Ehrenreich recalls Trade Centre glory days

Ray Smuts HAPPY MEMORIES of New York and the World Trade Centre in particular returned to Maersk's Peter Ehrenreich last week as he shared in the disbelief and grief of millions at the wanton terrorist attacks on the Big Apple and Washington DC. Ehrenreich, managing director of Maersk in South Africa, recalled over lunch with this correspondent that he had, as a San Francisco-based trainee manager in 1986/7, visited Maersk's offices on the 34th floor of World Trade Centre 1 - the first to collapse after being struck by a commercial passenger aircraft - periodically (The line later moved to other premises). "As a young man of 21 it was fantastic to be in America and to be able to visit a building as high and massive as the World Trade Centre. I used to stand in wonderment outside watching these thousands of people going to lunch every day. Now that is no more."