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D/S Norden says its Dry Cargo division is benfiting from the company's recently established knowledge centre, which has provided it with advice regarding the efficiency of vessels, and therefore helped reduce bunker consumption.

Commenting on the work of the new knowledge centre, the head of Norden's new Supramax North America team, Gregers Blaabjerg, said: "It is a great advantage to us that we are able to draw on the knowledge gathered in the centre - not least the Fuel Efficiency team, who provides us [sic] with many relevant pieces of information when we are to charter in a vessel, and who prevent us from burning our fingers because we get hold of a vessel which consumes too much fuel."

Norden's knowledge centre is manned by experts in risk assessment, market analysis, fuel efficiency and law. The centre is physically located in the middle of the company's Dry Cargo Department in Hellerup, Denmark, but is never more than a phone call or computer message away from charterers and operators - including the ones in overseas offices. The centre serves as a resource for all teams.

Supramax North America is one of nine new teams in the Dry Cargo Department that is authorized to make decisions on its own; the new set-up is designed to provide transparency regarding the results generated by each team and increased responsibility and independence.

"It strengthens the work in the team to know that although we are independent, we have the great advantage that we are part of Norden, and I mean the entire Norden. We can always draw on other colleagues, who have the exact knowledge - or can quickly gather it - that we are after in connection with a future business transaction," Blaabjerg explained.

Christian Vinther Christensen, Head of Dry Cargo, remarked: "To survive, Norden must adjust and meet customer requirements at all times and in that connection continuously find or take part in creating innovative commercial solutions - most often out-of-the-box solutions - that generate value not only to the customers, but also to Norden. Also here it is to Norden's advantage that we have employees around the world with different skillsets, characteristics and backgrounds, just as we have now set up a knowledge centre containing all relevant competencies within risk management, fuel efficiency, research, law and claims prevention. All this is a good starting point for being innovative."

As Bunker Index previously reported, Norden said in August that its cost-cutting initiative to produce annual savings of $20 million within a three-year period by year-end 2017 was "on track". The company noted that it had managed to realize annual savings of $18.1 million by the end of the second quarter of 2017.

Between 2014 and 2016, Norden says it slashed its bunker fuel costs by $24.9 million thanks to the fuel efficiency measures it has put in place.