Because of Naust Marine´s operations overseas the company's employees travel a lot, often far away where they can easily find themselves in unexpected situations.
In the past few months the forces of nature have had unusually big affect on these journeys, for example volcanic eruptions both in Iceland and Chile, and an earthquake in Japan.
In June a Naust Marine employee had serious delays and unexpected detours on his way to Argentina due to an eruption in the volcano Puyehue in Chile.
The plan was for the man to fly from New York to Buenos Aires and from there to Usuaia, the world's southernmost city, where he was to service the trawler Echizen Maru. Because of ashes from Puyehue the flight to Buenos Aires was first delayed and then redirected to Montevideo in Uruguay. From there, the man got to Buenos Aires in between ash clouds.
Finally there, he was informed of a weeks delay in the trawlers arrival in Usuaia. A week later, when it was finally time to fly to Usuaia from Buenos Aires, all flights within Argentina were canceled again due to ash in the air.
Taking another route the man drove 2.400 km and then flew, in a small plane, the last part of the journey over a large mountain range.
He did not avoid driving over the mountain range however as when it was time to head back to Buenos Aires that flight was cancelled aswell. The unexpected adventure therefore ended with a two days bus ride in a snowstorm over the mountains.
In May a study trip of two Naust Marine employees also got postponed because of an eruption in the Icelandic volcano Grímsvötn. The trip was a part of Naust Marine´s participation in the European Union's Leonardo program. This created some uncertainty regarding the men's participation in the project as strict rules apply to the program. An exception was however granted on grounds of eruption in Iceland - for the second year in a row.
A different Naust Marine employee found himself in the Callao port in Lima in Peru when the big earthquake hit Japan in March.
A tsunami warning was issued in the area and the Naust Marine employee found himself trapped in a closed military area were he was working in the ship Maestro. Plans were made to sail Maestro to sea to reduce the risk posed by the tsunami but in the end no tsunami reached the shores of Peru.