What’s been going on in West Africa lately? Is Turdwater still sending poor unfortunates over there or has that work dried up since this oil crash? What about Chouest, or Hornbeck, or whoever? Do they have any kind of a presence in the Gulf of Guinea any more?
Tidewater is still there, or at least still have a registered company there:
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=39145024
Looking at Onne Port there appears to be some Tidewater boats active there as well:
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/index/ships/range/page:1/port_id:803/port_name:ONNE
But all Vanuatu flag though.
What does the Vanuatu flag mean? All local/Philipino mariners?
Just the flag state…flag of convenience. Panama…Bahamas…Liberia…Vanuatu…pick one.
Right, I’m familiar with the convenience flag concept, I’m just wondering what it means for American companies working in the African oil patch. If a Turdwater boat over in Nigeria has a Vanuatu flag is there a pretty good chance it hasn’t got any American mariners on it?
Most of the Tidewater vessels built and operated outside US waters are Vanuatu flag.
Maybe they are part owners of the company that manage the register from USA??
Here is some info: https://www.guidetoshipregistries.com/shipregistries-country/vanuatu
Crew is most likely locals, but officers could be any nationality. Tidewater hire lots of Russians/East Europeans/Filipinos to man their vessels worldwide.
The likelihood of any Americans on the boats are small. Even the shorebased management in Nigeria are probably not Americans, but not impossible.