Blue Water Shipping, headquartered in Esbjerg, provides a wide range of solutions within shipping, transport, logistics and port services. The project to build the Fehmarn Belt tunnel has given Blue Water the opportunity to go all the way around the palette of services.
Since the start of the project, Blue Water has provided Port Agency to FBC and FLC, which includes everything from clearance of ships, crew change and housekeeping services, documentation and reporting to authorities.
Not the core business
From November 2022, Blue Water has also contracted with FLC to be in charge of the port administration of the huge working port with a basin area of approximately 550,000 square metres.
Although Blue Water Shipping has experience in port administration, it is not part of the core business of the company with 1,400 employees in 70 locations worldwide:
– This is our biggest task so far in port administration, which is more of a niche business for us, says Troels Nyerup, Harbor Manager at Blue Water Shipping.
It is he who, as harbor master, manages the working harbor at the tunnel construction site.
Many overlaps
In turn, Blue Water carries out the agency part of clearing ships and planning ship calls in virtually all ports.
But according to Troels Nyerup, it makes good sense to gather both the Port Agency and the port administration in one place in the working port, as there is a lot of overlap between the tasks.
– As port administrators, we ensure that the port is usable and operational. This also includes administration of berths with berth instructions and making sure that there is room for the ships that need to enter, says Troels Nyerup.
Share office
Blue Water Shipping shares port office with FLC staff at the working port.
– It is good to see that you have collected it all in the same place. It makes it easier to solve the challenges that keep coming up, that you can just walk two offices down the hall, says Troels Nyerup.
As a sub-supplier to FLC, there is a great deal of coordination, as it is FLC that collects the raw materials when the ships come in.
And when the tunnel elements have to be towed out through the harbor in order to be lowered into place in the tunnel channel, it is also FLC itself that takes care of that process, while Blue Water has to coordinate with cargo ships and auxiliary and towing vessels about ship calls and allocation of berths.
