Against the Current

Ulrikke

Age: 27

Position: Marine Engineer, DFDS

Education: Ships officer

Free time: driving on motorcycle, working in the garden, playing piano, swim, and all sort of creative stuff.

I have always been very active, and I cannot sit still. Paper work bores me, I would much rather “see with my fingers” and be creative. This became much clearer in high school. I thought that is was more fun to do experiments in the physics lesson, and see how things work. However, it didn’t interest me to write long reports about it.

That was also the reason why I didn’t want to attend university. I considered everything from jeweller to machine engineer or something within space technology. But I thought it sounded much more interesting to wear s boiler suit and do something practical, where I could utilise my interests within mechanics, physic, and mathematics.

I heard about the engineer- and shipmaster education during an education fair. It sounded extremely interesting to be able to sail around the world and at the same time working with something I liked. I didn’t know anything about shipping, and there is no one in my family that sails. It just sounded really interesting and right up my ally, so I jumped straight into it and got an internship at DFDS. A year ago I finished my education, and therefore I am able to both maintain the engine and sail the ship.

I prefer to be in the engine room, because on the bridge you are sitting down more. In the engine room there is a multitude of tasks and therefore, there aren’t two days alike. Onboard a ship we have to take care of ourselves, with everything from making freshwater to fire fighting. As marine engineer we are responsible for all engines and technical systems running smoothly. I love that I do some practical work, get grease on my fingers, must find solutions, and almost learn something new every day. The first time I went rounding on the main engine after having started it, I got chills and it was the greatest feeling. I will never forget it.

I am out two weeks at a time and I am free two weeks at a time. This fits me perfectly, as I am 100 per cent at work when I’m onboard and am 100 per cent off when I’m home. Onboard the ship it’s just straight to work, put on the boiler suit, and then down to the engine room. The crew onboard becomes your second family, and they are not just colleagues but also your friends. We eat together, work out together, and enjoy time together watching movies or playing games, when we are not on shift.

Currently, I sail routes in Northern Europe, but I have always been to China to get a new ship, where we sailed across the Indian Ocean and through the Suez Canal on the way home. I still have a dream of sailing across the Atlantic, Equator, and the Pacific Oceans.

Laura

Age: 25

Position: Trainee, TORM

Education: Danish Shipping Education (Finished in summer 2023) and bachelor’s in international Shipping, CBS

Free time: CrossFit, diving, and being together with friends and family

I grew up in Nakskov on Lolland. I don’t have shipping in my blood, and I had about 130.000 ideas about what I wanted to be. But when I sailed with my father, and we came to the industrial harbour. One way we came across a pilot boat, and we sailed with it all the way to the other side of Lolland.

It wasn’t until an educational fair in high school I came across shipping as a career opportunity. Amongst other, they spoke about the Trade Event in Copenhagen, which I attended twice. It is a big game which resembles which I do today.

I also managed to be in the Armed Forces and be an au pair in California before returning home, and threw myself into shipping once more. I knew that you could study it at CBS, but I wasn’t great in school and didn’t quite believe that I would be the first in my family to attend university. But I got in.

The great thing about the bachelor is that there is an internship during the third year. I got an internship at TORM, where I have worked in chartering, operations, and bunkering. Said simply it revolves everything from finding cargo to the ship, to make sure that the ship is manned to ensuring fuel at a great price. It is desk work, but it’s very quick, and sometimes you have to put out fires. I have also been aboard and sailed five times already, and in Spring I will be posted on our office in Singapore.

Alongside the bachelor I have been part of the trainee-education at Danish Shipping Academy. I enjoy that I have so many opportunities in shipping. I can get a job in a multitude of places in many different departments. It is not like been an accountant which has a very specific education.

When I am off I like to do things which is not related to shipping. It is nice to just be with old friends from Lolland. Here, I’m known as the girl who brings home the crazy stories.