6 minute read
Something with vessels
In the ofshore industry, the human factor cannot not be overlooked. Ofshore projects highly depend on people’s hands, skills, and knowledge. In Ofshore Industry Insights, we introduce persons that made their bones in this market.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF DAMEN.
Jeroen Heesters is Managing Director at Damen Ship Repair & Conversion since November 2021. Throughout his career he has always been involved in the ofshore industry.
Mr Heesters, can you tell us something about the steps you have taken in the ofshore industry?
Mr Heesters: “After college, in 2004, I started to work in South America for a Dutch company involved in the oil & gas industry as Sales and Marketing Engineer. It was 2008 when I joined Damen Ship Repair & Conversion as Sales Manager. Since that moment, I have in various roles always been operating in the ship repair and conversion market for this company. In 2013, I was appointed Head of Sales & Marketing at Damen Ship Repair Vlissingen. At the end of that year I became this yard’s Managing Director. Four years later, in 2017, I changed roles and became Group Commercial Director of Damen Ship Repair & Conversion, and responsible for the global commercial operation of our twelve ship repair and conversion yards. Now, since November 2021, I continue my journey at this company as Managing Director. Looking back, this has been quite a rollercoaster, and I did not have the chance to get bored in this challenging market.”
What, in the past ffteen years of your career in this industry, have in your opinion been the biggest changes?
Mr Heesters: When I joined this business in 2008, I encountered a very positive vibe with a lot of big refts and conversions. In those days, price was not really an issue. For our customers fast delivery times were much more important. After 2013, things rapidly changed as the number of refts dropped. Also, apart from delivery times, pricing and contract management became important as well. For us this meant a change of mindset and our legal department became more and more involved in the execution of our projects. Earning money just by doing a good job was no longer always the case. Also, throughout the years, our focus changed from oil & gas to a more diversifed portfolio, and a growing attention for ofshore wind. With the ofshore wind turbines growing in size, the existing installation vessels need a conversion to make them ft for the bigger components. Deadweight needs to be enlarged, as well as spud poles. Furthermore, the demobilisation and mobilisation of this type of vessels ofer many opportunities. It is a very ad hoc business that requires fexibility and short delivery times, something we have proven to be very good at. >>
Business is very diverse, with projects ranging from USD 200 to USD 20,000,000.
A project most remembered by Jeroen Heesters is the Rowan Viking project.
What, apart from the aforementioned, will the renewable market bring for the near future?
Mr Heesters: I see a lot of potential in the foating ofshore wind market. Lots of foating ofshore wind farms are currently being planned. Space is needed for the construction of the large steel and concrete foaters. And although we do not intend to construct these foaters ourselves, we could provide this space with our docks. Our yard in Brest, for example, is located nearby various planned foating ofshore wind farms and can provide plenty of space in its docks and provide secondary services to the construction of foating wind units.
What is the most important USP of Damen Ship Repair and Conversion?
Mr Heesters: Our strategy is aimed at market dominance in Northwest Europe. For this, it is important to constantly optimise the functionality of our yards. Our goal is to help our customers earn as much money as possible with their assets. To do so, we have a network of yards throughout the region. We can thus ofer dock space to a variety of ships with minimal deviation, enabling our customers to make optimal use of their assets.
What is your opinion about life extension being considered as a sustainable alternative to decommissioning?
Mr Heesters: In fact, ship conversion and reft are excellent examples of life extension and something that is already going on for decades. Just look at the example I mentioned above about the installation vessels. Instead of buying a new vessel, an existing vessel is adapted to new requirements from the market. There are also numerous examples of vessels that we converted for a completely new role. Life extension is not only a matter of circularity, as in most cases a conversion is faster than supplying a newbuild, and the platform-based vessels Damen constructs have also appeared to be highly suitable for a conversion for a new role. The discussion about life extension today also exists when looking at oil & gas assets. We focus on everything that foats, and we are very capable of taking care of conversions and refts of rigs and platforms. We have already executed some of these projects in the past. We converted, for example, a production platform into an accommodation platform.
Since you have been working for Damen for quite some time, what was the project you remember best?
Mr Heesters: A project that immediately springs to mind is the Rowan Viking project we took care of on our Vlissingen yard in 2014. The project included the extension of the three legs by ten metres, making safety modifcations in accordance with Norwegian regulations, and conducting a fve-year periodic survey. This kind of work is usually executed in chronological order, but instead we decided to carry out the three activities in parallel, which at that time was unique. For this task, a crane large enough to be able to take care of the job was positioned on the quay instead of on the rig’s deck. Activities on deck could therefore continue. The only time when activities on deck had to be suspended was for safety reasons during the actual lifting and repositioning of the rig. By doing so, we were able to save a lot of time. And as you know, time is money in our business.
You are a real conversion and reft expert. What exactly do you like in this business?
Mr Heesters: What I like most is that no day is the same. Our business is very diverse, with projects ranging from USD 200 to USD 20,000,000, so to speak. It is also a real people’s business that starts at the tender phase up to the actual execution and service afterwards. Without people working together, not a lot can be accomplished.
What challenges lie ahead of you?
Mr Heesters: Talking about people. Everyone at all our yards is into vessels, and they are all very dedicated and driven to excel in getting their jobs done in a safe and perfect way, on time and within budget and requirements. One of the challenges we are facing, and we are no exception in this, is fnding the right people that like to work with their hands. In our society, focus has been and still is on reaching the highest possible level of education. However, in the industry, no matter what sector, things cannot be achieved just from behind the desks at the ofce. Despite automation and digitalisation, people are needed on the foor, in the workshops, and in the docks. Together with the educational institutes, I think that we, as an industry, should all try to do our best in telling young people how motivating it can be to create things and get problems fxed to keep ships sailing.
