“Working in different environments, different departments and different continents”
Like many Naval Architecture students in the Netherlands, I was given the opportunity to write my thesis for Allseas. Therefore I became part of the R&D department, which like today, consisted of many young engineers. Emphasis in the R&D work was developing the famous Pieter Schelte Platform Removal vessel. After successful completion of my graduation, I was offered a job within the same department, which I gladly accepted. Besides design and engineering, the team members were heavily involved in PR (exhibitions) and industry discussions on platform removal around the North Sea.
After about 4 years, in the meantime having moved to the Excalibur neighbour, it became evident that the Pieter Schelte project would be postponed, so I decided to move to the Pipelay Installation Department and learnt the ins and outs of pipelaying on several North Sea projects.
In 2003 I was sent to the Houston project office, being involved in several projects in the Gulf of Mexico, including assisting in the operations offshore on Lorelay and Solitaire.
In 2004, living in The Netherlands again, I was the lead engineer on the exciting Snøhvit project, the first project by Allseas in The Barents Sea, above the Polar Circle.
When word came that Allseas had plans to build another pipelay vessel, I moved back to Design, being part of the engineering and construction team that developed this new vessel Audacia, both in the Delft office and during construction at the Keppel Verolme Yard. We designed and built this vessel in a record-breaking two years!
When Audacia was nearly finished, I was sent to the other side of the world, to a place I was really keen on moving to with my wife and kids: Perth, Western Australia. This time, for yet another big pipelay project (Woodside Pluto LNG), the biggest so far for Allseas in this part of the world.
What’s keeping me interested in working for Allseas all these years is illustrated above: being able to work in different environments, different departments and different continents, representing a company that is leading in the pipelaying business.