There are still some captains that are “management” but I can count them on one hand and they are all within 1-3 years of retirement
GIS (Grand Isle Shipyard) is a 100 ton mini-supply company ala Odyssea or Callais. Even if it is a training platform for their Alaska mariners, I don’t see the 100 ton OSV experience translating to the kind of vessels that would be working up there.
[QUOTE=Drill Bill;144912]Makes sense indeed, especially from an economic point of view. But since the icebreakers never went back (for drilling ops) they’re now stuck with the damn thing in Finland. :-D[/QUOTE]
Fennica and Nordica were back in Alaska in 2013. However, I don’t know about the whereabouts of that equipment. Perhaps they brought it back to the US?
I saw Fennica several times last year, but no sightings this year.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;144945]I saw Fennica several times last year, but no sightings this year.[/QUOTE]
Fennica is in Greenland:
[i]MSV Fennica has been chartered out to TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company. The agreement is for 60 days plus possible options. The longtime charter agreement with Shell is still valid and this charter with TGS has been made with co-operation from Shell.
The operating area will be the north-eastern waters of Greenland. Fennica is tasked with assisting the seismic survey vessel M/V Akademik Shatskiy in charting the seabed. Autumn 2011 Fennica was successfully doing similar job.
Fennica has begun mobilising at the Port of Rauma. In Norway, a helicopter used for ice reconnaissance will be loaded onboard. Crew changes will be made every other week with half of the crew each time.[/i]
http://www.arctia.fi/sivu.php?id=625&uid=1124&aid=55&umid=55&umt=right_id
[QUOTE=tugsailor;144902]If Crowley or Foss wants to be in the Alaska OSV business, then they should buy a couple of small Gulf OSV companies to learn the OSV business and train their guys with Alaska experience in OSV operations.
[/QUOTE]
Why do it that way? Are there no OSV crews that operate worldwide? Crews that understand and can apply the principles of seamanship, metrology and navigation should be able to operate anywhere. Deep-sea vessel often sail in unfamiliar waters. Whatever local knowledge is needed it can be sourced locally.
[QUOTE=Kennebec Captain;144951]Why do it that way? Are there no OSV crews that operate worldwide? Crews that understand and can apply the principles of seamanship, metrology and navigation should be able to operate anywhere. Deep-sea vessel often sail in unfamiliar waters. Whatever local knowledge is needed it can be sourced locally.[/QUOTE]
I agree that there is no need to waste any money with small OSV operations in the GoM to prepare to work in the Arctic. Foss should just hire people who are both GoM and Alaska experienced (AHEM!), select a good OSV design that suits the client’s needs, contract to build them at Dakota Creek in Anacortes and go to Shell and say, “Always Ready”…especially now!
There are good OSV’s available and always ready an they were built down here.
[QUOTE=c.captain;144953]I agree that there is no need to waste any money with small OSV operations in the GoM to prepare to work in the Arctic. Foss should just hire people who are both GoM and Alaska experienced (AHEM!), select a good OSV design that suits the client’s needs, contract to build them at Dakota Creek in Anacortes and go to Shell and say, “Always Ready”…especially now![/QUOTE]
Foss would be smarter to partner with Arctic Slope Regional Corp to buy a Gulf OSV company with a few good DP 2 boats that could used in Alaska during the summer (maybe a company such as Aries), or perhaps a company that is already a Shell contractor. They should train their own people and some local Natives in OSV operations. Foss probably does not have anyone with a DP certificate.
It boils down to which skills are more easily transferable.
If someone wanted to tow between say Corpus Christi and Houston, or Cape Town and New York, Panama to Barrow or any other two ports on the planet any experienced second mate should be able to create a good voyage plan. Any tug captain that can interpret a weather chart in the North Sea or the Med can do the same in Chukchi or the Sea of Japan. These skills are readily transferable.
Towing skills (for example) are much less transferable. How long does it take to get an inexperienced mate up to speed? However if you can tow in heavy weather it doesn’t matter if your in the Bering, South Atlantic or the North Sea.
Are the knowledge and skills required to operate an OSV for a charterer the ones more easily transferred?
[QUOTE=tugsailor;144960]Foss would be smarter to partner with Arctic Slope Regional Corp to buy a Gulf OSV company with a few good DP 2 boats that could used in Alaska during the summer (maybe a company such as Aries), or perhaps a company that is already a Shell contractor. They should train their own people and some local Natives in OSV operations. Foss probably does not have anyone with a DP certificate.[/QUOTE]
Foss would be even smarter to go to Shell and remind them that after the 2012 embarrassment, that they need a company with decades of experience working in Alaska to operate the vessels Shell is contracting from ECO and HGIM. Then for Shell to go to those respective companies and TELL THEM that they WILL subcontract the operation of all those vessels to Foss or a new entity created by Saltchuk for that purpose. Saltchuk should then enter into an agreement with ECO and/or HGIM to train Alaskan (including native Alaskan) mariners on their vessels operating in the GoM. While ECO and HGIM make less profit from the deal, they would still have the prime contracts for the vessels and would not have the headaches of operating in waters they are unfamiliar with. Potentially, EVERYBODY WINS…most importantly Shell because an AIVIQ/KULLUK fiasco would not be repeated with Saltchuk at the helm. That I can assure you!
Regarding Foss/Saltchuk not having a DP certificate on the payroll (AHEM!)
Why can no one but Alaskan mariners possibly do the job C. Captain? Smart competent mariners from no matter where they have operated or are from should be able to learn and adapt with the correct support from management. That support from the client and employers is what is key, not the mariners mailing address.
It used to be that no one but a coon ass could run a mud boat. Yet I have friends on boats full of New Englanders managing to not hit everything in fourchon. Your rhetoric about Alaskan mariners only is the same as that, but with a smugger and slightly less chewing tobacco filled delivery.
The only thing he’s leaving out is they have to be unlimited license holders also.
[QUOTE=Traitor Yankee;144979]Why can no one but Alaskan mariners possibly do the job C. Captain? Smart competent mariners from no matter where they have operated or are from should be able to learn and adapt with the correct support from management. That support from the client and employers is what is key, not the mariners mailing address.
It used to be that no one but a coon ass could run a mud boat. Yet I have friends on boats full of New Englanders managing to not hit everything in fourchon. Your rhetoric about Alaskan mariners only is the same as that, but with a smugger and slightly less chewing tobacco filled delivery.[/QUOTE]
Any decent mariner with good basic seamanship skills can learn to operate anywhere on any type of vessel within a reasonable amount of time. How long that time is depends on the individual, what skills he brings to the table, the degree of complexity and difficulty of the new type of vessel and area, and luck. One thing for sure, it has absolutely nothing to do with tonnage. But some things are not suitable for everyone.
You can’t swing a codfish in Dutch Harbor without hitting a half dozen New England fishermen. Sometimes listening to the radio chatter at the Horseshoe in Unimak Pass gets me thinking that I must be on Georges Bank. I sometimes recognize the same voices from both places. Most of the people you meet on boats in Alaska are from Washington (like c.captain), but they come from everywhere. I will say that you won’t meet many people from the Gulf in Alaska, but there are some. I met a cajun from the bayou in Dutch Harbor the other day.
The main point is that the way things are done, and the way people are managed, in the Gulf, does not work in Alaska. Proven methods adapted to local conditions must be used.
Well said! It’s more about adapting the operation to the environment and what has evolved from local knowledge than the Mariners and operators themselves.
[QUOTE=tugsailor;144990]The main point is that the way things are done, and the way people are managed, in the Gulf, does not work in Alaska. Proven methods adapted to local conditions must be used.[/QUOTE]
that’s what I meant…Alaskan experienced mariners who know the waters and the way things are done up there. The most important thing to know that the fact that there is a different seamanship in Alaska is why it is different. I am sorry but you can try to teach a Gulf of Mexico mariner to do it the Alaska way but it is like trying to drive a 6p nail into a sheet of battleship armor to teach the WHY! The why only comes from EXPERIENCING the environment.
Corporate and company culture is a real thing. Individual boats can develop their own culture as well.
It is likely true in general that companies and boats that operate in Alaska will have developed a culture that’s better able to cope with the more challenging Alaskan environment. I think that is a more important factor then local knowledge alone.
Wait til Gary buys land somewhere up there and builds a CPort. He won’t be anyone’s mercy then. He will hire locals and set up a CCCFC chapter to keep the unions out. It’ll be like the Corleone’s leaving New York and setting up shop in Vegas. Next thing you know he will have half the state politicians in his pocket just like down here.
[QUOTE=Fraqrat;145000]Wait til Gary buys land somewhere up there and builds a CPort. He won’t be anyone’s mercy then. He will hire locals and set up a CCCFC chapter to keep the unions out. It’ll be like the Corleone’s leaving New York and setting up shop in Vegas. Next thing you know he will have half the state politicians in his pocket just like down here.[/QUOTE]
One thing different about Alaska is that there is very little privately owned land. Most of the state is federal wildlife refuges. The Native Corps own most of the rest, especially in Western Alaska. No one is going to build anything without partnering with the Natives and giving them job preferences
Politically, Alaska is quite insular. Drilling is not going to happen without local support, including Native support. There is not going to be any local support without local jobs.
[QUOTE=z-drive;144991]Well said! It’s more about adapting the operation to the environment and what has evolved from local knowledge than the Mariners and operators themselves.[/QUOTE]
Its also about the mindset of the mariners and the companies too. You have to be willing to take some calculated risks or you’ll never get anything done. But you have to know when to say no to the office. The office must understand that no means no. I can think of several instances over the years in Alaska when Joe Boss said jump, bayou mariner said “rog-oh” bossman, and they proceeded to get into serious trouble. That is part of what happened with Aiviq and Kulluk. If it had been a mariner at any of the local towing companies he would have said “No, not that route, and not now.”