Odfjell’s only female captain, Lise Henriksen, is used to celebrating Christmas far away from her family.
The run-up to Christmas in the middle of the Atlantic. Christmas Eve spent on a busy quay in Antwerp.
“I come from a family of fishermen. We’re well used to not everyone being present for different holidays,” says Lise Henriksen in a video interview with Kystens Næringsliv via Teams.
Adding:
“Of course, you miss it a bit, but at the same time, it’s become a habit.”
While the rest of us hope for a white Christmas, Lise Henriksen is focused on berthing at some of Europe’s largest ports in the Netherlands.
She is the master of Odfjell’s chemical tanker Bow Sky. The vessel is 182 meters long and 32 meters wide, packed with 40 tanks containing various types of chemicals.
For every other Christmas over the past ten years, the captain has been at sea.
“When my family sits down to 'pinnekjøtt' at home, I’ll most likely be on the bridge with a pilot on board, heading for a quay in Antwerp. My view will be of a busy port area. That will be my Christmas Eve,” Captain Lise Henriksen tells Kystens Næringsliv.
“Not even a single Christmas movie?”
“That will be before and after Christmas Eve—when we’re out at sea. It’s far too busy when we’re in port. But of course, there will be room for a Christmas movie, gingerbread cookies, and ‘Secret Santa’ before we set course for Houston right after the New Year,” she says.
That said, she is not unhappy about it. Lise has worked at sea with Odfjell since she joined the company as a cadet in 2010.
When she is at sea, Christmas Eve is almost like a normal working day.
She became a captain in 2023. Since her cadet days, she has spent every other Christmas either at sea or in a busy port in the US or the Netherlands.
Henriksen is 39 years old and leads a crew of 26–28 people.
“We have eight Norwegians and 18 Filipinos. There have actually been a few more Norwegians in recent years. What’s especially nice this year is that we have two trainees with us who are celebrating Christmas on a chemical tanker for the first time,” she says.
“We’ve previously written about how challenging it is to recruit women to seafaring. What does it look like on your vessel?”
“There are more women in officer roles now, both as chief and third officers. Right now, we have three Norwegian women on board, including an engine trainee and a third officer. The pipeline is steady. Odfjell has for several years been a leader in recruiting women to sea,” she says.
At present, Odfjell has 26 women serving on its vessels. The number has been stable in recent years.
“Life at sea isn’t for everyone. It’s tough, and the rotations are long. But you also get a job full of adventure and experience incredible things I wouldn’t want to be without. It certainly helps to come from a seafaring family,” she says with a smile.
The Odfjell captain comes from a fishing family and still has a small fishing boat at home.
“I grew up on a fishing vessel and I’m still involved in it. We fish for cod and crab. I actually trained as a fisherman before Odfjell ‘got hold of me,’” she says.
At the Bergen-based shipping company, she has worked her way up from cadet to become the company’s first female captain in 2023.
“And what about New Year’s Eve? There won’t be fireworks, I suppose?”
“Hopefully we’ll have finished our port stay in Europe and be underway, heading for Houston, USA. There probably won’t be fireworks—they don’t really go well with a chemical tanker,” the Odfjell captain says with a smile.