A shipping life

Frank Wellnitz has had a long and colourful career in shipping and beyond his work with the CSA. Frank started his maritime carrier in 1962 at a shipping agency based in Bremen, Germany. After receiving his certificate in Maritime Transport Management, he and his wife Heidi emigrated to Canada in 1965.

For a short while he worked as a Forwarder and then joined the Toronto office of a German company supervising Bulk Metal Concentrate Exports to world markets. In 1969 he joint Falconbridge Nickel Mines as maritime transport co-ordinator, this included transport of construction material to build a smelter in Santo Domingo. With the construction winding down he was transferred there in 1971, setting up and managing a transportation department with about 25 local employees, covering all imports to keep the nickel smelter running and based on his distribution plan, exports to world markets of a product called ferronickel. Learning Spanish became a must.

Management

After three years with Falconbridge as one of 120 expatriates training local management, he was not ready to go to back to the cold and snowy Toronto. He joined Hapag-Lloyd owners’ representative, stationed in San Juan. This was the time when the industry was watching the creation of the CAROL service – a joint venture between French, Dutch, English and German carriers inaugurated in 1975.

Read more...