Presidents summary of the year

Even though the large-tanker market rose sharply towards the end of the year, the freight rates in 2002 were very low and Concordia posted a weak result.

The year saw yet another tanker accident, which will affect the future of tanker shipping in the same way as the Exxon Valdez in 1989 and the Erika in 1999. Politicians and legislators are trying to find ways of preventing these types of tanker accidents. We in the industry have everything to gain by cooperating in order to ensure that good conditions are created for efficient oil transportation with a high level of safety. The authorities are fully occupied with tracing the worst ships, but little is being done to secure a future supply of safe tonnage and good crews. There are many who seem to be satisfied with expediting a faster transition from single hulls to double hulls without realising that a double hull does not in itself prevent accidents. It only limits the effects of certain types of accidents in the same way as an airbag in a car. Bad design and construction of ships may be the cause of 10% of the accidents but 90% is probably caused by human mistakes and shortcomings. Naturally, we will continue to work on improving the ships, but knowledgeable crews manning safe ships are the key to oil transportation with the minimum of accidents.

Concordia, in close collaboration with Stena, is at the forefront when it comes to developing new and modern tankers with all important functions doubled and with crews that are well-trained and drilled for their task.

Concrete illustrations of this are the V-MAX tankers Stena Vision and Stena Victory � two of the safest ships in the world. Concordia�s subsidiary Universe Tankships is also responsible for the management and manning of Stena�s coastal tankers Stena Caribbean and Stena Calypso, which were built and manned according to the same motto for charter to ChevronTexaco: INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE.