“Our activities are divided between newbuildings, ships in operation and CMC (Certification of Materials and Components).

They include very many different skills, from knowledge about materials and components and newbuilding activities to surveys of ships that are trading. To be able to achieve this, I manage a station network throughout Germany,” says Klaus Kolander, the manager of DNV’s Maritime Operations in Germany.

Network serving newbuilding yards
“The ships in operation group is the smallest group and the station manager for this is located here in Hamburg (see separate interview with Hagen Kruse). The newbuilding activity is a different story, however. For this, we have a network consisting of three stations:

“At the Meyer Yard in Papenburg, the construction of cruise vessels is by far the most important activity. We have traditionally been the leading classification society at this yard and currently have a station with five DNV employees there. We have contracts at this yard up to 2012 – right now regarding cruise vessels for RCCL’s subsidiary Celebrity Cruises.

“In Flensburg, we have two surveyors at our Flensburg Shipyard station. This yard exclusively makes ro-ro vessels, mostly for the transportation of cars, vans, trucks and trailers. It was among the first worldwide to do so-called e-approvals with DNV – all electronic with no need for shipments of papers to be sent back and forth. We have work in Flensburg until 2012 and 50 per cent of all the ships on order at this yard are to DNV class.

“In Rostock, there are two yards building LPG tankers and small container vessels. We have three surveyors and a trainee there and have work until 2010.”

Materials and Components
“This is by far the largest group of DNV employees in Germany, totalling 30 surveyors and 17 support staff members, the latter working either full- or part-time. We have three field groups – one serving North and East Germany, one serving West and Central Germany, and another serving South Germany as well as Austria and Switzerland. Each of these groups is managed by a group manager. Most CMC surveyors work from home-based offices. They are assisted by the CMC support team based in DNV’s Essen office. I bring the groups together to ensure a uniform approach and knowledge development,” says Kolander.

Moving to Hamburg
Kolander moved to the DNV Hamburg office from the Essen office in April of this year. He has previously manned the CMC station for East Germany working out of Braunschweig. In Essen he was responsible for the CMC activity in Germany. He has worked for Blohm+Voss yard as a project engineer and he served in the German navy on the bridge of minesweepers. He spent ten years in the navy, during which time he also visited the Persian Gulf.