FJORD Line has changed its management team in an effort to turn around a 12% drop in traffic on the Newcastle-Bergen route last year.
Ove Solem is the new managing director, replacing Annagine Hesttun who has left the company. Solem was line director on the Newcastle-Bergen route when it was owned by Color Line and stayed with Color Line when the route was acquired by Fjord Line at the end of 1997.
Further appointments to Fjord Line’s new management team are yield controller Per Golmsa and Svein Ersvaer, in sales and marketing. Both worked with Solem on the Newcastle-Bergen route under Color Line. Fjord Line sales and marketing director Mike Wood said:”We have the old team back, which is good as we worked well together.”
Wood is based in Newcastle with UK managing director Dag Romslo, while Solem, Golmsa and Ersvaer are based in Bergen. “We had a poor year in 1999, with UK carryings down 12% to 61,000 and total passengers down from 188,000 to 182,000,” Wood added.
“The amalgamation of the two companies, which took a lot of work, had an effect on this but we spent £1m on new computer equipment and training and we are back on course.”
n Fjord Line has launched a Web site that allows agents to book by e-mail. A trade site with information about the company and Norway will be added soon.