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Hello, my name is Arkadiusz Wojcik,
I am married and have three children.
In 1993 I graduated from the Maritime Academy of Szczecin.
I went to sea straight away but really
I wanted to find a job on the shore. But
it was not so easy just after graduation, so I ended
up on Norwegian owned *** ships where I spent a couple of years.
At that time separation periods from family were long, at least six,
seven months. I realised then that I am not
willing to spend such long periods at sea.
So when one agency, a Cargo Service, was
looking for an ship’s agent, I took that offer.
I learned that profession, I learned port procedures.
Then a Polish Steamship Company started advertising a new job.
They were looking for candidates for ship’s operators.
Finally, I obtained a position as a ship’s operator and ship’s broker.
In the world of charters and agents, I met several new people,
I attended meetings abroad and I practiced for several months there too.
Unfortunately a situation on the market arose
in 2000 and forced me to leave this occupation.
I was offered a similar position in another shipping company.
A Shipyard in Szczecin, at that time a
very active company, was looking to expand in another field of its business.
The Shipyard bought a fuel terminal in Swinoujscie
and I was offered responsibility of taking over logistic operation
of the terminal from sea side.
I was responsible for the management of ships and
freights, and the operation of the ships calling at the terminal with fuel cargo.
Unfortunately the company collapsed in 2002.
The shipyard in Szczecin
experienced financial problems and my company
filed bankruptcy.
At this time, fate forced me to take matters into my
own hands and, together with my friend who also
worked in the same company with Mr. Czeslaw Kowalak,
we decided to set up our own business, the company Unibaltic.
We have been working together since;
it will be ten years next year.
We are ship owners now. We have seven chemical tankers, which
are carrying chemical cargo between ports in the Baltic Sea,
North Sea and in Northern Africa.
We have about 30 staff based in offices and over 150 sailors on our ships.
My work brings me a lot of job satisfaction.
I am responsible for the management of our whole company,
signing contracts and making negotiations; I often travel abroad.
I meet a lot of people in this way and I attend a lot of conferences, both official and non official.
I spend most of my time with the company but I do what I really want and enjoy.
I work with ships and I work in the shipping industry, but I don't work personally onboard a ship.
If I am away from my home, it takes no more then one,
two, three days maximum.
So more or less it is something I was always meant.
What can I say? I gained a lot of experience
when I went to the sea after graduation
from Maritime Academy.
Everyone who wants to work in shipping should try the work at sea first.
Two, three years allow to learn the ship from her practical side.
Thereafter if you find work at shore nobody will be
able to convince you that something cannot be done
because you will have real sea practice and it
is something which allow me to perform my duties
and to lead this company together
with my colleague successfully.