Setting sail

摘要

"I wanted to be a football player, as every guy does," Tobias Rennekamp confesses about his original career plans, which took a slightly different path towards the marine insurance industry. The assistant operations officer at Liberty One Shipmanagement, attributes his interest in shipping to his family. "When I was a boy, my grandpa took me to seethe big ships at the harbour in Hamburg," he tells us. This prompted Rennekamp to study maritime technology and shipping in northern Germany's HochschuleEmden/Leer technical academy. The town, which boasts a population of just 30,000, hasa strong maritime flavour and is the registered headquarters of about 20% of the German merchant fleet. However, Leer was not all smooth sailing and the job market proved so difficult that Rennekamp had to move to Bremen in orderto complete his practical semester.