Company Magazine for the Odfjell Group - April 2008

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Watch Olympics in Beijing, go sightseeing inDalianBy Xu Tao, Odfjell Terminals (Dalian)2008 is a magnificentyear for Chinesepeople allover the world, becauseof the gamesof the 29th SummerOlympics takingplace in Beijingin August. Dalian,a bright pearl inthe north of China, is looking forwardto show our great hospitality to touristsfrom all over the world.Dalian is an important coastal city inChina, located on the south-eastern tipof the Liaodong peninsula in Manchuria,around 800 kilometres east of Beijing.With the Yellow Sea on the eastand the Bohai Sea on the west, the portcity is a natural and ice free entry pointto northeast China, with direct highwayand railway connections to all industrialareas of this vast country. Daliancovers about 12,574 square kilometres,including the naval port of Lushun andthree counties in the north, amongwhich about one fifth is the city itself.The Dalian area abounds with beautifulmountains and hills, but with littleplains and lowlands. The terrain, highand broad on the north, low and narrowon the south, tilts to the Yellow Seaon the southeast and towards the BohaiSea on the northwest.Dalian is a most beautiful beachsidecity, well known for clear skies andblue sea. The four seasons are distinct,with neither extremely cold wintersnor extremely hot summers. AverageCity view of Dalianyear temperature is about 10°C, theannual rainfall is 550-950 millimetres,and we have around 2,500-2,800 hoursof sunshine per year. From city downtownthere is a very beautiful coastalroad winding up and down the greenhills south of the city, which should bepart of your tour itinerary when visitingDalian, particularly during summer. Anotherpiece of ‘have to do’ sightseeingis the Golden Pebble Beach, about fiftykilometres north of the city. If you wantto see a polar bear, then you have to goto the Ocean Park at Tiger Beach.The history of Dalian, as a city, goes backa little more than one hundred years.Back then it was just a small fishing villagecalled Qing Niwa. In the late Qingdynasty, the government constructedloading bridges and fortifications withbuilt-in cannons and set up mine campsin the northern coast of Dalian Bay, thusturning it into a small town. During the1st and 2nd Opium Wars, Dalian was invadedand harassed by the British army.The Sino-Japanese War and Japanese-Russian War broke out in 1894 and 1904respectively, and as a main battlefieldthe town suffered greatly. After the invasionand occupation of Russia, in 1899the city was renamed Dalian. Later onDalian came under Japanese colonialrule for 40 years. August 1945 the SovietRed Army liberated Dalian in theanti-fascist war, thus ending half a centuryof colonial rule over the city. From1966 to 1976, Dalian experienced theCultural Revolution. In 1984, throughthe Chinese government’s ‘open-doorto the world’ policy, Dalian was designatedone of the open cities. Under thispolicy, Odfjell Terminals (Dalian) Ltd, ajoint venture between Odfjell and PDAThe ‘Swallow Nest’, a symbol of the old Chinese heritageThe Shell Museum24 Odfjell Quarterly April 2008
The World Trade TowerAn impression of Dalian, with an old church now converted into a fast-foodoutlet contrasting to modern housing projectsA symbol of Dalian’s naval history(Port of Dalian Authority) Corporation,was established in 1995. After morethan ten years of operation, OTD is nowfacing new challenges.Like many other cities around the worldwith a similar colonial rule history, differentculture elements live on such asthe languages, the dialect, the foodsand the traditions. Especially the ChineseShandong, Russian and Japaneseinfluences are infiltrated in the life ofolder generations of local people. Youcan still find different architecturestyles coexisting at some corner whenyou walk on the street. About 65% ofthe six million inhabitants of the Dalianarea are descendents of people comingfrom the Shandong peninsula in theearly 20th Century. Recently there wasa popular TV series named ‘Rush to theNortheast China’ showing on CCTV, justtelling the stories of that time.If the local inhabitants may have beenlooked upon as rather traditional andconservative, living of the relativelyabundant fishery resources, things arenow really changing. Under the slogan‘strive not to be the biggest, butthe best’, Dalian has developed rapidlyover the past decade. Roads are gettingwider and the city is becomingbrighter. Modern skyscrapers shoot uplike bamboo after a spring rain. In thesummer of 2007, the global inauguralannual meeting of World Economic Forumwas held in Dalian. Nearly 2,000domestic and foreign officials, specialistsand business people gathered inthe World Expo Centre to discuss thecurrent economic topics. They could allfeel China’s determination to achievesustainable development the momentthey arrived in Dalian, with the shuttlebuses powered by hybrid engines andthe 140,000 square metres World ExpoCentre cooled by sea water.Dalian is quite a football city, not onlyas the home of Dalian Shide, the mostsuccessful club in Chinese professionalsoccer, but also because of the footballculture in people’s daily life. Dalian hasseveral primary schools that specializein teaching kids to play football intheir physical education classes. Thereare also many football fans among thelocal residents, and if you want to talkfootball with people, young or old, youcan easily spend hours of your pastime,drinking beer and discussing the game.No wonder the annual InternationalBeer Festival since 2002 has moved fromBeijing to Dalian. Speaking of festivals,we also have to mention the Dalian InternationalFashion Festival, hosted everyautumn for the last 19 years, whichhas become a showcase of the latest developmentof world fashion.Dalian may not be an old cultural citywith a long history, but people livinghere is endeavouring to build and improvea new city culture. Already sevenyears ago at the IOC session in Moscow,when the IOC announced that Beijingwas elected the host city for the 2008games, people of Dalian started to getready to welcome friends from all overthe world to watch the Olympics inBeijing and go sightseeing in Dalian.Old and new architectureThe World Trade Expo CentreOdfjell Quarterly April 2008 25
Page 5: already built eight 3,800 Dwt stain
Page 8 and 9: The last of the twelveNaming and la
Page 10 and 11: Odfjell Terminals Head OfficeEngine
Page 13: Joint shipping and storagesession i
Page 16 and 17: OTK on the moveBy Rob Meijboom2007
Page 18 and 19: ICT systems renewal programmeBy Tor
Page 20 and 21: Safety BulletinBy Toralf SørenesOu
Page 22 and 23: Laurence Odfjell as new President o
Page 26 and 27: What they actually doShip BrokerBy
Page 28 and 29: ✔Organisational StructureQM Corne
Page 30 and 31: Swan song for the CondorBy Mel Pink
Page 32 and 33: A Star for FoskorBy Mel PinksOn Feb
Page 34 and 35: Lifeboat launching exerciseThe pict
Page 36 and 37: NEW HIRESThe Personnel CornerBergen
Page 38 and 39: Fleet and terminalsSTAINLESSNUMBERS
Page 40: Offices and addressesMAIN OFFICEOdf

Company Magazine for the Odfjell Group - April 2008

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