alexander lund

After I finished college in june 2005, permanent jobs were difficult to find for Norwegian ABs. I did a few short term contracts as AB to get the required sea-service time to apply for my deck officers license. I sailed on the product tanker Lista where I later became 3rd officer, and the shuttle tankers Borga and Navion Britannia.

Relief Master on liquid pitch chemical tanker.

Developing efficient solutions for recovery of Volatile Organic Compounds from loading of crude oil tankers

Developing the LNG ATB for cost-effective and smart Small-scale distribution of LNG

Pilotage in the Skagerak district. covering 13 ports with all types of vessel traffic.

I was offered the chance to work as a Harbor Pilot in the world´s largest oil port at the age of 27. I took my wonderful wife with me and moved to Saudi Arabia, to start a fantastic new adventure. Handling ships from 5.000 to 330.000dwt calling at Ras Tanura, the Harbor Pilots also carry out pre-berthing and pre-loading safety inspections, incident investigations and screening of ships. Every year adds around 300 maneuverings to my record here, and most of them are VLCCs. Despite being a clean and straightforward port, Ras Tanura can offer some challenges especially when dealing with drafts up to 21 meters. When ships are tide-bound, the under-keel clearance is small and currents which will be considered negligible with smaller ships suddenly takes on a new significance.

Chief officer with Mowinckel Ship Management, Knutsen OAS and Bergen Tankers. I did 2 years of small-scale LNG and some very busy coastal trade with product/chemical tankers. Most vessels were operating with 400-450 ports every year. Vessels were Frosta (5.600dwt), Pioneer Knutsen (1.100m3), Eli Knutsen (16.500dwt), Bergen Faith (1.800dwt) and Bergen Nordic (4.000dwt). As Chief officer on these vessels, I did 6/6 watches back-to-back with the Master, which means that if a port call happened on my watch, I would take care of it. We sailed on Pilot Exemption License in some very challenging waters along the Norwegian coast, with occasional voyages to other places in North Europe.

Jr. Chief officer on a 34 tank stainless steel chemical tanker Kristin Knutsen (19.100dwt) trading in Caribbean and US/ARA with up to 18 different grades on the tanks. On Helene Knutsen (14.800dwt) we were trading with oil products on the Norwegian coastline sailing on Pilot Exemption License. Knutsen OAS had established this position to train people for the chemical trade and general proficiency in cargo handling. Keeping the 4-8 watch, I would also assist and learn from the Chief officer during tank cleaning, cargo stowing, office work etc. when I did not keep a watch.

Being trusted with the 3rd officer position a week after turning 22, I did one contract on the shuttle tanker Navion Britannia (126.000dwt) before falling in love with the busy product tankers and transferring to Lista (27.000dwt) with Mowinckel Ship Management. Keeping the 6-12 watch in a very busy coastal schedule, I suddenly found myself in the CCR responsible of topping and stripping of cargo tanks - a job normally taken care of by the chief officers. Loading up to 14 grades on 18 tanks, sometimes with only single segregation between grades, it was a steep learning curve for me as a young third mate.

As a young man of 17, I boarded the Navion Hispania (126.000dwt) at Mongstad in june 2001 as an AB trainee. During my two years of Trainee-time, I was fortunate to work on the Polytraveller (125.000dwt) which was the first shuttle tanker to load in the North Sea. I also spent a few months on the Navion Britannia (126.000dwt) on which later I would become third mate.

Partner and marine specialist in a fresh ship management company, managing two oil/chemical tankers carrying high temperature cargoes

Taking various degrees on the sparetime to expand my professional and intellectual field.