BSM continues to strengthen its position in the demanding offshore industry. At the end of last year, the company established a joint venture with Rawabi Vallianz Offshore Services to bring BSM’s expertise to the Saudi Arabian market.
More than a quarter of today’s oil and gas supply is produced offshore, mostly in the Middle East, the North Sea, Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caspian Sea. While offshore oil production has been relatively stable since 2000, natural gas output from offshore fields has risen by more than 50% over the same period. Offshore electricity generation, mainly from wind, has increased rapidly in recent years, notably in the relatively shallow coastal waters of Europe’s North Sea.
Oil rigs, gas platforms, jackups and wind farms located offshore require servicing, maintenance and support which is complex, challenging and at the mercy of the elements; these require specialised ships.
The offshore sector is an increasingly important market segment for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM). Offshore vessels are technically complex making the technical management highly demanding and in addition the clients, and the client’s clients, are omnipresent onboard the vessel. This is completely different than for merchant vessels and requires a different mindset of the crew, super intendency and of course more refined operational, documentation and safety procedures. The same applies to crew management. Seafarers are required to have special skills that are not necessarily required in merchant shipping, whereas some similarities exist for oil major requirements with respect to crew matrix. “Not everyone who can do ship management can automatically do offshore ship management,” Nick Topham, Managing Director of BSM Germany, sums it up. The requirements are very specific and customized. “As a leader in the ship management industry, we know our clients need extra attention in project focused businesses. This is exactly where we can contribute our expertise.”
BSM has over 25 years of experience managing a wide variety of offshore vessel types with a cumulative track record of about 80 vessels covering almost 20 different offshore vessel types. Today, the managed fleet comprises a wide range of specialized dynamic positioning (DP)2 and DP3 vessels, such as Service Operation Vessels (SOV), offshore accommodation vessels, Floating Production Storage and Offloading units (FPSO), customized subsea construction and decommissioning, Anchor Handler Tug Supply (AHTS), Platform Supply Vessel (PSV), Dive Support Vessel (DSV), and others.
BSM’s strength in the offshore vessel ship management sector include responsiveness, regionally based support that is provided through highly trained and specialised personnel, wholly owned training centres incorporating use of state-of-the art full mission bridge simulators, software application solutions, an established crew pool with experience in operating a wide range of offshore production and support and maintenance vessels.
Contract signing with Nick Topham (left), Managing Director of BSM Germany, and Ahmed AlQadeeb, Vice President, Oil and Gas, Rawabi Vallianz Offshore Services.
BSM is now able to share its experience with the Saudi Arabian market through a joint venture announced in November last year with Rawabi Vallianz Offshore Services (RVOS). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has some of the world’s largest oil reserves and a mature extraction industry supported by an established offshore service chain. In addition, the Kingdom is opening up further to global markets seeking high international quality standards and procedures whilst being a highly demanding and specialized market. Rawabi Vallianz Offshore Services is one of the leading suppliers of offshore vessels within this market with a fleet of more than 40 offshore vessels. BSM can access the market to provide crew, technical and additional ship management services as an “in Kingdom supplier” through this partnership.
BSM benefits from RVOS’s extensive knowledge of the Saudi Arabian offshore landscape and its regional client base. In turn, RVOS gains access to global markets through BSM’s international presence, and to its pool of experienced offshore crew and industry-leading training and talent recruitment processes. Moreover, Rawabi benefits from the customized IT systems used by BSM for efficient ship management and developed by MariApps, a wholly owned subsidiary of BSM.
Nick Topham said at the signing ceremony: “We are delighted to form a joint venture with Rawabi as together we explore opportunities in Saudi Arabia. The two companies have many commonalities, both being family-owned businesses with an eye on continuous growth and technological development.“
