Travel Restrictions

Firm 1’s operations has not been affected by the travel restrictions.

Firm 2 has its production in Romania. Usually, they travel together with their collaborative partners to check that the production is in accordance with the quality they demand. During the pandemic they are prevented

from doing so. Their Norwegian organization that they collaborate with has some Romanian employees that enables them to continue with it, which is a continuation.

“In many ways it has been a strength for us that our Norwegian partner has Romanian employees, and is a competitive advantage compared to many other firms that do not have the opportunity to travel to the production facilities and follow up.” (Informant from Firm 2)

In formal meetings with the clients, Firm 2 have rented a third part verifier, e.g., inspectors in Romania that are granted to travel in Romania. These third part verifiers are KIVA, DNV-GL etc. where one can rent them as neutral parties that can verify that the parts is in accordance with the quality and writes a report.

Firm 3 introduced video inspections in the production which allowed them to control and verify the quality.

By doing so, local inspectors at the production facilities can communicate over video with experts in Norway.

Other firms have done their inspections online, where they had to lower the quality requirements.

“We have noticed both. One project was in a critical phase of the project, where the quality of the product was significantly lower than expected when it was shipped to Norway. In other projects we have experienced the opposite effect since the local inspectors have had a stronger ownership and responsibility to their projects.” (Informant from Firm 3)

Before they could hide and be less visible among the Norwegian inspectors. The quality has increased because of the new work methods and they have seen several positive effects regarding quality. In addition, video inspections have saved them for travelling expenses since we are not able to travel during the pandemic. They will continue with the video inspections after the pandemic since it has many positive effects. In some circumstances there will be more travelling, for instance signing contract and discussions with collaborators.

They have noticed that this is more difficult on Teams compared to being physically present. When their boats are customized to fit the customers’ requirements they must travel with our customers to the shipyards. With the standardized boats they can continue as they do today. Very much of the video inspections and the follow up will be done from Norway which allows for saved travel inspections and saved time. If the quality is maintained by the new work methods, it is no point of travelling to the production facilities in Eastern Europe.

Firm 4 has experienced issues with labor immigration from Finland and Sweden, who have special competence of assembling the equipment; “We were worried about how the labor immigration would be affected. In certain instances, we have gotten exceptions and dispensation from the travel restrictions” (Informant from Firm 4).

However, they must still follow all the requirements in relation to quarantine and infection control, which requires additional planning.

Firm 5 experienced delays because of quarantine regulations, where their employees had been on working on projects abroad.

Firm 6 noticed challenges with testing the quality of their products that are produced outside of Norway:

“We had to ease of the requirements for documentation since this cannot be completed as pre COVID-19. The requirements are strict and regulates what tests and control that must be done. Because of the pandemic and travel restrictions, we had to apply for release to some of these requirements”.

(Informant from Firm 6)

As a result of travel restrictions, Firm 7 had to change the way they performed testing and control of equipment with their customers.

“Normally, the customer participates physically when testing different equipment and so on. Due to the pandemic, we arranged these tests via videocalls, so that the customer did not have to be there physically.” (Informant from Firm 7)

Firm 8 had some issues regarding their service engineers. These are important for the after-market, and must travel to the customers to execute upgrades, service, and support. In the beginning of the pandemic these tasks stopped completely because of the travel restrictions.

“In Korea they had to be on a Corona hotel for ten days, where they were living in poor conditions.

One of the service engineers had a furnished apartment, with a TV, where the toilet was the only place he could sit. There was no bed, and he had to sleep on cardboard plates. This is unacceptable, and we do not want our employees or customers to work under such conditions. Therefore, we put these tasks on hold until the summer of 2020.” (Informant from Firm 8)

Firm 9 experienced limitations on travelling, both regional in Norway, and globally. The travel patterns will change, and they see that the interaction is just as good on Teams as with physical meetings. The meeting activities can be reduced by 50 % compared to the times before COVID-19 where they travelled across the offices in Norway.

“If there is a meeting and it requires to travel by plane, it is normally more complicated meetings which involves more concentration in the room. For instance, complex issues or strategy gatherings with blackboards, stickers etc. Ordinary meetings and quarterly meetings can be held digitally and still being effective. In most circumstances, these meetings required travelling before the pandemic struck. This is similar for the ones who work internationally, it is challenging to travel there with the travel restrictions, and home office is therefore the best solution for our organization.” (Informant from Firm 9)

Because of the travel restrictions, Firm 10 had to restructure their business in the beginning of the pandemic.

Additionally, the air freight had a significantly limited the ability to transport goods through air, since there were few planes that were allowed to fly.

“All commercial planes were limited since few travelled in the second quarter of 2020, and there is still a limited travel offer for travelers. This makes it challenging to ship products for our customers, since the products are usually shipped on commercial and cargo planes.” (Informant from Firm 10)