in Busan.

It is no secret that maintaining a healthy work/life balance in the maritime industry can be a bit of a challenge. So, when I find the time I enjoy to go hiking in the mountains around Busan and also enjoy the big variations of restaurants that can be found in the most unexpected places in Korea. In the winter my daughter and I try to do some downhill skiing. I also like to go for a bike ride once in a while, but traffic in Korea has put some limitations on that activity for my part. Safety first!

I also enjoy reading books of all sorts, and of course I like to indulge myself in TV series and movies when time allows.

Some Korean dramas and movies are actually refreshingly different from mainstream Hollywood, and worth watching.

As Regional Manager for Korea and Japan in Maritime and Country Chair for Korea I feel privileged to work in such an exciting and global industry with some of our most important customers.

The CC role also gives a different insight in cross BA focus areas and challenges.

In my role as Honorary Consul for the Norwegian Consulate in Busan, working with the Embassy in Seoul to promote Norwegian interests in Korea, I also get insights and networks that are helpful. The role we have in the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea also gives insights into the dynamics of interactions between government and business in Korea.

After 16 years altogether in this Region I still learn new things about the local culture, which makes it even more rewarding. And you have to love the people!

Business in this region of the world can be tough and demanding at times, but the people you deal with are great individuals! The best relationships are often built through facing challenges and hardships together.

DNV plays an important role in the energy transition and decarbonizing shipping in a safe manner is engaging to me. These are issues that are important for our planet and for business to solve, and it is great to be able to play a small part in that also on a personal level.

As I am getting older, I find it more and more important to accelerate the next generations that shall bring our company safely into the future. I therefore like to work with mentorships inside and outside of DNV. There is also so much to learn from the younger generations.

They impress me a lot with their drive, ability to quickly grasp essential information as digital natives, and how big they are thinking around their aspirations for the future.

The strong purpose and values make it motivating and rewarding to work for DNV. It is also inspiring that DNV matches so well the competences needed for the green energy transition we are facing. I am proud to work for a foundation that re-invests in the company and in maintaining our independence, spending significant resources on R&D needed to navigate the future of humanity. This is a strong foundation for DNV to grow and make a difference.

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“

My team is a very diverse,

Anne Moschner

energetic, creative and highly

professional bunch with a lot

of drive – mind you, we all talk

a lot. But I guess that comes

with the role.

”

DIRECTOR COMMUNICATIONS

If you had asked me 22 years ago, where I would end up after leaving my home in Lower Saxony, Germany, to ‘get out’ of rural life, see the world and become a journalist – shipping would not have been my first guess, much less Director Maritime Communications at DNV. And yet, here I am. Leading my team of 27 people from 13 nationalities based in 8 countries has become my absolute dream job and the reason I get up every morning.

How did I get here? A series of very fortunate coincidences and plenty of hard work.

When I moved from my hometown of Quakenbrück, I wasn’t quite ready to settle on a university and career path yet. I felt that I needed to explore first. I spent a year touring Europe and studying languages in Cambridge, Paris and Florence, before applying for a journalism degree at the university of Hamburg. A prerequisite for the bachelor program at the time was a three-months internship at a publishing house. Writing has always

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been a passion of mine and I really enjoyed working as an editor (published my first article in the local newspaper aged 15).

So, instead of going to university as planned, I ended up spending two years as an editor’s trainee and later worked as a freelance editor for fashion and lifestyle magazines. By the way, I never got around to doing a journalism degree.

Instead, while working as a journalist for many years, I decided to study English Literature, Media Culture and Art History at the universities of Hamburg and

Manchester.

I love the UK – it’s one of my favorite places and always brings back great memories. But Hamburg is where I am at home. This is where I met my husband 16 years ago, this is where we raise our three kids. We love the buzz and all the upsides of living in the center of such a vibrant city.

On the weekends, we enjoy spending time in the countryside in the North of Germany. Inspired by all my Norwegian colleagues, we bought a cabin a year ago

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– renovating the small farmhouse from the 18th century has been our family’s “Corona project”. There is always something to do out there, to paint, to fix, to garden, to grow. I just love that. Talking about growth – seeing my kids grow is probably what matters most to me. Charlotte and Carl, our twins, are 11, Daniel recently turned 8. All three of them are full of energy, kind and already have a great sense of humor. I still try to challenge them on the Basketball court, but they are getting faster and smarter by the minute. My job at DNV often requires me to take the stage and perform on the spot, in my private life I am quite happy with being my kids’ biggest supporter on the sidelines.

Back to business. You may still be wondering: How did someone go from fashion and lifestyle magazines to classification? In 2006, I decided to move on from journalism to specialize in international corporate communications.

I landed a job at Germanischer Lloyd (GL) that same year.

Fun fact: I was hired for two reasons: a) The preferred candidate didn’t show up on her first day in the new role. b) I had financed my student life with testing cars and writing reviews about new car models, so was considered tech-savvy enough for a class society.

In GL, I worked in various Group roles focusing on PR, corporate publishing and digital communications. Following the merger of GL and DNV, I opted for

a role in Internal Communications and Change Management for BA Maritime, heading the unit since 2017. It was an exciting opportunity to support the integration efforts and a truly interesting challenge to help our two organizations grow together. Two and a half years ago, I took over as new Communications Director for DNV Maritime and became a member of the Executive Leadership Team. I was given the chance to transform a team of local communications and marketing experts into a truly global organization, moving on from being central service providers to becoming strategic business partners and consultants.

words and knew that writing would become an important element in my working life. My ambition was to tell compelling stories that matter. DNV offers a wealth of amazing stories – linked to a strong vision, an impressive history and clear strategic targets.

Ever since I started in DNV, good, authentic storytelling has been – and will remain – key to our communications team’s success.

It’s an honor to collaborate with colleagues and customers from across the globe – and shape the DNV story of tomorrow together.

Working in DNV and not having a surveyor’s or engineering background, means you are in the minority in most meetings. But I have experienced so much trust and respect for the different perspectives, the specialist contributions and the added value my team brings to the table, that I cannot possibly imagine a better place to work. I am especially interested in leadership topics, diversity and sales enablement through digital communication. Though we have pursued a “digital first” communication strategy for a number of years, it’s amazing to see how digital communications campaigns continue to become evermore targeted and support sales processes. At the same time, it also becomes harder to cut through the noise of a general information overflow, so content is still king!

I’ve always believed in the power of

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“

I realized that, just like my great

grandfather I was a desperately

hungry man – him for food, me

for my family. Just like him, I landed

my own vessel of kindness, compassion,

and humanity – the vessel was DNV, and

my captain and mentor was Vaggelis

Kalafatis, who also shares the same first

name with my great grandfather.

”

Ioannis Chiotopoulos SVP, REGIONAL MANAGER SOUTH EAST EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA

Even though I joined DNV in September 2000, my journey in the maritime sector has started long before I was even born in 1968.

It was close to the end of the 19th century when my great grandfather Evangelos, smashed by poverty, left his mountain home, and went to reach the port of Gythio (South Peloponnese) where a vessel had just arrived, and laborers were needed to load/unload the cargo.

During the work onboard, he decided to try to take control of his destiny and in a desperate act, he went in hiding a runaway towards a new homeland and a better future.

After a few days, he was unluckily discovered due to the hunger pains he was suffering from. 1880s were cruel times and stowaways were not treated kindly -to

20

say the least. However, the captain of the vessel -a loner with no children- listened to his story and instead of punishing him, showed compassion, kindness, and humanity. He took him under his wing, taught him the work onboard, how to ride the waves, how to use the sails and maneuver, how to load and unload and how to do business.

Eventually when the captain retired, Evangelos took over the business, became a master and in the course of time a small shipowner. All the family followed the path of our great grandfather and thus I could not be an exception to the rule.

As a young boy, my inclination in math and physics was evident – it was no surprise that I chose to study Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering in the National Technical University of Athens.

After getting my Masters’ degree in Maritime Technology and Economics in the Newcastle University, I started working for Greek shipowners as superintendent, fleet manager and Technical Manager assistant – I still remember the uncountable travels and the heavy workload!

One day, in early 2000 and after being away from home for 2,5 months, I entered home, eager to see my older son after such a long time who in the meanwhile had grown up and started talking.

An unpleasant surprise was waiting for me – my own son not only did not recognize me but went behind his mom and said, “Who is this man mommy?” That was exactly the moment when I decided that it was time for a change.

I was hired by DNV to go to China and help Greek owners doing repairs or NBs. Νext station to this life journey was

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“

When people are asking me, which are my everyday tasks,

I always answer “to inspire my colleagues, to help them be

the best version of themselves and to safeguard some old-

fashioned principles like loyalty, dedication, compassion

and a sense of belonging into the group of our people

that feels like family

Korea where I stayed for six years. After building and taking care of tens of vessels during construction, I became the Station manager in Hyundai Mipo, and then returned to China to build the first ever drill vessel in the country. Different roles and diverse challenges were ahead of me, as an Offshore Manager, a NB production Manager, and an Area Manager of East China.

In early 2015, I received a phone call by the former CEO Tor Svensen who offered me the position of the Regional Manager East Med & Black Sea – a position which was later changed into Region South East Europe Middle East and Africa. Greece as home market was initiated with great success, and our market share in the most competing market globally increased from 16% to 19%. It takes a lot of perseverance to succeed and some friendly “slaps” from

” people you trust and respect. This is a good moment to thank Dimitri, Andrea, Milenko and Kutub (to name a few) for putting the smelly fish on the table - I am a better person because of you.

“Hit, hit and hit again until you break through” I usually say to them when they must deal with difficult customers or even overcome internal obstacles. “A true leader always takes the bullet for his team” I repeat to myself for keeping my internal moral compass active. I have to say here that I am heavily influenced by two people in DNV, both unfortunately passed away -Frank Eidsheater and Svein Kildah. Frank and Svein were people with great integrity and who were guided by their DNV family spirit and companionship principles.

It’s not by chance that I left for the end the revelation of my secret weapon, of my driving force. Her name is Mandy, and she is my wife and my caring companion for many years now. Mandy stood by me and supported me in all good and hard times, together with our three lovely boys Tasos, Xenofon and Dimitris.

Without them I could only compare myself with an empty shell, carried off by the tide – maritime speaking.

What am I doing in my free time? I am a passionate golf player; I enjoy a nice game of pool and I watch movies.

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Tuva Flagstad-Andersen REGIONAL MANAGER IN MARITIME NORTH EUROPE - TEXT: KATE RUSHDY

Tuva’s Journey with DNV started nearly 20 years ago as surveyor and approval engineer.

Since then, she has held various managerial roles in Singapore, Finland, and Norway.

Today, Tuva is responsible for more than 500 employees in 15 countries.

Tuva Flagstad-Andersen’s interest in embarking the shipping world led her to study Naval Architecture at NTNU in Trondheim. Shortly after completing her master thesis on a project on spare part optimization for machinery (which Tuva did in Paris for Bureau Veritas) she joined DNV in 2003 as an approval engineer/surveyor at the SOLAS Department. Two years later, she became the group leader for machinery ships in operation.

Tuva and her husband Eivind, who also works for DNV, had the opportunity to move to Singapore in 2009. Together,

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they lived on the island for two and a half years. There, Tuva took her first managerial role, leading the then newly established technical advisory as head of department.

“Living in Singapore was a great experience, not only on a professional level but also on a personal level, for the family.

We moved to Singapore when my daughter (Sina) was 7 months old, and we quickly embraced the new culture and enjoyed what Singapore had to offer,” Tuva says.

TURNING CHALLENGES INTO LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES Tuva and her family came back to Norway in 2011, where she took on the role as head of section for machinery. Two years after welcoming her second-born son (Jeppe), she and her family were on the move once again, this time to Helsinki, Finland.

Like any expat moving to a new country, some challenges are often faced, and adjustments required.

“Our children went to local kindergarten and school, as we lived in a Swedish speaking neighborhood. Having worked

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and lived abroad has been a great experience, not only professionally, but also personally for the whole family. It was not always easy, we were challenged: whether when we were sweating over the Finnish homework, or when we misunderstood some of the social codes.

However, overcoming those challenges and doing it as a family, connected us on a new deeper level”.

After living in Finland for some time however, they fully embraced the Finnish lifestyle with sauna and frequent cabin trips in the woods.

REGIONAL MANAGER FOR NORTH EUROPE Today, Tuva is the Regional Manager for Maritime North Europe, responsible for more than 500 employees in 15 countries. When asking Tuva about her motivation for working with DNV for close to two decades, she says: “Throughout my time (with DNV), the key factor is the people I have been so fortunate to work with: both internally and externally! The people in our company are truly exceptional; competent, forward-looking, and fun to work with.”

She is also quick to emphasize the foresight and impact DNV provides to the industry and the sense of purpose and accomplishment this represent to so many DNV employees, herself included.

“Being close to the market and understanding the needs and expectations of our customers is also something I find very interesting – and necessary. I’m especially excited about the new opportunities with the decarbonization of the shipping industry and the position DNV is taking” she says.

CRAZY SOMETHING NORMAL Tuva shares that the family life at the Flagstad-Andersen household can sometimes be hectic, juggling between frequent work-related travels and activities for both kids and grown-ups. She shares that her family found the song “Crazy Something Normal” by the Norwegian band Donkeyboy, a fitting theme song for their household.

When not working, Tuva loves to spend time with her family, enjoying outdoor activities and being at their cabin. “We bought a cabin at Blefjell (Norway) a few years ago. We use every opportunity

to spend our time in the mountains. In the spring/ summer/ autumn we hike, and during the winter months, we do a lot of cross-country skiing. My father has a cabin in the alpine slopes of Uvdal, so telemark skiing has also been a passion of mine,” she says.

Sailing is another activity that Tuva has enjoyed since childhood. So much so that one of the many selling points for her to join DNV, was its sailing group which she later joined, participating in sailing European championships and several other regattas.

Tuva’s mindset in turning challenges into positive opportunities was demonstrated once again during the pandemic.

To tackle work stress, she started running. “Running has really been a good way to take a time out and re-set the brain in a hectic work-day! If I have a specific challenge, I sometimes “bring” this with me whilst running. This always enables me to shed some new light on the problem and find a good solution,” she shares.

“

Throughout my time (with DNV),

the key factor is the people I have

been so fortunate to work with:

both internally and externally!

The people in our company are truly

exceptional; competent,

forward-looking, and fun to work

with.

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Even after more than 30 years of marriage, my wife and I still enjoy spending time together.

Tussi, our Finnish Lapponian, is also a maritime fan.

Geir Dugstad TECHNICAL DIRECTOR & DIRECTOR SHIP CLASSIFICATION

If there is one thing to know about me, it is that I am a family guy. My wife and I have been married for over 30 years and have three grown children – and are now also happy grandparents. Of course, our Finnish Lapponian dog, Tussi, is also an important member of the family. I was born and raised in Voss, a small town in western Norway, and today I call Jar in Bærum home.

MOTIVATING TEAMWORK Family is important to me at home – and at DNV, it is the family-like team of colleagues that keeps me motivated. I am proud that together, we have managed to keep our position as the leading class society through a period with relatively low newbuilding orders and tough competition.

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To be part of this team of experts gives me a lot of energy. Whatever the technical issue, we have the fantastic competence and top-notch expertise available in our organization around the world.

And I know that together, we will continue our common journey of renewing the way we deliver our services while safeguarding life, property and the environment.

LOCAL AND GLOBAL GO HAND IN HAND In my current role as Technical Director in Maritime, I head the Ship Classification unit and am responsible for production and quality-related matters in Maritime. We have about 750 employees in this unit, most of them located in Hamburg, Høvik and Gdynia. Combined with our DATE centres in Singapore, Piraeus

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“

Working in such an organization gives me

energy and the confidence knowing that we

will succeed going forward.

and Houston, this makes us a global organization with local expertise.

The responsibilities and units in Ship Classification are quite diverse – both in terms of their size and the activities they perform. With respect to number of employees, Approval and Technical Support are the two biggest units, followed by our Class Development unit.

The smaller units are responsible for regulatory development, HSE, rules and standards, and quality follow-up.

A MARITIME LIFE IN CONTINUAL MOTION My maritime career started in Norway: first at the coastal artillery officer candidate school in Oscarsborg, which was followed by a year at a fortress in the north – an experience for a lifetime.

After obtaining my Master of Science degree in Naval Architecture from the university in Trondheim in 1990, I began my career at DNV as a technical trainee in 1991.

My time as a trainee brought me to Malta, where I was a fleet-in-service surveyor. Being a surveyor in Malta was a fantastic experience, and I learnt a lot working on a variety of ships and quality levels. Also for my wife and, at that time, one child, it was a nice break from the much more hectic life at home. Upon our return to Norway, I started in what we today know as Maritime Advisory performing structural analyses, before I joined the hull approval section for tankers and bulkers.

Then in 1996, I got a job as newbuild surveyor and our family of now five moved to Geoje Island in South Korea.

Family life there was great, and my wife really enjoyed the nice nature, fresh air and at that time quiet surroundings.

However, this did not last long. DNV’s market share was hit hard when GL

”

came in as the dominant class society in Geoje to serve a wave of newbuild container ships. As consequence, DNV moved me to our approval centre to Busan. For me, the period in Busan is one of the best in my career. I learned a lot working with very competent colleagues and customers.

Upon our return to Norway from South Korea, I re-joined the hull approval section for tankers and bulk carriers. Then in 1999, I started my management career as head of Hull Ships in Operation.

After this I took up a management position in approval, and when the merger was announced, I headed what we today know as Technical Support.

Me with my adorable grandson, just a few days old

In December 2013, when DNV and GL started to operate as one entity, I moved to Hamburg and took up the position as head of the approval centre, followed by a job change in 2015 to my current position. Looking at my career in DNV, the period with post and pre-merger activities is no doubt a period I will never forget, a lot of work, fun, learnings and, in my opinion, very good results.

ALSO AT HOME ON LAND As my job involves a lot of travelling and long days, being with my family – on land! – means a lot to me. In the summer we enjoy being at our cabin in Kragerø, and in the winter we go skiing, both cross-country and downhill. When I have the time, I also like to keep up with handiwork like carpentry, which is very relaxing to me. Over the last two summers, I built a storage house at our cabin. Another interest is my 20-year-old BMW cabrio with a straight six. I bought the car in 2014 when working in our Hamburg office, I took it home to Norway this spring and my wife, Tussi and I had a very nice trip to the west coast of Norway.

My BMW is like another member of the family, also enjoying the beautiful Norwegian landscape.

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Shanghai

Family portrait in the Philippines

Torgeir Sterri

Our dog M orris

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, REGIONAL MANAGER WEST EUROPE

Being born and raised in Oslo, my life has always gravitated towards water. I was about 5 years old when I received my first boat as a gift. It was certified by DNV; I can still remember the shiny dark blue plate at the back of it. Since then, I have never stopped sailing and enjoying the peace and freedom that comes from being at sea.

My passion for sailing boats naturally developed into a career in shipping. I was only 12 when I started working on a passenger ferry as a ‘matros’ (crewman) and later, while I was still a student in Trondheim Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), I worked as a captain on some Norwegian passenger ferries. After receiving my Masters’ degree in Naval Architecture in 1998, I started working for DNV as a trainee supporting four different sections in the approval unit in Oslo. After spending eight months working on site in a shipyard in Germany, I became an approval engineer in our approval centre in Oslo.

After about a year, I moved to Germany as newbuild team member being responsible for cruise vessel supervision at Meyer Werft in Papenburg.

Two years later I was promoted to Project Manager, looking after customers such as RCCL, Celebrity, Star and NCL

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at Meyer. As my wife likes to remind me, this was one of the happiest times of my career in DNV. Although I have loved all my jobs, I truly enjoyed myself at Papenburg; here I gained an enormous amount of technical experience, and I learned a lot form the practical and close cooperation with yards and owners.

During my time at DNV, I have had the opportunity to hold something like 11 different roles and to live and work in five different locations. The words of my first boss still echoes in my mind:

I have always appreciated and embraced these wise words as they kept me engaged and motivated throughout my whole career.

Another aspect I love about working at DNV is the opportunity to work alongside a huge group of individuals who represent many diverse backgrounds. I am most happy and grateful for such a diverse and inclusive working environment because it offers great learning opportunities. When customers ask, ‘why are you in DNV’, I always answer

“

You can sit at this desk until you retire,

or you can achieve anything you like

in this company; it is all up to you.

”

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‘because DNV’s values are very close to my heart’ which means I don’t have to compromise on my own ethics and that makes me sleep good at night.

Moving to China was another highlight of my career at DNV. In 2013, I was appointed Regional Manager, Area Chair, Managing Director, Greater China. I had the honour to be the first RM for DNV in China and to witness the merger of three cultures into one: Norwegian-Chinese (DNV) and German-Chinese (GL). It was also the first time that my family and I lived in Asia, and I must say that we all keep a fond memory of the time we spent in Shanghai. My advice is that if you have the opportunity to travel or live in Asia, just take it. We loved the people, the culture, the food and many other things. This fantastic experience changed our perspective of the world, broaden our horizons and in a way shifted our thoughts and general outlook on life.

I built many good and long-lasting friendships with colleagues and customers during my time in China and worked closely with the Norwegian authorities to improve the relationship between the two countries. This experience was critical for my career; there I learned that the cooperation between owner and yard Regions is crucial to succeed in what we do. As the competition is becoming more and more difficult, we need to work together to be able to secure new contracts. Our market share in China proves that we can win in this competitive environment but only if our teams

Kayaking in the Oslofjord

across the world continue to cooperate with each other.

The leadership and communication skills that I gained from working as a Regional Manager in China equipped me to take the next steps in my career.

After five years in Asia, I relocated to Europe and was appointed as Regional Manager for West Europe in 2018, when DNV’s Germany and West Europe Regions merged into one.

I love living in Hamburg. I think it is a great city and it has developed so much over the last few years. When I lived in Germany at the end of 1990s it was quite different from what it is now. Over the years, Hamburg has really grown as an international city. You have everything here and all of Europe is also close by. I also enjoy being in our Hamburg office where I am surrounded by so many nice and professional colleagues who with their skills and competence are supporting our company’s growth.

I am extremely grateful for the effective collaboration and honest exchange that we have with the West Europe RLT. So much we have already achieved together as a team from the many successful wins in the market, to the centralized planning, service line organization, to the implementation of our Regional FIS service line and remote survey CMC, and finally, the BD setup in Germany with KAMs, AMs, TSMs and sales back office.

my team, I answer that we as RLT need to continually challenge the status quo, focus on what we can do differently and think of new ideas to improve our competitiveness.

COVID-19 was one of the biggest challenges we went through together as a team. To say that the novel coronavirus pandemic has changed the world would be an understatement. Some five or seven years ago we couldn’t have foreseen such a terrible pandemic. I am grateful that our company decided to set out a solid digitalization strategy when COVID-19 was not yet part of our lives. During these difficult times, I was pleased to see so many of our regional colleagues keeping the dialogue going with customers through virtual lines whilst making the best use of our solid IT infrastructure.

What I like doing in my spare time? I tried to spend as much time as possible with my family and in addition to sailing, I also like boating, skiing, fishing, playing golf, and being in nature.

The pandemic proved that taking care of our mental health is more critical than ever, and that focusing on the good can have a big impact on our lives and work.

‘Think positive thoughts, say positive words, do positive things, and watch the positive grow‘, is our family saying and I do try to embrace it in any given situations, especially the most challenging ones.

When I am being asked about what I would like to achieve in the future with

At Meyer Werft

With Nick Roper, Vice President & Regional Business Development Manager West Europe

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Camilla Kjelsaas SENIOR ENGINEER

Working with supporting, shaping, and contributing to the future of shipping is what drives me to go the extra mile every day at work. In Maritime Classification and Technical Support for Hull and Materials at Høvik, I get the chance to work on challenging hull damage cases and support our customers when they are in tough situations. In addition, being the project manager of Emissions Insights is teaching me so much about the shipping industry, our company, and myself, and it is the most exciting thing I’ve been working on so far.

Emissions Insights is a tool on the Veracity platform, that supports ship owners in handling their emissions. The data input to the tool is from the Data Collection System (DCS), which is a mandatory requirement for ships in international trade to record and report fuel oil consumption data. DNV’s role is to verify that data before it is submitted to the IMO database. The verified data is the basis for Emissions Insights, where we display the CO2 statistics to the owner of the data. Emissions Insights allows our customers to know the status of their fleet emissions, how they are performing compared with industry standards and peers, and if they are in compliance or not. So the concept is quite simple, but

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it is still a very essential step towards decarbonization in shipping. How can the ship owners really improve if they don’t know what their status is today!

The process of developing Emissions Insights has been very enjoyable to participate in. It started out as an idea I submitted when we had a “Call for ideas” in Technical Support, and fortunately, the idea got through. The idea was based on a slightly different concept than the outcome, Emissions Insights, but by following DNV’s Innovation Framework we pivoted several times to find the right concept.

The Innovation Framework sets the customer problem first and is a very good

system to learn and understand more about the problem we are trying to solve.

After several iterations we ended up with the Emissions Insights we have in production today.

With the Emissions Insights platform in its current shape, we are well positioned to continue the development of the tool; both in terms of improving existing features, and to add more to support even more aspects of decarbonization in shipping. It is very important for us to align with pilot customers, so that all the development we do is based on customer needs.

My background is from NTNU Trond-

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heim and Department of Marine Technology, where I graduated in 2016 with specialization in marine structures. I started in DNV as part of the 2-year Global Technical Trainee Programme, with my first rotation in Technical Support for Hull, Materials and Machinery at Høvik. There I spent my first six months in DNV trying to learn as much as possible from my very experienced colleagues. They know everything, and I am glad that they were (and still are!) very patient with me. Learning takes time!

My second rotation of the trainee-program was with the fleet in service surveyors in Singapore, where I had a great time surveying ships of all sizes and types. People say you only need a weekend to explore Singapore, but that’s not true! I think Singapore has a lot to offer, you only need to be curious, and you will explore so many things that are not on Tripadvisor.

Whippets love to run and are very fast, so it is important for us that she always comes when we call her name.

It’s our sixth time going to that particular festival in Belgium, and we can’t wait to spend yet another summer on the grass plains of Leuven listening to our favorite artists.

I’ve been with DNV for five years now, and I’m having a very good time! It’s a bunch of lovely people, and I enjoy talking and learning from all the experts that are here. I am very excited for the future of shipping – with decarbonization we are facing the greatest challenge we have ever met, but I am certain that we will see new collaborations and new solutions bringing us closer to reaching our targets.

“

I am also super fond of music in general and

would be listening to music all the time if

I could. What I’m looking the most forward

to right now is the music festival my friends

and I will attend next summer.

”

The third rotation went to Poland and fleet in service in Gdynia, which was very complementary to my previous rotation.

Here I got to join surveys of old vessels, got experience with different hull damages and corrosion, and of course steel work. What I’m missing the most from my stay in Gdynia, is the amazing food and all the good restaurants – everything from really good tacos to pierogi.

Finally, my last rotation was in Hull approval in Høvik, where I was working with learning the art of approval. For this stay I had to remove the dust of the books from NTNU, which I think was very useful to me.

Although I do spend an alarming amount of my spare time reading about shipping and ships (such an exciting industry!), I also do other things. I’ve had my own horse for about 17 years, which has shaped me and my interests a lot. I don’t have my own horse right now, but I’m still in the stable training horses to keep my skills up to date. My boyfriend and I have a whippet puppy together, so now a lot of our time goes to training her. That requires a lot of patience, but she’s very smart of course.

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Me doing a tandem skydive over Palm Jumeriah in Dubai

Geir Fuglerud

Our last night in Dubai is before moving back to Norway

DIRECTOR OF OFFSHORE CLASSIFICATION I’m 43 years old, married to Eli Anne and we have two lovely girls in Bea (12) and Mie (9). This spring I clocked 15 years in DNV and what an amazing 15 years it has been, these years have not only been an interesting career for me but also had a profound impact on my family. We have had the privilege of spending nearly 10 of these years outside of Norway and my kids’ childhood has been truly international growing up in Singapore and Dubai, both having English as their first language as a result.

I graduated from NTNU in Norway in 2002 with a Master Degree in Naval Architecture, having spent the 4th year as an exchange student in Glasgow, Scotland. I really wanted to add on some more international experience,

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hence me and my girlfriend - now wife - decided to move to Auckland, New Zealand, to study International Business.

When we returned in 2003 I had to do my national service, and was lucky to get an exciting role as project manager for developing the future regulatory framework for the Royal Norwegian Navy, working in close collaboration with DNV. Upon completing my national service, I got a job with a small technical consultancy company in Sandefjord and was soon seconded to Nexans to work on a major offshore project in Qatar, my first taste of working internationally.

On one of my trips to Qatar I met an acquaintance working for DNV and he asked me to consider moving to DNV, and this resulted in me joining DNV

Maritime Solutions (now Maritime Advisory) back in May 2006. Working with Risk Management and Operational Excellence I was thrown into challenging projects all over the world, and I realized that an international career was what I really wanted.

In late 2009 I was asked to take over the management of the advisory unit in Singapore. Just 6 months into this job, DNV went through a significant organizational restructuring and suddenly I found myself being part of establishing the Clean Technology Centre (CTC) in Singapore, one of DNV’s first ventures into renewables and clean technologies.

With a mandate to grow DNV’s position in completely new areas, the next two years were a remarkable journey and

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extremely rewarding professionally. In 2012 we were at a crossroad as a family, having just had another child in late 2011: Either we would extend our stay in Singapore with a few years or we would move back. When the opportunity to become a Business Development Manager for Maritime in Singapore suddenly appeared, I grabbed it with both hands and enjoyed 3 years in an exciting customer facing role. I must have done a decent job because in 2015 I was given the role as Area Manager for Middle East, based in Dubai. This was really a dream job, challenging at times but with an incredibly committed team and I learned so much.

In my present role I’m responsible for the Offshore Classification organization as well as the Offshore Class service lines. The offshore class market has been challenging ever since the last oil crisis in 2014/15 which resulted in a dramatic drop in newbuilding and business activity. Just as the industry was starting to get its head above water the pandemic hit, and the offshore activity was hit worst of all Maritime segments and many clients ended up in bankruptcy.

This, combined with the energy transition, was a clear sign to us that we had to start transforming and during the last two years we have investigated opportunities for utilizing our knowledge,

“

During my 4 years in Dubai, the role was

extended to also include Africa. During a

trip to Ghana in 2019 I got a call from Knut

and he offered me the job as Director

Offshore Classification, which led to me

and family moving back to Norway.

”

competence and experience into new emerging ocean industries. The result of this has been developing classification services for floating offshore wind, offshore fish farms and offshore infrastructure. This has been a very interesting journey and it has paid off. However, even with a rapid energy transition there will be a need for oil and gas for several decades to come, so Offshore Class is in a long transition where we have to keep several thoughts in our head at the same time: Continuing to develop our present services towards the drilling and floating production industries while at the same time diversifying into new emerging markets. This requires an agile, committed and strongly motivated team which we for sure have in Offshore Class.

In working with the new emerging markets in the Ocean Space it is incredibly important that we work as seamlessly as possible between the Business Areas of DNV. When we collaborate closely internally to solve our clients’ challenges in the external market, DNV can deliver value that is second to none. So, in DNV, I really burn for cross-BA collaboration and it is in this that I really believe we can unlock significant opportunities for future growth.

When not at work me and my family really enjoy travelling, experiencing new places and cultures. As a family we have travelled to more than 20 countries together. The last two years it has been difficult to travel internationally, so the last two summers we have travelled Norway so that my kids can see for themselves what a beautiful country we live in. We love walking in the mountains during summer and during the last two years we have done longer hikes in both Jotunheimen and Rondane. To me it is real mental relaxation to walk in the mountains.

Walking up to the top of Storhornet outside Ålesund during the summer of 2020

I have had an amazing 15 years in DNV and I’m grateful for all the opportunities the company has provided me with. Me and my family have never regretted taking up these opportunities! So my final words will be: Take opportunities when they present themselves, you may not get a second chance.

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Cristina Saenz de Santa Maria REGIONAL MANAGER SOUTH EAST ASIA, PACIFIC & INDIA; DNV IN MARITIME

Surfing in Cape Town, 2017

“

We have a very important customer base here

which we are succeeding to capture. Growth

in Asia is one of the key strategic areas for our

company, so this is the place to be

if you ask me.

”

I am a bit of an impulsive person if my gut feeling tells me “Go for it”, but I am also quite risk adverse in some aspects so it is a peculiar combination that has defined my choices throughout the years.

I am Spanish, born in Madrid – a big Real Madrid fan. I am 40 years old, and I have 2 kids (I am still getting used to saying that out loud); one is 2 years old (Daniel), and the other one is 3 months old (Diego).

I am very proud to be Spanish, but I have to admit that I have a bit of Norwegian in me since I lived there for 8+ years. This was a very important period for me both personally and professionally, and thus I consider Oslo as my home as well.

One of my passions is to travel; I have inherited that from my parents since every summer when I was child, we would choose a country or region, rent a

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couple of cars and went on an adventure to explore it together with the family.

This passion of mine has continued and even increased throughout the years and I have been doing so every opportunity I have got. Now it has further developed in trying to connect with different people which is one of the things that I enjoy the most. That is also why I genuinely like learning languages – it is easier to get to understand and get a deeper connection.

Apart from travel, I like practicing sports and specifically trying new ones, like I did a few years back with surfing and my newest addition is wake boarding. I get an adrenaline booster when I am learning or experiencing new things.

Talking about COVID, we all know that it has been a very tough period for everyone, however it has had some positive aspects for me as well from the personal side. I got to spend the first two years of my oldest son´s life with him while working from home, and I had my second son in that period too.

PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE AND WORK EXPERIENCE I have a MSC in Naval Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and an MBA from IE Business School.

Straight from university I started my career in DNV in 2005 as a NB surveyor in Spain and Korea; then moved on and got to work as a CAP (Condition

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National Committee in Mumbai, 2018

Assessment Programme) surveyor based in Oslo; thereafter I spent a period in Lisbon, Portugal and got qualified as a FiS surveyor. This gave me the necessary competence to jump into my next assignment which was 3months in Måløy as a One (wo)man station to replace the surveyor who was there. I remember perfectly when my Head of Section at that time, asked everyone in the unit if anyone wanted to go to Måløy for the 3 months – I automatically raised the hand without thinking much (ref. my comment in the beginning about being impulsive). My colleagues immediately asked me, “Cristina, do you know where Måløy is and how small it is?” I had no clue at that time of course, but it sounded like a fun and good experience and there I went. At that time, I didn’t speak very good Norwegian (not that I do now but at least a bit better…) and I really had to improve since not everyone spoke English there.

Afterwards I was head of section for CAP for one year and moved on to become Professional Assistant for Remi as CEO of Maritime and Oil & Gas. This was a very interesting period in my career – I got to follow up and assist in the merger process between DNV and GL which was a unique experience. After the merger I

worked as Senior consultant for the CEO office at Group level.

After this period in corporate having learned so much, I wanted to go back to operations, and there it was when I became Area Manager for Africa in Maritime and Country Chair for Africa. I was two years there – a tremendous experience (AGAIN). Thereafter, I became Regional manager for South East Asia, Pacific and India, based in Singapore which I now consider to be one of my homes (in addition to Spain and Norway).

SOME FINAL WORDS This week I was invited to be part of the We in DNV course to talk about Maritime and share my experience in the company; When I was talking about our Purpose, Vision and Values, and my journey in this company I have to admit that I got goosebumps! It has been quite a ride and I am so much looking forward to continue this journey. This strategy period is so important and decisive to position us for the decades to come.

There is no other place I would rather be than contributing to Shape the future of assurance with exceptional people!

I am responsible for the maritime operations here. The region is so diverse that makes the job very exciting. Countries that we covered are in very different development and maturity stages from New Zealand to India.

Many of the customer conversations these days are around the Energy Transition and Decarbonisation challenge and how we can help them. This is the decade of action, so it makes the job very interesting. In addition to that, we are working in some pilots to contribute to develop assurance beyond class which is very important for us.

Halloween 2021, Singapore

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“

back to fleet in service and took on the role

as Head of Department for Technical

Support Høvik. A few years later I got my

current position as Director for Technical

After 10 years with approval, I transferred

It is hard to explain why we voluntarily go hiking on days like this, with heavy wind and rain all day long.

support.

”

Marianne Valderhaug DIRECTOR, TECHNICAL SUPPORT

Growing up amid all the mountains and national parks in Gudbrandsdalen, as far away as you can get from any salty waters, a maritime career is not on your radar. I consider it pure luck that I’m working with shipping today.

I realized quite early that I wanted to become an engineer, and since I’m fascinated by bridges and tunnels, I dreamt of become a civil engineer. Luckily, I got a brochure from Department of Marine Technology at NTNU. The brochure was filled with nice pictures of offshore installations, and I decided I wanted to build concrete oil platforms instead of bridges! After a few years in Trondheim, I realized that vessels and shipping bring a lot of interesting challenges, and my plan to work with platforms was scrapped. Instead, I turned to marine

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machinery, with focus on operation and maintenance.

I graduated in 1994 and applied for a trainee position in DNV, but did not get the job. Instead, I started working with safety and quality in Höegh Fleet services, but I had not given up on DNV. The following year I applied for the trainee position again, and this time I got the job.

The trainee program was great. I learned a lot and built a huge network in Maritime. After 2 years of training, it was time to become productive, and I chose to move to Ulsteinvik to work as a surveyor. In Ulsteinvik they were completely overloaded with work, so despite my limited experience, I was tasked to be the newbuilding project manager for seismic

vessels. I had some sleepless night, but I managed, and I was the first female newbuilding PM that delivered a vessel to DNV class, and the vessel is still in our class.

In year 2000, there were shortages of work in Ulsteinvik, and someone had to move. I went to Høvik, and I have been there since. At Høvik I have had a lot of interesting jobs. I started in approval, working with deep diving system, followed by some years with fleet in service, dealing with class systematic, before returning to approval and my first manager position. The most interesting part of my approval career, was the years as Head of Systems and components.

During this period there were a lot of new, interesting technical developments ongoing, like development of battery

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Elisabeth and Katten in action.

May and lots of snow at our mountain cabin Viddabu.

systems. During this period, we also had to handle the merger, a merge that required a lot from all of us.

Technical Support is supporting the Fleet in service activity worldwide.

We develop and maintain Rules, WPI and checklist. We answer questions from internal and external customers through DATE, we have daily communication with Flag states and through our ERS service we support in case of serious accidents involving our vessels.

We also maintain our Register of ships, we update and monitor the data we have in our production system NPS, we keep track of all certificates and we are in charge of the maritime document archive. To handle all these tasks, we have a lot of dedicated and knowledgeable employees, some with theoretical knowledge to a detail level you cannot even imagine, and other with lots of hands-on practical experience. Together, we are able to handle a huge variety of tasks.

ers, technically challenging cases and we are expected to provide immediate response to avoid off-hire of the vessels.

In addition to these daily challenges, we have over the last years worked hard to improve our services and increase our efficiency. Electronic certificate has been a key enabler for fleet in service.

When combining electronic certificates with availability of technical expert 24/7 through the DATE centers, we have been able to provide a service level that makes life really hard for our competitors. These developments allowed us to implement remote survey in 2019, and when the pandemic hit us in 2020, we had all the tools, processes and experience needed to handle a rapid increase of remote surveys.

We are working out of 5 locations, the DATE centers in Høvik, Hamburg, Greece, Singapore and Houston, to ensure that we are always available for our customers.

Working with fleet in service is never boring. We have demanding custom-

Work is, as you can imagine, important for me – and so is my family. The family consist of my husband Stian, our two daughters Karoline (17) and Elisabeth (15) and our horse named “Katten” (The cat). The girls spend an awful lot of time with the horse, but I cannot complaint. I introduced them to horseback riding myself, as I wanted them to be around animals, and because I also had a horse when I grew up. I’m not back in the saddle, but I support as much as I can with stable work and during competitions.

When I’m not in the stable, I like to spend time hiking. We have been dragging the girls to lots of great places they will never forget, like when we spent the night in the spectacular DNT cabin Skålatårnet, packed with people, or hiking Bukkelægeret with huge blisters.

One week per year is reserved for a long hike without kids. During these trips we work on our stamina and enjoy simple living in the DNT cabins.

I have spent close to 26 years in DNV because I’m highly motivated by our purpose, which is to safeguard life, property and the environment. In addition, I have great colleagues, and I have had the possibility to change job internally several times. So for me, work has never been boring.

From where I stand, I see a lot of interesting things ahead of us. Decarbonization will lead to introduction of new fuels, which means that there will be new risk we have to handle. Digitalization continues and will transform the way we work today. I don’t know what the future will look like, but as the largest class society, we have an opportunity to shape the future. To do that, we must challenge how we work today, we must be open to new technology and we must exchange ideas and discuss openly.

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“

We in Americas are known for being very

“entrepreneurial” and “delivering” and

will work hard to keep up with the

”

reputation

Antony DSouza REGIONAL MANAGER MARITIME AMERICAS

Antony DSouza started his career in DNV in 1998 after his stint in Australia and Singapore in private sector. Since then, he has held various managerial and leadership positions within our company across various regions leading up to his current position as the Regional Manager of Maritime Americas.

EARLY DAYS Antony comes from a very modest family from a rural south India. Fascinated by an opportunity to attend college as the first-generation children, Antony showed interest in science and engineering in very early days. After graduating in mechanical engineering, he mainly worked in design and construction of high-pressure thermal power plants and windmill towers. He was part of the famous ASLV and PSLV project teams that built first satellite launching vehicles that laid the foundation of India’s current commercial satellite launching

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programs.

In 1992, Antony migrated to Australia as a permanent resident. While studying, Antony worked as a freelance consulting engineer designing pressure vessels for Davy John Brown and a few other companies. After becoming a citizen of Australia, he decided to pursue his career internationally.

ASIA PACIFIC AND MIDDLE EAST Antony’s passion for project management comes from his time in Singapore building a FPSO for Saga Petroleum at Keppel FELS in mid-nineties, a project

classed by DNV. At the successful completion of that project, DNV extended an offer to join DNV in the US in 1998.

Being the first ever certified PMP in DNV in 1999, he has been an advocate of the project management body of knowledge both within and outside of DNV. Today, you can see the biggest cluster of certified PMPs within DNV in our Houston hub.

Antony’s early career in DNV was mainly in Offshore Class serving our clients in North America and West Africa until he was asked to be the Regional Manager

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for Middle East and Indian Subcontinent based in Dubai in the Maritime & Oil and Gas organization in 2010, an assignment that prematurely ended in 2011 due to the US sanctions on Iran that prohibited US citizens from serving Iran in any capacity.

After a stint in Shanghai for a year as part of Division Asia supporting our offshore class newbuilding projects in Asia, Antony returned to the US and based in Houston ever since.

AMERICAS “Though we are at the backyard of one of our main competitors ABS, I enjoy the most to fight hard to win market share and projects. Mainly through our service delivery, we have been successful in chipping away their traditional north American client base towards us in the past two decades. We are one of the toughest competitors in many market segments today due to our strategy and hard work by our engineers and survey-

ors for which I am very grateful” says Antony.

Two biggest countries in the region, the US and Brazil have gone through some tough time due to politics in the past few years that was further complicated by pandemic. Being one of the biggest geographical regions within Maritime connecting Arctic and Antarctica, Region Americas has very diversified mix of cultures from North and South America and Caribbean. By clinging together, Region America managed to get through all those challenges in the past two years successfully as one of the high performing regions.”.

WHEN NOT AT WORK Antony says, “Because of my involvement in NGOs like UNYO, IJC from my very early days and my position as the member of the board of the World Affairs Council in Houston since 2008, I get to interact with the high school and college students on a regular basis that not only

keeps me young but also made me to be even more passionate about climate change. I truly cannot ask for any better place to work than DNV when it comes to our contribution to reduce emissions.

Very few people are so fortunate to do that both during and after work. “ FAMILY Antony’s wife Kamatchi is equally committed to serving. Though she is qualified in commerce, she left that area to serve kids with autism in elementary schools since 2007.

Antony and Kamatchi have been blessed with two beautiful children, and they are very similar to their parents in actively participating in organizations serving others, supporting public causes, and advocating diversity at colleges and workplaces. Jana (Yana), their daughter is pursuing medicine after graduating in liberal arts and their son, Seann is pursuing both corporate finance and liberal arts degrees.”

“

I understand the ordeal that many of not so privileged people go

through in their lives. I was so lucky to have so many opportunities

to visit different places, meet people, understand their culture, and

appreciate them throughout my life that several other people could

not. For this reason, I enjoy spending my non-business time serving

people through NGOs and other organizations in Americas and India.

Having come from a poor family and a developing country,

”

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“

been the project manager hull for the

biggest cruise ship ever built in Germany

at that time, the Costa Victoria built for

Italian owner Costa Crociere.

At the end of my shipyard career, I have

Nobert Kray

”

REGIONAL MANAGER, MARITIME REGION GREATER CHINA My name is Norbert Kray, I am the Regional Manager for the Business Area Maritime as well as Country Chair for Region Greater China and I am happy to contribute with a small article to the VEFF Magasine.

I grew up in the beautiful German city Bremen. Bremen is in the north part of Germany located at the river Weser and about 50km south of the North Sea. In former times Bremen was very well known because of the successful soccer club Werder Bremen. In the nineties one of the most famous Norwegian soccer players, Rune Bratseth, played for Werder and won even the German Championship.

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As teenager I spent a lot of time for sports. I enjoyed athletics and until the age of 31 years, I was playing Fistball, let’s call it the German style of Volleyball. For more than 10 years I played successfully in the second highest German league.

As a child from the seaside, it was quite natural that I was very interested in maritime stuff and my dream was to work in the maritime industry.

After finishing school, I became a trained shipbuilder and later I studied Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering in Bremen. With my diploma at hand in 1990, I started my professional career at one of the biggest German

Shipyards at that time, Bremer Vulkan Shipyard Group.

In those days we built the largest containerships in the world for Chinese owner COSCO. The size was 3.800 TEU which was unbelievable big at that time.

And, at that time I met a guy called Huang Xue Dong who is today our very successful KAM in Area China South.

Later, I worked for a while at our yards in Wismar, Stralsund and Lübeck to implement common design processes.

It had always been my ambition to work in the classification business and in 1997 I received an offer from Germanischer Lloyd. As a Head Office surveyor being in charge for damage and repair, I saw

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Kyoto, Nara, Kanazawa, Hokkaido and Okinawa just to mention a few. Still, I keep close contact with the many friends I have in Kobe.

In summer 2017 our CEO, Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen asked me whether I could take up the role as Regional Manager for Region Greater China. The best what could happen to me, China is a huge market and over the last years we have built up DNV to the leading foreign class in China. This year is our most successful year with a record order intake of 170 ships which equals to 12 million GT and a market share of 40%.

I am proud of our growth strategy in China. Today more than 35% of all our newbuildings are coming from local owners and leasing houses. This strong growth is also well reflected in our Peakon results and after all the years of rightsizing we will hire up to 45 additional surveyors in 2022 and, we need expats. If you are interested, please reach out to me, you are more than welcome to China.

a lot of exciting cases. Later, I hold several management positions and in 2008 I have been appointed as Global Chief Surveyor where I have been responsible for our global survey activities as well as for the quality. These were actually the ‘heydays’ of the shipbuilding industry.

At time I spent already about 30% of my time in Asia, mainly in China.

In 2013 when the merger between DNV and GL took off, I have been involved from the very beginning and I well remember our first discussion with Olav Nortun, Geir Dugstad, Tore Torvbraten and Pierre Sames in a hotel in Hamburg.

One of the first decision we had to take was the dress code for our meetings, it was obvious that both classes preferred different styles…

It was my dream work in Asia, the heart of the shipbuilding industry and in 2014 I got the offer to take up the role as Area Manager and Country Chair in Japan. I was very excited to move to Kobe and soon after my arrival I realized that it might be better I learn the Japanese language to ‘survive’ in this beautiful country. With a strong and dedicated team, we have achieved a lot and in 2017 we managed to get the first newbuilding at Imabari Shipyard after more than 20 years without any newbuilding there.

Next to my job as Area Manager, I have been the Honorary Consul General for Norway in Japan. It has been a big honor for me as a German to receive this appointment. Japan has been a great experience and together with my family, we visited many exciting places like

It goes without saying that being the Regional Manager in Greater China and Country Chair is a ‘full full time job’. But, it’s important to take breaks and recharge the batteries. If I am not at work, I enjoy activities like cycling, hiking and going to the gym. And, I like good food paired with a good wine whereby I am burning for Japanese cuisine. Next to being active, I like traveling like going on cruise trips or just listen to good music whereby Jazz is my favorite style.

Being a German, I like soccer very much and my lifelong favorite club is Borussia Dortmund. With Norwegian super star Erling Haaland, I hope we can become champion this season, or next one …

Working for a caring company like DNV is a gift for me and I guess for all our employees. But we should remind ourselves every day, that we are facing a tough business environment which should encourage us to run the extra mile to safeguard the good company style and to keep DNV competitive in the long run.

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“

I am married to Anne for 27 years and have

2 grown up children Katrina who was born

in Aberdeen in 1995 and Sean who was

born in Houston in 1998.

Mike Brogan

”

NEWBUILDING & MAJOR PROJECTS – KOREA

I joined DNV in Aberdeen on 2nd August 1982 after graduating from Abertay University with an Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering. I was a trainee and junior surveyor for 2 years in Aberdeen and Oslo and was exposed to all the available areas that DNV working in including IOD (Industrial and Offshore Division) which is now the Oil & Gas part of Energy Systems and Maritime (CMC, Ships and Offshore).

I decided to focus on Maritime in 1984 and concentrated on the Offshore or Mobile Offshore Unit part of the busi-

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ness. I was lucky enough to travel all over the world doing surveys as there was a lack of Offshore surveyors in the late 80s and early 90s and many rigs had to maintain their UK Certificate of Fitness. I travelled to several countries in Europe, Africa as well as North and South America. It was a good experience and has helped me grow throughout my career.

We did some big conversions and upgrades of MOU’s (Mobile Offshore Units) in Invergordon and this helped me secure the Offshore Manager role in Houston in 1996. We had a mini boom

in Newbuildings and Conversions with shipyards all along the gulf coast and eventually Halifax Nova Scotia. It was a major breakthrough for DNV in the US as we had 8 Semi-Submersible conversions and 6 newbuild jack ups which helped put us on the map with US owners, Shipyards and the USCG. In 2002 Carl Arne Carlsen who was the head of Division Americas said that if I really wanted to see Newbuildings I had to go to Korea, so in 2002 I took the position as Project Manager Field for the White Rose FPSO. Although it was

I INTERVIEW I

only the hull and accommodation that was built in Samsung, it was again a very demanding project as it was going to Canada and had Canadian Flag as well as having Maersk as the project managers on behalf of Husky. I was audited 3 times

by Maersk and 3 times by Transport Canada and once by CNOPB (Canada and Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board). After delivery in February 2004, I transferred to Oslo and worked as Head of Section for rigs in operation before getting a call in December 2005 from Svein Svarstad asking if I could come back to Korea as something big was happening. I travelled to Korea 31st May 2006 and started as Project Manager for the Stena Drillmax and by the end of the year I was Offshore Manager with a ballooning order book for drilling units. It was a hectic period, and I was lucky enough to have some good PMFs and section heads and we developed a lot of good Korean resources who would continue to work through 2 Booms 20062009 and 2010 to 2016, surveying over 75 Offshore Newbuildings.

In 2010 I joined Remi Eriksen in Division Asia Pacific and Middle East as Technical director. I still maintained one finger in the Mobile Offshore Industry but started to work in new areas like wind turbines and cleaner energy.

in 2018 and have the dual role of NB Director for Offshore class and Regional Offshore Manager for Korea and Japan.

We are now starting to see new FPSO’s and Wind Turbine Installation Vessels in China, Singapore, and Korea. The biggest change now is Floating Wind. I have been involved since early 2020 in trying to prepare for mass production on floating Wind foundations in Korea as it is expected that the market will take off in 2023/24.

The pandemic has really affected the way I work, since 2010 I have been visiting many clients/shipyards and projects all over the world doing reviews of shipyards on behalf of both yard and potential owners and giving feedback to yards on their performance. Now all these meetings are done on Teams and I miss the actual face to face interaction. Luckily, I can still visit the yards in Korea, but there have not been any Offshore projects until this year.

I am still very passionate about Offshore Classification and am continuously looking for ways to improve our role at the shipyards. Currently I am looking at how we can influence the yards to have a different inspection regime for floating offshore wind turbine foundations. These foundations will be mass produced and will give us an excellent opportunity to look at new ways of collecting and analyzing fabrication data and reporting. We are also looking at how to monitor these units in service utilizing a digital twin.

My career has been very wide and varied and I have been lucky enough to have many good and talented employees working together with me to ensure Offshore Class is and remains a successful business.

My Family travelled all around the world with me and have had an excellent adventure. Katrina graduated with a master’s from Aberdeen University and is now working in Babcock in Rosyth Scotland where they build destroyers for the Royal Navy. Sean has a master’s in chemical engineering and applied chemistry and is working and living in London for Accenture.

“

I started playing golf in Aberdeen in 1985

and in 1986 I was organizing the DNV

client tournament. I also started a sports

club in DNV Aberdeen office with

involved Golf, Tennis, Badminton and 5

a side football.

”

In 2013 the divisions turned back to regions and Kenneth Vareide asked me to become Technical Director for the new division Offshore Classification and I have been Technical Director / Director of Newbuildings and Major Conversions ever since. I moved back to Korea

My son played tennis for Tanglin school in Singapore, so I also started playing tennis and getting coached as well.

Whilst in Korea I managed to get a black belt in Taekwondo just before my 50th Birthday.

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I INTERVIEW I

“

some reply from Norway because of the jet

lag, in Veritas you can find experienced

experts from all around the world with full

competence, you are part in an organization

that can support you anytime anywhere in

the world. This feeling is fantastic!

You don’t need to wait for 8 hours to get

”

Xu, Tian Ming Thomas NB PROJECT MANAGER, SENIOR SURVEYOR, REGION GREATER CHINA MARITIME DNV

TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF Journey of Thomas in DNV started from 2007 when joined the company right after this graduation from Shanghai Jiao Tong university (SJTU) with bachelor’s degree (major in Naval architecture).

He worked in Norway and Japan as international trainee engineer and surveyor for around one a half year. Now he works as a NB PM in shipyard after backing to China in 2009. His current project is a 13k multi-purpose vessel with owner from Hamburg.

WHAT KIND OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE AND WORK EXPERIENCE

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DO YOU HAVE, ROLE IN DNV Thomas still remembered his first week working abroad in Høvik when he started his international trainee life in 2008, “That recalls me the time when I just graduated from primary school and left my small hometown to Nanjing for mathematics summer camp,” Thomas added, “It was the first time in my life that I started to realize how big the world is”, In China there’s an old saying:” You can always find mountain which is higher than the mountain in front of you”.

“Shipping is a very important way to

explore the world”, and so, after high school Thomas applied Shanghai Jiao Tong University where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Naval Architecture, “I was very lucky to join DNV right after graduation because of the boom shipping market in 2007,” Thomas was then sent to Oslo as trainee approval engineer for various conversion projects, and newbuilding surveyor in Japan.

“Not like nowadays that you can do all the calculation by Nauticus Hull, I was requested by my tutor to do all the calculation by hand and paper, that’s the only way you can sit down to understand

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the background of formula in our Rules, sometimes you can even find your colleague who write the rules if you have any doubt.” He did a lot of structure calculations for all kinds of modification on SPS (special purpose ships) and delivered four bulk carriers when Thomas trained in Nagasaki, Japan in Oshima shipyard.

Thomas went back to China in 2009 and started his newbuilding surveyor life till now. He still remembered the first time he was asked by his line manager to act as project manager for a product oil tanker. “That was a really tough project.

The vessel had been laid up for more than half year. The small shipyard was almost close to bankruptcy. Can you imagine that we don’t even have enough food in the end of sea trial because of wrong calculation?” Thomas recalled.

But he finally managed to deliver the vessel in time. “I cannot make it without the support from my line manager and colleagues”, he added, And when time moves on, Thomas started to understand that to be a good project manager, he should not just focus on technical things, sometimes communication skills are more important. “I got complaint from my owner just 1 hour after delivery for another project. They don’t need the ship in a hurry and would like to negotiate with yard for more. The vessel was just technically ready for delivery, I should listen from both owner and yard to figure out their real thoughts.” Thomas said, “It’s glad to see that DNV now highlights “customer centric” with all kinds of approach, e.g., “Quality with a smile”, to encourage more communication.”

In 2018 Thomas joined the Next Gen Summit, “I was very impressed that we can sit down with DNV Top Management and present our idea focusing on different business area. I worked together with other 4 colleagues from Germany/Korea/UK for a project that can help owner minimize their cost of inspection with data collection from different platforms, e.g. Port state control, vetting, class and etc.” 2018 was also the year when DNV started its digitalization

journey, “Now we have more ways for newbuilding project management, not only word and excel”, Thomas joked, “plenty of apps now launched in Veracity and that helped owner and us a lot”, “In China we are now trying to improve our efficiency, for example remote inspection for simple items via wechat so we can save some travelling time, online manning planner can help PM and manger utilize surveyor more easily. ” WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU’RE NOT AT WORK? Thomas came back to Shanghai after more than 10 years working outside his home base. He had a son who was born in 2018. He values his time with family very much. His iphone is now filled up by family instead of ships. “To be a father is more difficult than to be a project manager, I know how to build a ship, but sometimes I don’t know what is in my son’s mind, you really need to have enough patience.”

“I bought a Nikon D80 when I joined DNV and travelled a lot with my camera, it is my way of recording life. Thanks to VEFF that I can go back to my photos again”.

“Every year I have a plan to learn one new skill. Thanks to all the online learning platform (Coursera) that makes it easy for me as long as you have internet, I learned some skills about photoshop and video editing, that helped my photography a lot. Last year I even tried coding! It was a course for python prepared by Rice university, you can build some small game and learn basic coding skills, and another course for AI run by Andrew NG from Stanford university, you can understand more in depth what is neural network and how it works.”

SOME FINAL WORDS Now we are in a world that is full of changes and uncertainties, not only the work but also our life. The last two years have been extremely difficult for him as a NB Project Manager. Many people due to Covid-19, as individual person we have to adapt to all the upcoming challenges. Maritime is an “old” industry, but it is also now moving forward together with “new technology”, e.g. clean energy (gas fuel), carbon storage (new order just signed), as we highlighted in our new vision. we are looking forward to working together with our customer for development of the shipping industry.

IMPORTANT ISSUES YOU ARE BURNING FOR As PM Thomas is now busy with delivery of his project, he already delivered 4 vessels this year and 2 will be delivered in 5 months. Region Greater China has got more than 100 vessels just within 9 months in 2021, “More orders, more challenges.”

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Meet Marie Roholt Sundal SURVEYOR - TEXT: KATE RUSHDY

Born and raised in the outskirts of Bergen, 27-year-old Naval Architect, Marie, was destined to work at sea from a young age.

She started working onboard ships shortly afterwards at the age of 16, as summer jobs. “Working on ships allowed me to gain knowledge about the maritime industry, meet new people from different backgrounds and cultures, build friendships and become part of something bigger,” she explains enthusiastically.

HIT BY A HURRICANE Marie’s love affair with the sea from a young age guided her towards her education and career choices. Her main work motivation, however, was acquired after a life-changing experience in 2014.

While working onboard Statsraad Lehmkuhl on an intercontinental voyage from

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“

I grew up by the sea, so I have always been

connected to it. During my middle school

years, I had the opportunity to sail onboard

the tall ship, Statsraad Lehmkuhl in Bergen.

That experience was fascinating, and it

gravitated me further towards the sea

Cape Verde to Baltimore, Marie and her crew were hit by a hurricane quite far off the coast of USA. “That incident was an eye-opener. I gained so much respect for the sea and a deep understanding of the possible forces that vessels can

”

be exposed to. As such, safety at sea became my motivation”, she explains.

To a DNV surveyor, safety comprises a variety of considerations: Personal safety, equipment and material safety, structural integrity and system safety, health and

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Marie truly en the summer joys being outdoors throughout and skiing all seasons. during the background Hiking in winter mon . ths. Her fia ncé in the

occupational safety of the seafarers and environmental protection. “This is all part of our daily work as surveyors,” says Marie.

VARIETY AS A DRIVING FORCE The love for being out in the field is a common trait amongst many surveyors.

This also resonates with Marie working on mobile offshore units and vessels. “All MOUs and vessels are unique, and the combination of technologies and engineering disciplines is fascinating to work with,” she explains.

Interacting with people is another aspect she finds inspiring about her work. “We don’t just deal with technical issues but also with people. We are out there, in the field, physically meeting people and providing answers. As such, it’s vital to have good communication skills and build good relationships with customers,” she says.

KNOWLEDGE IS EVERYTHING Marie’s philosophy in life is that when you truly believe in something and set your mind to it, no forces in the universe can stop you. In a drastically changing world, particularly within green technologies and digitalization, Marie is a strong believer in competence development to solve the challenges ahead.

“I truly believe that the more competent and knowledgeable we are, the more diverse and dynamic we will be as a team. Through collaboration and shared knowledge, we can meet the challenges and changes we are currently faced with - both within the maritime industry and our society,” she shares.

decided to study economics simultaneously. Next year, Marie’s CV will contain two master’s degrees as a result. “I admit it hasn’t come easy, but it’s a great asset to my work as a surveyor. The maritime industry is not only about engineering.

Economics and people also play a very important role” she explains.

When not working (or studying), most of Marie’s time is spent outdoors hiking, skiing in the winter, and downhill cycling in the summer when the weather allows.

Travel is also a passion. “My fiancé and I have planned a trip to Japan for next year, travelling across the country by train which is very exciting for us. Hopefully, travel is not restricted in any way by then,” she adds.

Marie is certainly playing her part in contributing to knowledge-building.

While working on her master’s degree in Naval Architecture in Trondheim, she

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I INTERVIEW I

Martin Høegh

SENIOR SURVEYOR

I live in Kvæfjord municipality, the neighboring municipality to Harstad. Grew up with farming and received training about the sea from my grandfather, who was a net fine.

Care of wooden boat, setting of fishing nets and line.

Trained as an International Welding Technician (IWT). Also have education in electronics and drawing. I started my working life as a sheet metal worker, further as foreman (started as a 27-yearold) for a department that produced pressure tanks for the refrigeration industry and the military, operating assistant with responsibility for a company (BMV Industri A/S) that had 4 acres of workshop space indoors. Production of fish processing equipment and transport solutions, offshore related products (Seashore Vortes Tool, etc.), pressure tanks, machining services. Water treatment equipment for drinking water (UV irradiation of water, pH adjustment, filtration). Art ornaments, statue of Leonhard Seppala (dog sled driver who brought serum to Nome).

My customers are, land-based fishing companies and trawlers, the Armed Forces and municipalities.

When I’m not at work, I like to photograph, fish and maintain the homeplace where I live. It is enough to maintain, it can be houses, barns, outbuildings, boathouses, roads, forests and cabins.

I also enjoy traveling both in Norway

46

and abroad. I can combine both travel and photography hobbies. I have been so lucky that, through work and leisure, I have travelled in large parts of Norway, from Lindesnes, Nordkapp and to Grense Jakobselv.

I have several roles in DNV. My main job is to work with maritime projects and industry. In addition, I am a shop steward for northern Norway, central radiation protection manager for industrial radiography for Norway, certifies welders in northern Norway. One of the few in DNV who performs X-ray control. With using digital X-rays.

DNV has many branches and organizations. We have many societal functions that we must contribute to. This can be safety for both personnel, equipment and the environment. DNV is an inspiring workplace with many varied tasks, as well as the opportunity to meet many organizations, work tasks and people.

I have, now after almost 10 years (March 1, 2021), started to get a good overview of DNV. Good working conditions at the outdoor stations in DNV are important to me. To be able to help ensure that

personnel who work can have a good working day and free time. It is important that you look at both working hours and travel time, as time you are away from the family. I do not think that the family sees a difference whether one works or travels. They only register that one is away from home.

This could be a greater challenge when some smaller stations are closed, and one has to travel longer distances to meet our customers. My experience from Northern Norway is that you do not always arrive at the time that is planned. I have experienced once that a snow avalanche blocked the only way to the destination. The aircraft does not land where one has planned. So, travel / travel time is something we need to look at in the future.

DNV is in an exciting time of change, where we will have new challenges. It can be the type of job we have, how we work and how society will develop after the Covid-19 pandemic. We will continue to work and navigate in these challenging times.

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The other side of the pandemic TEXT: ELLEN MARGRETHE PIHL KONSTAD

The last 3 articles I have written for the VEFF magazine has been about a little virus that changed everything. After 561 days of home office, the restrictions where finally lifted.

For some, coming back to the office has been like a honeymoon, finally seeing good colleagues in real life, for others it has been hard. The daily commute has gone from 15 seconds to almost an hour. Then December came, with a new lock down. But this time we are better prepared and will tackle the challenges that will come.

THE SOUND OF THE OFFICE The one major work environment challenge in DNV, prior to March 12th, 2020, was noise.

Surprise, surprise: the thing we have received most feedback on after the opening of the offices has been noise.

We as individuals are different. I have loved working from home when it comes to the silence. I have missed meeting colleagues for lunch, by the coffee machine and incidental meetings going between meetings. But I have not missed the “noise of the office landscape”. I know that for some of you this is directly opposite, you have turned on the radio in order to concentrate.

So, the transformation for me going back to the office includes me having to learn to cope with office noise again.

NEW WAYS OF COLLABORATION Going into lockdown meant that the organisation as a whole got a crash course in Teams. And it worked!

From one day till the next, the company as a whole was more or less up and

running. For some areas it took a little longer but in the big picture, it worked.

We could deliver to our customers, line managers continued to follow up employees, and we were able to collaborate virtually. We even had new colleges joining us without ever seeing the inside of a DNV office.

Yes, in the end we were tired of Teams, longing back to the days with physical meetings. But this crash course gave us a kick start and some good experiences.

Team members contributing on projects seated at different locations felt more part of the project. A lot of you have also reported that the communication with line mangers has improved.

THE OFFICE Working 2022 will never be like working 2019. Many of us have the flexibility to work up to 2 days a week remote, and Teams’ meetings have come to stay.

Remember, the office is still fitted for office work 2019, and it will take some time to figure out how to organise the office to meet the new ways of working.

A project is already set up to address

this, but with 64 000 m2 office space just at Høvik, we do have to allow for good planning.

There are things we can do within the current set up. Yes, having a seat by the window has for some been like a badge of honours. But maybe it is time to let go of the view in favour of landscape zones where you can choose: Just like on the train; do you want to sit in the quiet zone? This is just one of many possibilities, each unit, tasks / work process and landscape need to find what works for them.

IN CLOSING COVID has thought us new ways of collaboration, across countries, reduction in the need to travel and improved the home-work balance. Please use this opportunity to discuss with your colleagues and peers how to organise the new way of working for you, your unit, and your customers.

The important task now is to continue with the positive side effect the time in imposed home office gave us.

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WORK AND PLAY HARD AND ENJOY EVERY DAY!

Hvordan bli medlem av VEFF

How to become a VEFF member

• Kontakt veff-kontoret: VEFF@DNV.com • Du finner også informasjon på www.veff.no

• Contact the VEFF office: VEFF@dnv.com • You will also find useful information on www.veff.no

Editor: Nina Ivarsen. Design and layout: Bodoni, 125875

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