Germany: FSG Wins WesternGeco’s Contract for Two Offshore Vessels

Flensburg shipbuilders have chalked up another remarkable success. Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) has signed a contract with globally operating seismic company WesternGeco, a frontrunner in its sector, for the construction of two offshore ships. The delivery of the 127 metre long vessels is planned for 2014.

The Flensburg newbuildings are for worldwide operation in the location and exploi- tation of seabed oil and gas reserves. “The sector we have succeeded in penetrating is a new and important field of business for us”, said FSG Managing Director Peter Sierk. The competition for the order was global and in order to win the contract, the Flensburg shipbuilders had to beat off competition from many strong and established rivals.

Sierk said “our proven contract and delivery reliability, absolute quality and worldwide reputation as well as our ability to react swiftly and competently to the demands of the customer” were the decisive factors in winning the contract. He added that FSG had been recommended to WesternGeco on a list of bidders and that the complete shipyard had been subjected to a concentrated audit process. “After careful consideration of the audit findings and after further detailed technical discussions WesternGeco was convinced that we could build these complex ships in outstanding quality and on time. This testifies to enormous trust in our performance ability – an ability which we will now undoubtedly prove once again”.

Both companies have the same philosophies, marked by pronounced research and development skills which will be bundled for this project.

The ships now ordered are the first of their type to be designed in this form especially for the envisaged seismic operations and which, in terms of efficiency, comfort, reliability and endurance, guarantee safe operation worldwide including the Arctic regions and in the most adverse weather conditions. They are being prepared for fitting with state-of-the-art equipment.

For the Flensburg shipbuilders, this order means not only further securing the jobs of more than 700 people but also puts the yard in a successful international position on an offshore market which is growing ever more important.

“We have repeatedly stressed that the FSG can only survive if it succeeds in broadening its pallet of activities”, said Peter Sierk. “This order puts us on an excellent path and we can count ourselves lucky that WesternGeco is travelling this path with us”.

At the same time Peter Sierk underscored the continuing importance of the Ro-Ro market for FSG. “We remain the world Number One – and we want to keep it that way”, he said.

Sierk expects further new orders from the RoRo and RoPax sector in the near future which will confirm FSG’s position in this market sector. The recruitment drive launched by the FSG in March came at just the right time. “Because of the new orders for our client Oceanex (the world’s biggest ConRo ferries), Rolldock (two multi-functional semi-submersible project cargo ships) and, now, WesternGeco, and with further interesting and challenging new orders now expected, we have a great need for qualified engineers”, Peter Sierk explained. Already, 35 new people have been hired, some in the yard’s new Hamburg office and some in Flensburg, and more are to follow. “We are doing everything we can to expand our leading role with respect to technology in the shipyard market – a strategy that makes such exciting orders possible”.

“Overall I am very optimistic about the future of our yard because this new order opens up excellent prospects”, Sierk added. “With our strategically correct product mix, we shipbuilders here in Flensburg could not be better equipped to face the future in a globalised and keenly contested shipyard market”.

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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, June 15, 2012; Image: fsg-ship