Excellence, 7th Edition - BBC Chartering

Raising the barOur crew makes the differenceIn July 2011 oilfield services firm McDermott InternationalInc. won the subsea contract for deepwateroffshore engineering, construction and installation on theMacedon project. The SURF (Subsea, Umbilical, Riser andFlowlines) contract is McDermott‘s first SURF project inAustralia. The work scope includes detailed engineering,procurement, fabrication, transportation and installationof a 48-mile-long (77-kilometer-long), 20-inch-diameterpipeline, as well as the installation of subsea umbilicalsand flexible flowlines in waters measuring up to 591 feet(180 meters) deep.As we reported earlier, BBC Chartering was contractedto support the logistics and coordinate all aspects ofthis unique assignment through it`s project division. Theshore based team was aware of the fact, that loadingand transporting cables of that magnitude requiresmuch attention to detail, a high level of commitmentand a quality attitude. And realizing such a projectsuccessfully also needed good collaboration and opencommunication not only with the client, but also withvessel and crew.For the BBC Chartering office team it was an excitingexperience to work on this project that also representeda ‘first of its kind’ for BBC Chartering. The team wasasked to deliver a ‘turnkey project’ coordinating allworks throughout the process of planning, engineering,manufacturing, and executing the transport.The project team started with calculating and planningthe required sea-fastening elements ensuring their designwas sufficient and worked the first time. Delivering thejob however is crucial and managing the interaction ofclient, crew and suppliers during loading and unloadingoperations represent ‘the moments of truth’ for anyproject. In this case operations had to be managed overvarious locations in Europe and as stated before, the‘BBC Nordland’ was discharged in Batam (Indonesia)page 20 | excellence