Before the pandemic the Services team had all, in some way, shape or form visited the sites across Europe to meet the teams, whether this was for familiarisation when joining Corporate Shipbuilding, town halls or for the recruitment and interviewing of the senior manager inspections roles back in 2019.
It’s been some time since we’ve been able to get out and about and visit the sites and spend time getting to know the great people working there for Corporate Shipbuilding. Over the last few months Gemma has been spending time in Turku and Papenburg, Aida and Xin in Papenburg and Mel in Italy, and they’ve thoroughly enjoyed every minute, here Gemma, Aida and Mel share their thoughts….
Gemma Waterfield
“In Turku I was given a warm welcome from the team, including Siru’s office dog Liris! It was so great to finally put some names to faces and revisit Turku after just over two years. Tuuli Tuuranen, one of our very experienced outfitting inspectors, showed me Carnival Celebration. It was so amazing to see Tuuli in action, finding remarks and watching her professionalism as she interacted with the shipyard and RINA representatives. Tuuli took the time to explain everything to me, including the challenges they face and reasons why things were being done.
When in Papenburg I also got the opportunity to join some inspections, first with Daniel Popa, Inspector Hull & Outfitting in the laser centre where Daniel was inspecting a huge part of the steel structure for Carnival Jubilee. I then went onboard Arvia with Luca D’Ambrosio and Sergio Gianotti, both machinery inspectors.
I hadn’t appreciated the physical nature of their job, seeing Luca and Sergio in action, climbing high and very low, to check out the pipe work and explain to me exactly what they were doing and looking out for.
It’s incredible and quite mind blowing to think that each intricate element, no matter how big or small, that makes up these enormous vessels is checked with such integrity and precision during every step of the process to make sure that our ships are built to the best quality and last for many years to come.
A special thank you to everyone in the Turku and Papenburg site teams for making me feel so welcome and taking the time to explain and show me more about the world of shipbuilding. It was great to get to know you better and I hope to see you all again soon.“
Aida Ardelean
“My visit to Papenburg was my first experience of being in a shipyard and I was so impressed by the sheer size of it and the enormity of the ship. In the morning Juha and Andrea took Xin and I to ‘meet’ Arvia. And she is an absolute beauty! It was my first time getting on a ship that has not been built yet, so it was fascinating to imagine where the restaurant, reception, Gin distillery or famous escape room will be. What has also impressed me in the amount of expert knowledge, people coming together, work and creativity that goes into building a ship. As much as you hear about this, it’s nothing like seeing it first-hand.
Daniel and Sergei took Xin and I to the Laser Centre. Daniel is an absolute expert not only in his line of work, but also in explaining and demonstrating how things get done (I should have asked him to skill share this!) so seeing the whole process from beginning to end was fascinating. Daniel and Sergei were so patient with all my questions, and not one went unanswered. At the end we quickly walked past Jubilee and Daniel and Sergei couldn’t help themselves but put on their inspector hat and look at the quality of the welding as we walked past.
As much as seeing the shipyard and our ships was fascinating for me, my highlight was absolutely meeting the people. I was welcomed in such a great way and I was so inspired by everyone’s passion, expertise, knowledge and dedication, but also by the overall atmosphere in the office. Thank you for such a great day, Papenburg!”
Mel Salmon
“My original plan was to visit our shipyards in Finland, Germany and Italy over two weeks to discuss talent and career frameworks with the Building Managers and Senior Inspection Team Managers. Unfortunately, an outbreak of Covid at home meant a quick shift to a hybrid approach, so whilst I connected with Turku and Papenburg virtually, I was delighted to still be able to enjoy my whistle stop tour of our Italian shipyards. It was great to be able to have these conversations in person and fantastic to see all our hard work in action once again. I had forgotten the unique sights and smells of a shipyard, for those of you who don’t know what I mean, it’s that distinct smell of welding metal, it certainly re-awakened the senses!
Special thanks to my wonderful tour guides who showed me around the ships under construction, and to the teams for the welcome they gave me, I’m always impressed with the passion and pride that our people show in the work they do. I’m excited to be able to get back to visiting our people across all our locations and look forward to more regular opportunities to visit our shipyards in the future.”