The offices of Ukrainian crewing specialist Danica Maritime Services in Odesa were damaged overnight during a severe missile attack by Russian forces.
Danica Maritime Services owner Henrik Jensen said in a LinkedIn post that Odesa was hit by a missile attack by Russian forces last night.
According to Jensen, the target of the attack was in the same block as Danica’s offices with some of the missiles hitting the neighbouring buildings.
He posted a photo showing the massive damage done to the building that is next to Danica’s offices. Another building shown in the image is a residential building which was also heavily damaged.
Jensen said that he has an apartment in that building but fortunately, he was not in Odessa at the time of the attack.
The offices of the company are some 100 m away and they also suffered damage “with windows blown in and ceilings falling.” All the staff members are also safe and unhurt.
“The Danica team members in Odesa are currently not able to attend the office, but our brave Ukrainian staff continue to perform their duties from home without interruption. Many thanks for the many supportive calls this morning from owners, seafarers, partners, and friends,” Jensen said on LinkedIn.
“My sincere deepest condolences to the families of the victims of this attack. My thoughts during these difficult times are with our staff in Ukraine, our seafarers, my neighbours, and all citizens of Odesa,” Jensen concluded.
Danica’s head office is located in Hamburg and the company has a network of owned manning offices in Ukraine, Cyprus, and the Baltic countries.
The company said earlier this year that crewing levels were adversely impacted by the war in Ukraine which at first significantly impacted the number of crew members available from that country, due to travel restrictions affecting healthy men aged 18 to 60.
Danica said at the time that a balance between supply and demand for Ukrainian seafarers had been established since last autumn as most seafarers are keen to return to sea and cut short their unpaid shore leave periods.
