Our people are the ones who recognise business opportunities, transform these into returns for shareholders and display the innovation and creativity that are hallmarks of the NOL Group.

OUR PEOPLE

In 2006 we continued to invest in the development of our diverse workforce – more than 11,000 people providing services in over 140 countries.

Our employees enjoy global opportunities, competitive remuneration and the chance to work in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.

We encourage staff to further their education and skills and take advantage of the many career paths available in the company.

Our award-winning Internet-based education portal – NOL Global Campus – offers customised courses that are structured to enable individuals to learn at their own pace and to fit study around work and personal schedules.

Building our company’s leadership talent is a key priority and NOL has committed to a range of advanced management and leadership development initiatives.

Our worldwide Graduate Development Program helps shape top talent into tomorrow’s leaders. We also introduced a Management Development Program which targets high-performing employees who have been with the company for at least four years. It aims to combine academic and vocational development and is conducted in collaboration with the Singapore Management University (SMU). A total of 25 individuals globally were enrolled in 2006.

We launched our Leadership Development Program for talented individuals who have been with NOL for at least seven years and have demonstrated potential to assume leadership positions in the company. The educational component of this program was developed in collaboration with SMU and Cornell University’s Center for Creative Leadership in the US.

We are committed to providing our talented people with structured programs of education combined with challenging job assignments within our global organisation.

We also made a significant investment in our global Executive Education Program. This identifies senior management talent in our organisation and places them in advanced education programs at some of the world’s leading academic institutions such as INSEAD, the University of Michigan and the National University of Singapore.

In 2006, we also showed our commitment to identifying and nurturing talent in the maritime and related industries by joining forces with Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University to establish a first-ever scholarship for the Master of Science (Maritime Studies) program. We bequeathed this scholarship in memory of NOL’s founding managing director, Captain Muhammad Jalaluddin Sayeed.

We offer a range of scholarships for undergraduates and bright school leavers, including for three-year Nautical Studies and Marine Engineering diplomas at Singapore’s Maritime Academy.

These approaches mean, in a highly competitive world, we continue to attract the best people, from cadets and graduates through to senior executives. We recognise that our people are the key to our future growth and business expansion.

COMMUNITY RELATIONS

NOL consists of global businesses providing transportation and logistics services that connect continents, linking the global community.

We reach out to the global community through our support of charitable initiatives in all regions where we do business, making a difference in the lives of people from all corners of the globe.

In 2006, the NOL Group made significant contributions to a variety of community groups and projects. Through a structured annual community relations program, we provide support for initiatives across all the regions where we do business.

Reaching out to our regions

The NOL Group offices around the world reached out to their communities to meet local needs throughout 2006.

Since 2000, we have been a supporter of the “Helmets for Kids” program, which provides protective helmets and road safety education for children across Vietnam, where traffic accidents and serious head injuries involving bike riders are common.

In Greater China, we provided funding for a program to provide meals for children from low-income aboriginal families in Hua Lien, on the eastern coast of Taiwan; SYVA Poverty Support in Yunan Province; and supported the “China – Half the Sky” program which delivers education programs to orphanages.

Our Group has provided sponsorship and support for a diverse range of other activities and organisations around the world, including the Red Cross Society in Japan and a Refugee Camp Club in Jordan.

In Singapore, the NOL Group continued to support the National Day Parade, the Singapore Arts Festival and Sailability Singapore, which encourages people with disabilities to enjoy the sport of sailing. We have financially supported Sailability since its inception in 2001, and it is one of many programs which our people actively support as volunteers.

In the US, we supported a wide range of organisations in our local communities. APL supports the Bay Area Association of Disabled Sailors, which operates in the San Francisco-Oakland area, Habitat for Humanity East Bay which, builds affordable housing for disadvantaged members of the community, and the Alameda County Community Food Bank, which provides nourishment for 120,000 low-income children and adults each month.

In addition, APL has supported the Oakland Children’s Hospital and Research Center as well as the Bay Area Crisis Nursery, which aims to prevent child abuse and neglect by providing a temporary home for children whose parents are going through a stressful time such as a layoff or marital separation.

We strive to support a range of causes globally, spanning services for the disabled and disadvantaged, support for corporate citizenship activities and youth initiatives.

Apart from our financial support for these groups, we also provide opportunities for employees to get involved in voluntary programs.

CARING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

Our environmental responsibilities are integral to the way we do business. Our approach is consistent with the NOL Group’s overarching corporate value of Responsibility, and our leadership position in our industry.

Key steps we initiated on the environmental management front in 2006 included:

•		An 18-month demonstration project on the APL Singapore, in partnership with environmental agencies, to test the effectiveness of fuel emulsification – an innovative process that injects water into the fuel burned by the ship’s main engine to reduce exhaust emissions;
•		Retrofitting vessels with slide valves – technology that helps marine engines burn fuel more efficiently – to better measure the impact on fuel conservation;
•		Conversion of about 30 vessels in our Transpacific services to use cleaner-burning low-sulfur diesel fuel in auxiliary engines when they are berthed at ports on the North American west coast;
•		Use of cleaner-burning biodiesel fuel in container-handling equipment at our Seattle terminal; and
•		Replacing 325 ageing yard tractors with newer, more environmentally friendly models.

We are making progress, but this is just the start of what can be achieved by continuous innovation in the environmental field.