SSG No 10 - Shipgaz

SHIPPING AND SHIP MANAGEMENT
Clipper’s distinctive logo on the funnel of
Clipper Helle.
need attention in order to attract the necessary
growth in personnel. On a world wide
basis the Clipper Group employs 500 people,
indicating that a large number of seafarers
are employed elsewhere (like in agencies
or crewing companies). The land-based
crews in Copenhagen are cared for in many
ways. There is a special canteen service
with healthy low fat food and if anybody
has a weight problem, there is a special
BENT MIKKELSEN
Weight Watchers service ready at his or her
disposal. The health sector also contains a
stop-smoking programme as the office is a
non-smoking building (the same as for several
tenants in the building). Part of the
office facilities in Harbour House is also a
wellness facility and sauna. Working at
Harbour House also gives the opportunity
to join the Clipper Staff Club, which
makes cultural arrangements, runs an art
club and several other activities. On the
more “hardcore” side is an attractive salary
in combination with a good pension
scheme and an individual development
plan for the job.
The fleet
In the Clipper Group the fleet contains a
total of 250 ships, when it comes to ships
operated by Clipper. Of these many ships,
the Clipper Group owns 100. The total
fleet includes ships in three segments: Clipper
Bulk, Clipper Elite Carriers (multipurpose
heavy lift carriers) and Clipper Wonsild
Tankers (product and chemical
tankers). Furthermore the fleet contains
Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCC) in cooperation
with Hong Kong based Univan
Shipping. There are cruise vessels, reefers,
ro-pax vessels (like the Sea Truck Ferries,
running from Warren Point to Heysham
on the Irish Sea).
The Clipper Group will need more seafaring
personnel in the future, looking at
the orderbook in the group: Clipper Wonsild
Tankers have 24 units under construction.
Clipper Bulk has also a number of vessels
under construction. The number is not
known, at least 30, but more likely close to
50 units from shipyards in China and India.
History
The Clipper Group was founded in 1972
under the name Armada Shipping, when
the founder Torben Gulner Jensen was a
partner with Jørgen Dannesboe. The two
partners split up the group in the early
1990s, changing it to the Armada Group
(now situated in Switzerland) and the Clipper
Group with its head office in Nassau,
Bahamas.
As the Group’s main office is in the
Bahamas, all the ships flying the Bahamian
flag are not considered as flag-of-convenience
ships by the unions worldwide.
bent mikkelsen
34 SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • MAY 21, 2007