‘African Inspiration’ Cadets Conduct Training at Havyard

Marine Platforms Limited, which will soon be taking over a ship from Havyard, has sent five of its cadets to Havyard as part of their training programme.

In April 2013 Marine Platforms ordered a Havyard 857 Subsea ship from Havyard. The company will take delivery of the vessel from Havyard’s shipyard in Leirvik in Sogn this November. A group of young Nigerian cadets who will be serving their apprenticeships on board the ‘African Inspiration’ have spent three weeks at Havyard to get them even better prepared for their time on board.

Building the future

Taofik Adegbite, the founder and CEO of Marine Platforms, has a strong focus on the company also contributing to positive development in Nigeria. It is therefore very important to Adegbite to provide a relevant education for young people as part of this focus.

“Success or failure in business primarily depends on critical decisions made at different times,” says Adegbite. “Training our local cadets was born out of the need to empower the Local Nigerians to acquire unique technology competencies in the Marine Sector of the Oil & gas industry. It is believed that this training will demystify the complexities and ensure the needed knowledge associated with Vessels of this capacity. Havyard have further proven their end-to-end business outlook by partnering with us to train young Nigerians in Ship technology therefore laying credence to the correctness of our decision to build with them,” Adegbite concludes.

A busy schedule

The cadets arrived at Havyard’s yard in Leirvik in Sogn, where they stayed for the first two weeks. They got to know the yard and were informed about how Havyard builds its state-of-the-art vessels. The rest of the time was spent on board ‘African Inspiration’, where they had an opportunity to follow the building process and begin to get to know the ship and the systems on board.

“This has been a great opportunity for us to see the difference between school and practice, and we feel that it gives us a bit of a head start,” the cadets said. “We can study the ship in detail, and also take a closer look at its structure, which is very educational for us. And she is a wonderful vessel,” they said enthusiastically.

During the last week of their stay, the cadets visited Sunnmøre, where they were informed about the Havyard Group and met the project team that had worked on design, purchasing and engineering during the initial phase of the project.

“Our education teaches us how to operate a vessel, and it is very educational to gain insight into the whole process of designing and building a ship,” said the cadets. “We gain a better understanding of how everything is connected, and also greater assurance that the ship we will be working on will be safe and efficient. Havyard’s programme has been really valuable to us. It will enable us to get even more out of our cadet period and do a better job.”

New culture

It is the cadets’ first visit to Norway, and they have found meeting Norwegians a positive experience. “Everyone we have met has been friendly and helpful. If we need help or have questions, they stop to help us and do not go back to their work until we have been given the help we need,” the five men say, adding that they find the training programme at Havyard well-organised, with lots of useful information and good cooperation. “The only challenge involved in meeting a new culture is the food. We end up eating a lot of potatoes,” they say smiling.

The shipping company

Marine Platforms Limited is an indigenous Nigerian company that offers a range of services to the offshore oil industry in Nigeria and internationally. Their services include well services, deepwater subsea solutions and vessel chartering and leasing for various offshore operations.

Taofik Adegbite founded the company together with two other partners and is now head of the company. Marine Platforms’ head office is in Lagos, and it has an operations base near Port Harcourt on the south coast of Nigeria and a technical operations office in Aberdeen in Scotland. The company was voted Nigerian enterprise of the year in 2013.

Havyard Ship Technology NB 115 ‘African Inspiration’

A Havyard 857 Subsea IMR (Inspection Maintenance and Repair) vessel that will be used for installation, maintenance and repair work on oil installations on the seabed. Designed by Havyard Design & Solutions in Fosnavåg and built at Havyard Ship Technology in Leirvik in Sogn.

Press Release, September 10, 2014