Testimonials

The Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group joins the Cluster Maritime Français (CMF) and the Association Elles Bougent  to celebrate women on the occasion of this World Ocean Day 2020 and through the operation “Les ELLES de l’Océan“.

This special operation aims to promote the place of women in the maritime sector and to make young women aware of career opportunities related to the sea.

Discover now the interview by our seafarer colleague Elise Vandermeersch.

Interview

1 / Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Elise Vandermeersch and I am a Lieutenant / DPO at Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.

2 / Where does your interest in navigation/the sea/the merchant navy come from? Why did you make this career choice ?

Growing up, I often went to the seaside with my family all over Europe. As a teenager, my father let me drive the motorboat of a family friend in the Canary Islands. It is where I uncovered my love for the sea and my vocation was born. At eighteen, I had to make a career choice and quite naturally turned to the sea and a diversified and stimulating career. After my studies, I could not wait to take to the sea and my motivation and self-development have only strengthened over the years.

3 / What did you study ? What is your academic background?

After 4 years of studies, I obtained a Masters in Nautical Sciences from the Antwerp Maritime Academy in Belgium.

4 / What do you like most about your job?

The combination of teamwork and multiple responsibilities.
This job is very enriching because the different types of ships we deal with always ask for new and various skills.

5 / What do you think of the representation of women in the maritime sector?

Women are still a minority in the merchant navy, which is too bad! Maritime professions should be promoted more actively in schools so that girls can consider the maritime sector as a career path. Not only for studies but also for sailing, going to sea. It would be great if more young women had an idea of the rich experience a maritime life made of travels, stopovers, storms and adventures can offer – an experience that some still think is reserved for men. It is time these careers were more considered by women.

6 / What advice would you give to young women to make them aware of the career options offered by this sector?

You have great possibilities and prospects while sailing, but you need persistence and above all mental strength. Working conditions can be more demanding than on land. I advise you to be yourself on board while maintaining a certain professional distance to begin with – but most of all, observe the relationships existing between the various crew members. The first boardings will be challenging because there is a lot to learn, but over time, the results of these intense periods will bring you great self-confidence. I can assure you that your self-development as a female seafarer will be more intense than for male colleagues.

***

Thank you Elise for this interview!

The Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group joins the Cluster Maritime Français (CMF) and the Association Elles Bougent  to celebrate women on the occasion of this World Ocean Day 2020 and through the operation “Les ELLES de l’Océan“.

This special operation aims to promote the place of women in the maritime sector and to make young women aware of career opportunities related to the sea.

Discover now the interview by our colleague seafarer Marie Sciboz.

Interview

1 / Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Marie Sciboz and I have been working as a Hydrographic Surveyor for Louis Dreyfus Armateurs since 2014.

2 / Where does your interest in navigation/the sea/the merchant navy come from? Why did you make this career choice ?

My father owns a wreck research and underwater expertise company – unsurprisingly, I have been involved in the maritime environment from a very young age. I started to learn sailing as a child and I have taken a liking to navigation over the years.
Accustomed as I was to out-of-sync family rhythms and the pleasure of travelling, I was looking for a job that could combine both and the merchant navy provided it.

3 / What did you study ? What is your academic background?

After my French baccalaureate diploma, I looked for a training in the maritime sector outside metropolitan France as I was keen to travel. I took a training course at the University of New Caledonia and got a scientific and technical degree in Marine Geoscience.
I then enrolled at the well-respected CNAM Intechmer Institute (National Institute for Marine Sciences and Technologies) in Cherbourg, the only French school providing training to marine technicians. This school was in my opinion the best option to combine navigation and oceanography and I got a Bachelor’s degree in Ocean Exploration & Surveying.

4 / What do you like most about your job?

I really enjoy the ever-renewing aspect of this job : each boarding is different from the previous one. There is always an initial phase where we have to get familiar with the ship and other crew members and everything after that is a different experience.
I also like the fact that life on board and life on land are neatly separated. When we go on a mission for two months, 100% of our time is spent at our workplace, which becomes our living place and a space for some time off as well. We do not have to deal with anything else.
When we spend a two-month vacation on land, the same principle applies : we can dedicate our full time to ourselves and our families.
As restrictive and challenging this rhythm can be, it allows us to be 100% available for our families during the time spent on land.

5 / What do you think of the representation of women in the maritime sector?

It has been growing – perhaps as part of a fashionable trend – but remains very low in proportion.
Although the merchant navy seems to be recruiting more and more women out of school, the biggest effort, in my opinion, resides in keeping women in their seafaring occupations over time: the percentage of women with a long-term experience at sea is still very low.

6 / What advice would you give to young women to make them aware of the career options offered by this sector?

As a mother-of-two (soon to be three), I would like to say to all women who work at sea that this should not be an obstacle to family life, and vice versa.

It is not always easy but you should not give up, because being able to combine your dream job with a fulfilled family life is something to be proud of.
Many experienced, male seafarers are also fathers, so why could it not be the same for mothers ?!

****

Thank you Marie for this interview !

Interview

1 / Could you tell us more about your career path and your current position?

I started my studies with a DUT (University-level degree program) in Logistics and Transport Management in Quimper, France, including an internship at GEODIS in Martinique. I then followed my course in England, Southampton as part of an Erasmus program in maritime affairs. Back in France, I started a Master in Global Supply Chain at Kedge Business School in Bordeaux and I did a semester in Suzhou (China) at the China University of Renmin.

I am doing today a Master 2 apprenticeship at the Logistics Department of the Fleet Technical Division of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.

My position at Louis Dreyfus Armateurs mainly consists of deliveries to cable ships, offshore wind maintenance vessels as well as the Marion Dufresne. It is therefore necessary to coordinate suppliers, carriers, customs and other collaborators to deliver the ship during a stopover anywhere in the world.

2 / What do you like most about your job?

The first thing that I appreciate is the variety of tasks. Each shipment is different and presents its own particularities (dangerous products, dual military use, exceptional dimensions, customs specificities of the countries, etc.) which makes routine impossible. This is also driven by various ship positions, never in the same place at the same time.

I also enjoy working with a large number of personnel, whether they are internal (buyers, superintendents) or external (agents, carriers, customs). Every day is different; this makes my work-study experience at Louis Dreyfus Armateurs truly enriching which is a very good start in professional life.

3/ What are your passions?

My passions are mainly water sports (surfing, kitesurfing, sailing …).
More recently, I have been playing again the guitar (let’s say thanks to the lockdown!)

***

Thank you Max!

Interview

1 / Could you tell us more about your career path and your current position?

After geography studies focusing on maritime geography, I joined the hydrography department of ENSTA Bretagne, in partnership with the Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOM). I was able to get in the same year a master’s degree in hydrography and master’s degree in integrated coastal zone management, delivered by the University of Nantes.

I had always been passionate about the sea and ships, but it was only after my studies that I decided I wanted to sail. I sent an application to Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, where I found a position that allowed me to combine my skills, values and career aspirations. 

I am now the Hydrography Manager for Louis Dreyfus Armateurs’ cable ships. I am in charge of preparation and follow-up for cable installation, as well as writing up documentation for clients. My teams include two to four people and we work in 12-hour shifts to ensure permanent monitoring of installation. The service interacts with all the other ship services, both operational and traditional sailing services.

My position therefore leads me to work with all the personnel on board, but also to be attentive to our customers, and of course to work in close cooperation with the Captain who is also the operation manager.

I have been appointed to ASN’s department in charge of marine tenders. This allows me to discover another part of projects process and to offer my operational expertise to this department.

2 / What has your career path been like at Louis Dreyfus Armateurs?

 I joined LDA in 2008 as a surveyor (hydrographer(. I have sailed on all cable ships of the fleet, and with different team leaders who have each passed on their experience during many different operations.

These years have allowed me to acquire the skills and necessary knowledge for my job and its different aspects: mastering the installation of submarine cables and regulating the cable laying in real time; anticipation and calculations relating to future operations; data processing to establish the reports and the mapping that we provide to the client. Also, the maintenance of small equipment dedicate to the operations. I then became a team leader in 2016. And at the same time, I have also been a seafarers’ representative within the company since 2014. This commitment is yet another way of expressing my commitment to the Group.

3 / What do you like most about your job?

First of all, there are human relationships: as explained before, the diversity of individual profiles I work with is very enriching. We are together for weeks, we have all our backgrounds, our experiences, our own motivations, and the exchanges linked to this mixing are often fascinating. Also, whatever the preparation before a mission is, there will always be unforeseen events or setbacks, whether technical, environmental or human. These unforeseen events make it always necessary to adapt and get us to ban from our vocabulary “we always did like that”: the important thing is to do your best with the present conditions. And even if it is sometimes destabilizing, it is always an additional experience that systematically make us grow up. I truly enjoy uncommon missions! 

The rigor that I apply to my work and my teams allows us to participate at our level in the Company’s reputation.

Passing on my experience is also a key point. There is no school to learn how to lay cables, and everything I have learned I try to pass it on as much as possible to others in order to provide them with the means to progress and also to work on their own. Once again, through this transmission, both the technical and human sides are interesting. It is necessary to adapt to each one to explain and help to clearly conceive the concepts of the submarine cable laying and to master the calculation tools allowing us to properly prepare the operations.

Lastly, it would be a lie to forget to mention the landscapes, the skies, the lights, the countries and their cultures, the marine fauna and all these things that we are lucky to see during our missions.

***

Thank you Oriane!

Interview

1 / What has been your career path so far ?

I studied mechanical engineering at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and later spent a year at Polytech Marseille (France) in the field of energy mechanics. After I graduated from university in Rio, I worked at Subsea 7 as an engineer in ship maintenance, installing pipelines for the oil and gas industry. After a few years, I decided to come back to France to resume studies in marine renewable energies and complete a specialized Master degree at ENSTA Bretagne. In March 2019, while still studying, I joined the LDA Group as a last year Master Graduation intern and signed a permanent contract.

2 / What motivated you to join the LDA group ?

I was interested in the Group’s maritime activities and its global experiences with ships carrying out a variety of missions. During my internship, I saw a true team spirit within the LDA Group and it strengthened my intention to continue my career at LDA. The management’s approach to innovative projects, and the marine renewable energies missions I have been able to work on, were determining factors in my decision.

3 / What is your job about ?

As an Offshore Project Engineer in the new LDA Engineering Department, I assist in the development and installation of new equipment, the development of specifications and discussions with clients before, during and after the project, while ensuring safety in all of our missions. My main goal is to use my previous experiences to support all projects managed by the Engineering Department.

4 / What do you like most about your job?

There is a possibility to work for different projects at the same time, with different partners, and to learn from each mission. Just as an example, we can work within the same day on the conversion of an old ship and the construction of a new vessel.
I also appreciate being able to go onboard different ships to develop our ongoing projects.
And last but not least, I find it very rewarding to have experienced sailors in the office and technical experts who you can talk to and who can share with us the challenges and special moments they have had onboard.

5/ What are the 3 essential qualities to do your job?

• Resilience, that is the ability to adapt to changes in specifications and difficulties we may encounter at the last minute.
• Safety and respect for the environment, to ensure that our operations are run in the most efficient way with minimum risk to people and the environment.
• In-depth collaboration between the people onboard and the office departments, so that we can find the most effective solutions.

6 / What are you passionate about ?

Sharing personal and professional experiences with people, both in and outside of the office
Cycling, swimming (and triathlon, a new-found hobby)

7 / Sea or land ? France or Brazil ?

The sea, undoubtedly. I love France for its language, culture and history. When I left Brazil, I wanted to be part of a strong company with a wide experience in maritime activities (and marine renewable energies) and I am glad I have found LDA. But…there is no country as incredible as Brazil!

8 / What is your motto?

Greetings and smiles cost nothing, feel free to share them!

***

Thank you Pedro!

The Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group joins the Cluster Maritime Français (CMF) and the Association Elles Bougent  to celebrate women on the occasion of this World Ocean Day 2020 and through the operation “Les ELLES de l’Océan“.

This special operation aims to promote the place of women in the maritime sector and to make young women aware of career opportunities related to the sea.

Discover now the interview by our seafarer colleague Elise Vandermeersch.

Interview

1 / Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Elise Vandermeersch and I am a Lieutenant / DPO at Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.

2 / Where does your interest in navigation/the sea/the merchant navy come from? Why did you make this career choice ?

Growing up, I often went to the seaside with my family all over Europe. As a teenager, my father let me drive the motorboat of a family friend in the Canary Islands. It is where I uncovered my love for the sea and my vocation was born. At eighteen, I had to make a career choice and quite naturally turned to the sea and a diversified and stimulating career. After my studies, I could not wait to take to the sea and my motivation and self-development have only strengthened over the years.

3 / What did you study ? What is your academic background?

After 4 years of studies, I obtained a Masters in Nautical Sciences from the Antwerp Maritime Academy in Belgium.

4 / What do you like most about your job?

The combination of teamwork and multiple responsibilities.
This job is very enriching because the different types of ships we deal with always ask for new and various skills.

5 / What do you think of the representation of women in the maritime sector?

Women are still a minority in the merchant navy, which is too bad! Maritime professions should be promoted more actively in schools so that girls can consider the maritime sector as a career path. Not only for studies but also for sailing, going to sea. It would be great if more young women had an idea of the rich experience a maritime life made of travels, stopovers, storms and adventures can offer – an experience that some still think is reserved for men. It is time these careers were more considered by women.

6 / What advice would you give to young women to make them aware of the career options offered by this sector?

You have great possibilities and prospects while sailing, but you need persistence and above all mental strength. Working conditions can be more demanding than on land. I advise you to be yourself on board while maintaining a certain professional distance to begin with – but most of all, observe the relationships existing between the various crew members. The first boardings will be challenging because there is a lot to learn, but over time, the results of these intense periods will bring you great self-confidence. I can assure you that your self-development as a female seafarer will be more intense than for male colleagues.

***

Thank you Elise for this interview!

The Louis Dreyfus Armateurs Group joins the Cluster Maritime Français (CMF) and the Association Elles Bougent  to celebrate women on the occasion of this World Ocean Day 2020 and through the operation “Les ELLES de l’Océan“.

This special operation aims to promote the place of women in the maritime sector and to make young women aware of career opportunities related to the sea.

Discover now the interview by our colleague seafarer Marie Sciboz.

Interview

1 / Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Marie Sciboz and I have been working as a Hydrographic Surveyor for Louis Dreyfus Armateurs since 2014.

2 / Where does your interest in navigation/the sea/the merchant navy come from? Why did you make this career choice ?

My father owns a wreck research and underwater expertise company – unsurprisingly, I have been involved in the maritime environment from a very young age. I started to learn sailing as a child and I have taken a liking to navigation over the years.
Accustomed as I was to out-of-sync family rhythms and the pleasure of travelling, I was looking for a job that could combine both and the merchant navy provided it.

3 / What did you study ? What is your academic background?

After my French baccalaureate diploma, I looked for a training in the maritime sector outside metropolitan France as I was keen to travel. I took a training course at the University of New Caledonia and got a scientific and technical degree in Marine Geoscience.
I then enrolled at the well-respected CNAM Intechmer Institute (National Institute for Marine Sciences and Technologies) in Cherbourg, the only French school providing training to marine technicians. This school was in my opinion the best option to combine navigation and oceanography and I got a Bachelor’s degree in Ocean Exploration & Surveying.

4 / What do you like most about your job?

I really enjoy the ever-renewing aspect of this job : each boarding is different from the previous one. There is always an initial phase where we have to get familiar with the ship and other crew members and everything after that is a different experience.
I also like the fact that life on board and life on land are neatly separated. When we go on a mission for two months, 100% of our time is spent at our workplace, which becomes our living place and a space for some time off as well. We do not have to deal with anything else.
When we spend a two-month vacation on land, the same principle applies : we can dedicate our full time to ourselves and our families.
As restrictive and challenging this rhythm can be, it allows us to be 100% available for our families during the time spent on land.

5 / What do you think of the representation of women in the maritime sector?

It has been growing – perhaps as part of a fashionable trend – but remains very low in proportion.
Although the merchant navy seems to be recruiting more and more women out of school, the biggest effort, in my opinion, resides in keeping women in their seafaring occupations over time: the percentage of women with a long-term experience at sea is still very low.

6 / What advice would you give to young women to make them aware of the career options offered by this sector?

As a mother-of-two (soon to be three), I would like to say to all women who work at sea that this should not be an obstacle to family life, and vice versa.

It is not always easy but you should not give up, because being able to combine your dream job with a fulfilled family life is something to be proud of.
Many experienced, male seafarers are also fathers, so why could it not be the same for mothers ?!

****

Thank you Marie for this interview !

Interview

1 / Could you tell us more about your career path and your current position?

I started my studies with a DUT (University-level degree program) in Logistics and Transport Management in Quimper, France, including an internship at GEODIS in Martinique. I then followed my course in England, Southampton as part of an Erasmus program in maritime affairs. Back in France, I started a Master in Global Supply Chain at Kedge Business School in Bordeaux and I did a semester in Suzhou (China) at the China University of Renmin.

I am doing today a Master 2 apprenticeship at the Logistics Department of the Fleet Technical Division of Louis Dreyfus Armateurs.

My position at Louis Dreyfus Armateurs mainly consists of deliveries to cable ships, offshore wind maintenance vessels as well as the Marion Dufresne. It is therefore necessary to coordinate suppliers, carriers, customs and other collaborators to deliver the ship during a stopover anywhere in the world.

2 / What do you like most about your job?

The first thing that I appreciate is the variety of tasks. Each shipment is different and presents its own particularities (dangerous products, dual military use, exceptional dimensions, customs specificities of the countries, etc.) which makes routine impossible. This is also driven by various ship positions, never in the same place at the same time.

I also enjoy working with a large number of personnel, whether they are internal (buyers, superintendents) or external (agents, carriers, customs). Every day is different; this makes my work-study experience at Louis Dreyfus Armateurs truly enriching which is a very good start in professional life.

3/ What are your passions?

My passions are mainly water sports (surfing, kitesurfing, sailing …).
More recently, I have been playing again the guitar (let’s say thanks to the lockdown!)

***

Thank you Max!

Interview

1 / Could you tell us more about your career path and your current position?

After geography studies focusing on maritime geography, I joined the hydrography department of ENSTA Bretagne, in partnership with the Naval Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOM). I was able to get in the same year a master’s degree in hydrography and master’s degree in integrated coastal zone management, delivered by the University of Nantes.

I had always been passionate about the sea and ships, but it was only after my studies that I decided I wanted to sail. I sent an application to Louis Dreyfus Armateurs, where I found a position that allowed me to combine my skills, values and career aspirations. 

I am now the Hydrography Manager for Louis Dreyfus Armateurs’ cable ships. I am in charge of preparation and follow-up for cable installation, as well as writing up documentation for clients. My teams include two to four people and we work in 12-hour shifts to ensure permanent monitoring of installation. The service interacts with all the other ship services, both operational and traditional sailing services.

My position therefore leads me to work with all the personnel on board, but also to be attentive to our customers, and of course to work in close cooperation with the Captain who is also the operation manager.

I have been appointed to ASN’s department in charge of marine tenders. This allows me to discover another part of projects process and to offer my operational expertise to this department.

2 / What has your career path been like at Louis Dreyfus Armateurs?

 I joined LDA in 2008 as a surveyor (hydrographer(. I have sailed on all cable ships of the fleet, and with different team leaders who have each passed on their experience during many different operations.

These years have allowed me to acquire the skills and necessary knowledge for my job and its different aspects: mastering the installation of submarine cables and regulating the cable laying in real time; anticipation and calculations relating to future operations; data processing to establish the reports and the mapping that we provide to the client. Also, the maintenance of small equipment dedicate to the operations. I then became a team leader in 2016. And at the same time, I have also been a seafarers’ representative within the company since 2014. This commitment is yet another way of expressing my commitment to the Group.

3 / What do you like most about your job?

First of all, there are human relationships: as explained before, the diversity of individual profiles I work with is very enriching. We are together for weeks, we have all our backgrounds, our experiences, our own motivations, and the exchanges linked to this mixing are often fascinating. Also, whatever the preparation before a mission is, there will always be unforeseen events or setbacks, whether technical, environmental or human. These unforeseen events make it always necessary to adapt and get us to ban from our vocabulary “we always did like that”: the important thing is to do your best with the present conditions. And even if it is sometimes destabilizing, it is always an additional experience that systematically make us grow up. I truly enjoy uncommon missions! 

The rigor that I apply to my work and my teams allows us to participate at our level in the Company’s reputation.

Passing on my experience is also a key point. There is no school to learn how to lay cables, and everything I have learned I try to pass it on as much as possible to others in order to provide them with the means to progress and also to work on their own. Once again, through this transmission, both the technical and human sides are interesting. It is necessary to adapt to each one to explain and help to clearly conceive the concepts of the submarine cable laying and to master the calculation tools allowing us to properly prepare the operations.

Lastly, it would be a lie to forget to mention the landscapes, the skies, the lights, the countries and their cultures, the marine fauna and all these things that we are lucky to see during our missions.

***

Thank you Oriane!

Interview

1 / What has been your career path so far ?

I studied mechanical engineering at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and later spent a year at Polytech Marseille (France) in the field of energy mechanics. After I graduated from university in Rio, I worked at Subsea 7 as an engineer in ship maintenance, installing pipelines for the oil and gas industry. After a few years, I decided to come back to France to resume studies in marine renewable energies and complete a specialized Master degree at ENSTA Bretagne. In March 2019, while still studying, I joined the LDA Group as a last year Master Graduation intern and signed a permanent contract.

2 / What motivated you to join the LDA group ?

I was interested in the Group’s maritime activities and its global experiences with ships carrying out a variety of missions. During my internship, I saw a true team spirit within the LDA Group and it strengthened my intention to continue my career at LDA. The management’s approach to innovative projects, and the marine renewable energies missions I have been able to work on, were determining factors in my decision.

3 / What is your job about ?

As an Offshore Project Engineer in the new LDA Engineering Department, I assist in the development and installation of new equipment, the development of specifications and discussions with clients before, during and after the project, while ensuring safety in all of our missions. My main goal is to use my previous experiences to support all projects managed by the Engineering Department.

4 / What do you like most about your job?

There is a possibility to work for different projects at the same time, with different partners, and to learn from each mission. Just as an example, we can work within the same day on the conversion of an old ship and the construction of a new vessel.
I also appreciate being able to go onboard different ships to develop our ongoing projects.
And last but not least, I find it very rewarding to have experienced sailors in the office and technical experts who you can talk to and who can share with us the challenges and special moments they have had onboard.

5/ What are the 3 essential qualities to do your job?

• Resilience, that is the ability to adapt to changes in specifications and difficulties we may encounter at the last minute.
• Safety and respect for the environment, to ensure that our operations are run in the most efficient way with minimum risk to people and the environment.
• In-depth collaboration between the people onboard and the office departments, so that we can find the most effective solutions.

6 / What are you passionate about ?

Sharing personal and professional experiences with people, both in and outside of the office
Cycling, swimming (and triathlon, a new-found hobby)

7 / Sea or land ? France or Brazil ?

The sea, undoubtedly. I love France for its language, culture and history. When I left Brazil, I wanted to be part of a strong company with a wide experience in maritime activities (and marine renewable energies) and I am glad I have found LDA. But…there is no country as incredible as Brazil!

8 / What is your motto?

Greetings and smiles cost nothing, feel free to share them!

***

Thank you Pedro!