<B>A captain on land</B>

After being posted in ten countries to develop shipping management, Jorgen Holck arrived recently to manage one of the leaders in containers: Maersk Limited.

Appointed managing director of the Danish company in February, Jorgen Holck intends to develop one of its most promising departments: Maersk International Shipping Education, which aims at training potential overseas managers. Jorgen wants to push the educational agenda and he is also responsible for Maersk branches in Madagascar, Seychelles and Comoros.

In fact Jorgen has a wide international experience. His last posting was in Tokyo, Japan which is very different from Mauritius. However, he admits he did not think long before accepting the new posting. He feels very happy about running the local branch and aims at improving customer service and keeping ahead of competitors.

Jorgen?s career started in 1974 after training in management in Denmark. His first job was in Thailand in ?vessel operations?. Then he went to Hong Kong in the early days of containerisation. He had to keep track of containers and check whether there were enough containers of the right size for the East Asiatic Company. ?In the seventies, containerisation was like pioneering. It was new to shipping business. Whereas now, without thinking too much, we can move thousands of containers. It is quite automatic nowadays.?

His travelling itinerary is as rich as his work experience. After some time in Japan, he became owner?s representative in Seoul, South Korea, for four years. Then he became shipping agency manager in Fremantle, Western Australia, before Singapore and South Korea again. Jorgen also spent time in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, as regional manager of West Africa. His responsibility was to establish offices in Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal.

His friendliness has opened doors for him in many parts of the world. Furthermore, his passion for the sea and his strong desire to develop the business have kept him on the move. For more than 32 years he has been travelling with his wife as he has never turned down any job offered to him abroad.

?Every job that I?ve been offered so far has been very exciting. I wanted to take the challenge every time. All the countries I have been staying in have been very interesting. Ever since I was young, I always wanted to work abroad.?

Although Jorgen has not had much time for his hobbies here, he wants in the near future to do things he has enjoyed in the past. Golf , tennis and, obviously, swimming. He also wants to improve his language skills. His main ones are English and Danish; he is quite proficient in Japanese and wants to improve his French.

Jorgen was born in Denmark in Copenhagen in May 1952. He married Anne-Marie, whom he met in Denmark, in 1977 in Japan. They have one son Niklas, who is 27, and one daughter, Camilla is 24. Both have finished university and are working.

With his desire to develop Maersk and his love for Mauritius, Jorgen plans to spend some time here. ?I just came but I already have a great admiration for and an excellent impression of Mauritius. I am working with a great staff, very motivated and keen to learn. So far I am enjoying life on this beautiful island??