Volvo Group North America invited 800 customers and dealers from all the different business areas in North America to a great dinner at the Miami Marlins brand new baseball arena. The guests were treated with food, drinks, music and speeches. And at the large Jumbotron up under the roof, they could watch movies from the Volvo Ocean Race and get some feeling of how tough and exciting this race is.
Today, Volvo Group and WWF jointly arranged the Corporate Climate Summit 2012 in Miami Beach. “We arrange these summits on various locations, in conjunction with the Volvo Ocean Race in order to meet and discuss with different stakeholders”, says Gunnar Bengtsson, Director Environmental Affairs, Volvo Group.
Olof Persson, President and CEO of Volvo Group was the key note speaker, emphasizing the importance of environmental care and explaining what Volvo Group does to reduce carbon. Olof and the Vice President for CSR* at Sprint later had a Q&A session.
The Corporate Climate Summit was divided into two parts; a larger open meeting in the morning and smaller round table discussions in the afternoon. Susan Alt, Vice President Industry Relations and Public Affairs, Group Trucks Sales & Marketing Americas and Patrick Collognon, Sr. Vice President, Group Trucks Operations Americas were participating in panels on stage.
*Corporate Social Responsibility
Some of the Volvo guests in Miami are transported in very nice Volvo XC90 courtesy cars. But that of course is nothing compared to what the Volvo Group CEO Olof Persson and some of the VIP Volvo Group guests are treated with, a Volvo courtesy truck!
A group of trade journalists is joining a two day press event in Miami, organized by Volvo Construction Equipment. On Thursday they participated in a round table discussion about infrastructure development in North America at the W Hotel in Miami Beach. The panel consisted of Göran Lindgren, President and CEO of Volvo CE Americas; Dennis Slater, President of AEM (Association of Equipment Manufacturers) and Jonathan Miller, VP Government Relations & Public Affairs, Group Trucks Sales & Marketing Americas. One of the topics discussed were the national campaign I Make America.This is grass root a campaign, supported by Volvo Group, aiming at increasing manufacturing jobs and improving the US economy.
The round table was followed by a press conference with Pat Olney, President and CEO of Volvo CE. He presented a business update and an overview of Volvo CE´s operations around the world, with a focus on North America., where the company´s commitment is strengthened. Olney also stressed that Volvo CE is the first construction equipment company in the world to make a commitment to reduce CO2 emission, when signing the contract with WWF earlier this year.
At the end of the press conference, Pat Olney got the question “what does Volvo CE get out of Volvo Ocean Race?” He said that “there is a strong connection between our business and sailing when it comes to values and culture; like energy, passion and team work. The fact that it´s a global events is also a key factor.”
“A good city is one where people want to be outside.” With that quote from a Danish urbanist, the former Mayor of Bogota, Enrique Penalosa, opened for an interesting discussion about mobility and quality of life in cities.
Volvo Group had invited customers and decision makers to a seminar at a hotel during the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Miami. The seminar was headed by Tore Bäckström from Volvo Buses who talked about what drive Quality of Life in cities. The speeches and discussions during the seminar was then all about this and how this is influenced by the choice of transport systems.
The bus based transport system system in Bogota, the BRT system Transmilenio, is one of the best in the world. Enrique Penalosa made it very clear that if we want to create quality of life for most people in cities, we have to give much more of our road space to pedestrians, bicycles and public transport and less to cars.
Tore Bäckström from Volvo Buses headed the discussions about mobility and quality of life in cities.
Most of the Volvo Group guests at the Volvo Ocean Race stopover in Miami will be able to follow either the In-Port race or the restart from a spectator boat. But it is only the Volvo Penta guests that will be on this beauty, or perhaps it is the beast.
It is a Spencer 70, a 70-foot vessel called Penta Gone. It has a triple IPS1200 installation. That means three Volvo D13 engines totaling 2,700 horsepower and with a top speed of about 40 knots.
The second floor of the Volvo Pavilion is used for many different activities. Today it was the scene of the Volvo Ocean Race Academy prize-giving. Eight teams of young sailors from around the US have qualified for this weekend’s finals in Miami. There have been many tough competitions among the kids sailing in the finals, you will most probably find one or several of the future Volvo Ocean Race sailors.
Photo: Ian Roman/Volvo Ocean Race
The first thing the visitors see when they arrive at the entrance of the Volvo Ocean Race village, is the worlds fastest hybrid truck, Mean Green. The Volvo hybrid established new world speed records on April 27 at Utah’s historic Wendover Airfield, eclipsing its previous marks in the standing kilometer (two-thirds mile),153.252 km/h (95.245 mph) and flying kilometer, 236.577 km/h (147.002 mph).
Mean Green features a highly tuned Volvo D16 engine and a modified version of Volvo’s automated I-Shift gearbox, which interacts with the hybrid’s electric motor. The combination of an electric motor and Volvo D16 diesel engine delivers 2,100 horsepower and nearly 5,000 lb-ft. torque – of which, 200 horsepower and 885 lb-ft. of torque come from the electric motor.
The Volvo Ocean Race cooperation project, Keep the Oceans Clean, continues. Also in Miami. there was a beach cleaning activity. However, this time the project also teamed up with another protection venture, the Reclamation project.
One part of this project is to reclaim coastal areas by planting mangrove seedlings. Mangroves are extremely valuable for coastal ecosystems. They support coastal fisheries by acting as breeding grounds for juvenile fish. Their roots stabilize the shore, provide life-saving protection from the effects of hurricanes and trap pollutants within their sediment.
As with many coastal areas of the world, the mangroves of Miami Beach have been decimated. The Reclamation Project aims to reverse the trend of mangrove forest loss by increasing awareness of the mangrove’s importance and taking action.
Beach cleaning in Miami.
Miami is the biggest of the stopover cities in this version of the Volvo Ocean Race. The Volvo Ocean Race village is in the port area of Downtown Miami and not especially visible.
But as soon as you enter the race village, there are as always a lot of things to see and do. And the people in this country know how to have a good time.
