Some teenage dreams do come true, if the career trajectory of Nordisk Defence Club’s new managing director is anything to go by.
“Shipping is the most exciting occupation I can think of,” a 14-year-old Mats Saether told TradeWinds in 1991.
Asked about his future plans, he joked: “I will be a shipowner! But I will try to get a job in the shipping industry, preferably on the technical side.”
As TradeWinds reported at the time, the teenager was working in an after-school job for tanker and bulker owner Norman International in Oslo, which had learned about his strong interest in the industry.
Thirty years later, Saether is a shipping lawyer and has just been promoted to the top job at Nordisk Defence Club, a Norwegian law firm that specialises in mutual freight, demurrage and defence claims.
Reflecting on his career trajectory in a LinkedIn post last year, Saether said his formative experience had shaped how he works with would-be shipping professionals today.
“Today, I am paying it forward by teaching maritime law at the university as part of my work at Nordisk Defence Club and also by actively helping shipping and maritime law students find their future place in this exciting and always interesting industry,” he said in the post.
Saether, as TradeWinds reported all those years ago, has always been interested in ships and sent his drawings of vessels to more than 100 shipowning and management companies in return for photos and construction details.
Norman International was one of the companies he contacted, which led to the youngster being invited to the owner’s offices and ultimately being offered his after-school role,updating archive systems for all of the company’s operated vessels.
At a time when recruitment and retention of young people matters more than ever to shipping, Saether’s story shows what is possible when companies engage young people early in their careers, especially if they have a passion for the industry.
And if you want to know who among shipping’s next generation are the ones to watch, start by checking the TradeWinds archive.
