CEO Torben Carlsen recently guested the Danish business podcast ‘Millionærklubben’.
Go to podcast (in Danish)
Listen to Torben’s update from 20 November where he talks about:
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We just published DFDS results for the third quarter.
Operating profit was DKK 846 million, which is DKK 349 million less than last year’s third quarter operating profit. The reduction is mainly due to our passenger business being severely hit by COVID-19 travel restrictions. However, the result is better than originally expected, as the freight businesses of both Ferry and Logistics were above last year’s Q3 results.
Torben says: “Our freight network is as expected proving to be very resilient. We continue to adapt operations to market changes and Brexit. I am pleased to see that all the hard work of our people has helped position us well for the future.”
“A diverse company is a solid company, but we have a way to go when it comes to gender. Right now, we are about 25% women – considerably more on land than at sea. We are working to achieve our target of 30% females in DFDS by 2023 and the EMT is living up to this commitment already. I commit to keeping this a high priority and keeping managers responsible not just for gender diversity but also for inclusive behaviour in a broader sense,” says CEO Torben Carlsen.
We don’t want to miss out
At this year’s Management Conference, managers from all over the company came up with concrete ways of boosting the share of women among us. “They stressed that this is not something that is nice to do, it is something that will attract talent, improve team dynamics and help us make stronger decisions. If we are all the same, we will find it hard to understand the needs of people – customers – that are different to us, and we will miss out on perspectives that could ultimately help strengthen and grow our business and culture,” says CSR Director Sofie Hebeltoft.
“Our managers welcomed the focus on Diversity & Inclusion and provided a range of practical suggestions on how to reach the 30% target. Our Vice Presidents have given personal commitments and are working on realising these. In the People Division, we are partnering with our colleagues across DFDS to help them implement their ideas and suggestions,” says Chief People Officer Anne-Christine Ahrenkiel.
Diversity is more than gender
“I have experienced how diversity has changed the dynamics of the Executive Management Team,” says EVP for the Ferry Division Peder Gellert. “And with diversity, I don’t just mean women. We have of course gone from being all men, all white, all similar ages, to now being four men and two women, but that’s not the only thing that has changed. Diversity is more than gender. It’s also backgrounds – Rune, Karina and Anne-Christine all come from other industries than shipping and transport. That brings different angles and experiences into our discussions and helps us see things differently,” he says.
“Niklas, Torben and I have all worked in this industry for more than ten years and tend to see things in the same light. Often when we discuss more strategic subjects – where is the business going, what should we do – the ‘newcomers’ to the EMT can bring in examples from how they worked or something they tried in their previous workplaces. This helps frame the situation in another way and makes us see new opportunities. I am committed to making Diversity & Inclusion a priority in the Ferry Division and intend to work actively with my reports on projects that serve this agenda.”
Where are the female developers?
In Technology & Innovation, Chief Technology Officer Rune Keldsen finds recruiting female candidates within the areas of Development, Architecture and Operations a challenge. “The numbers speak for themselves when it comes to where the biggest potential for improvement is,” Rune says. “In my leadership team, with scrum masters and product owners and project managers we are close to or above 30% females. In back- and frontend development and architecture it is less than 5%. I commit to doing what I can to increase the number of diverse applicants, like speaking at universities and letting people know that you don’t have to be a white male to work in tech. We are also working on improving how we write our job ads, to focus more on value and customer journeys rather than using the deep nerd language, to open up to a broader target group. When it comes to nationalities, culture, background and personalities, T&I is a fantastically diverse organisation.”
The rest of the EMT is committed to their Divisions becoming more diverse, too. Chief People Officer Anne-Christine Ahrenkiel persistently drives the diversity agenda and is ramping up her team to be able to deliver data to track progress. CFO Karina Deacon will promote and support the development of a mentor approach across DFDS and be a mentor herself. EVP for the Logistics Divisions Niklas Andersson is also fully committed to do anything he can to push the share of women in Logistics to 30%.
More on this to come.
DFDS’ Executive Management Team
From left:
Torben Carlsen (Chief Executive Officer)
Karina Deacon (Chief Financial Officer)
Peder Gellert (Executive Vice President, Ferry Division)
Niklas Andersson (Executive Vice President, Logistics Division)
Anne-Christine Ahrenkiel (Chief People Officer)
Rune Keldsen (Chief Technology Officer)
Listen to Torben’s update from 6 November where he talks about:
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Listen to Torben’s update from 30 October where he talks about:
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Listen to Torben’s update from 23 October where he talks about:
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Listen to Torben’s update from 9 October where he talks about:
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Listen to Torben’s update from 2 October where he talks about:
Peder Gellert was recently elected chairman of MARLOG (Maritime & Logistics Innovation Denmark). MARLOG is a cluster for promoting and sharing innovation and knowledge between companies and projects in the Danish Maritime industries with a focus on sustainability, digitalization and competencies.
Yesterday, the Danish Ministry of Education and Science appointed MARLOG national cluster operator. This means that MARLOG will be the only channel through which the Ministry’s funding of innovation and development in those industries will flow. The funding will be directed towards sustainability and innovation projects that can reinforce Denmark’s strong position in the global transport chain and work towards a carbon neutral shipping.
Peder Gellert says: “I am both proud and pleased to chair the board of MARLOG that has now been officially recognized by the Ministry as the maritime and logistics cluster operator. We have a strong organization in place in MARLOG, which is ready to work for innovation and development in the industry. We face a number of major challenges in our business, especially the green transition, which we can only tackle together. This is why I believe in MARLOG’s ability to make a difference as it connects all branches of the profession: ship designers, equipment manufacturers, logistics, shipping companies, ports and research and education.”
Torben Carlsen says: “I congratulate Peder warmly on his central role in the extremely important development of transport companies towards a greener and smarter future. This is a big accolade to Peder for his experience and many years of fruitful commitment to the industry. You could not have selected a better chairman. I also dare to see it as an acknowledgement of DFDS’ climate work and innovation focus and something we should all be proud of at DFDS.”
Listen to Torben’s update from 25 September where he talks about:
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On Wednesday 3 April, Torben Carlsen took the opportunity to meet our Lithuanian colleagues at a staff meeting in the Radisson Hotel in Klaipėda, where he was participating in AB DFDS Seaways Lithuania’s Annual General Meeting on the same day.
On 3 April, Klaipėda hosted our newly-appointed CEO Torben Carlsen and Peder Gellert, as well as members of the senior management team.
The occasion was the Annual General Meeting of our Lithuanian ferry company, AB DFDS Seaways, which took place in the conference premises of the Klaipėda Concert Hall.
As chairman of AB DFDS Seaways, Peder Gellert Pedersen presented a recap of the main events in 2018, marked by an increase in competition on our Lithuania – Sweden service, and the incidents on Finlandia Seaways and Regina Seaways which had a negative impact on results. On the positive side, he was pleased with the increased demand for passenger services and cargo transportation during the summer and autumn, and emphasised that some reorganisation and service improvements provided a positive stimulus for moving the business forward.
As part of the agenda, the board of the company was re-elected, with Torben Carlsen replacing Niels Smedegaard.
After the meeting, the board members and managers enjoyed a gala dinner, where Peder Gellert briefly summarised the areas on which the Baltic business should focus, and thanked everyone for a fantastic job during the year.
Staff meeting with Torben
In the morning, our Lithuanian colleagues gathered at the Radisson Hotel just across the street from our headquarters in Klaipėda. They had been invited to a staff meeting with the newly-appointed CEO Torben Carlsen, who reviewed DFDS’ results for 2018, and offered his view on recent acquisitions and the Brexit problem, amongst other things. He emphasised that DFDS will continue its development direction and growth through meaningful acquisitions.
Torben also had time to answer questions, ranging from the potential acquisition of the terminal in Klaipėda to his view on IT and digitisation.
The board of directors at AB DFDS Seaways’ Annual General Meeting, with Thomas Mørk, Jonas Nazarovas, Martynas Jonkus, Peder Gellert Pedersen (Chairman), Torben Carlsen and Anders Refsgaard.
Listen to Torben’s update from 20 August.
If you are unable to watch the video for technical reasons, please find the transcript here
Interview with Torben Carlsen
Watch these interviews with CEO Torben Carlsen and CFO Karina Deacon about their views on DFDS’ Q2 statement, the state of DFDS and how we have managed the Covid-19 challenges. To learn more about the Q2 results, please visit the Q2 page on dfds.com.
Transcripts of the videos are available:
Click here to read the interview with Torben
Click here to read the interview with Karina
Interview with Karina Deacon
Listen to Torben’s update from 5 August.
If you are unable to watch the video for technical reasons, please find the transcript here
Listen to Torben’s update from 3 July.
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Listen to Torben’s update from 26 June.
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Listen to Torben’s update from 12 June.
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Listen to Torben’s update from 2 June.
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Listen to Torben’s update from 22 May.
If you are unable to watch the video for technical reasons, please find the transcript here