Guest column: Flexibility; a true core value for us

The first offshore operation started end 1940s and looking back many developments have been materialised and plenty more innovations will come to fruition. Workfox joined in over 20 years ago, gaining experience and expertise within the services side of the offshore industry. Our track record and competence is, I proudly say, reflected in our people, assets and company procedures and safety statistics. And anchored in competence we use flexibility, one of our main company values, to assist us in maintaining a strong position into the future and challenges ahead. But why flexibility?

Due to innovation and efficiency the operating models of the entire offshore industry are subjected to change. To participate with the latest developments we choose to adjust but more importantly we want to anticipate, resulting to be in the lead, offering the best solutions at any given moment for our customers. This requires flexibility in our way of thinking and in the way we operate, even if this means to fundamentally change former approaches. Staying open to change.

We service the oil and gas industry as well as the wind market. Different fundamentals within the same offshore environment require flexibility from an organisation. Both markets however meet each other in seeking cost effectiveness: one, in order to lengthen the lifecycle of the industry, the other to cut costs in specific segments of the supply chain. For this reason we are investing in assets on both the high end as well as the low end of the fleet spectrum in order to contribute and anticipate to the markets needs and wishes.

Our Seafox 5 jack-up unit is a fine example of such an investment. She is equipped to install foundations and turbines for the wind industry, but has proven to be an efficient workhorse for the oil and gas industry giving platform installation assistance and hookup support. Her multitasking capabilities, as well as that of our human capital operating on- and offshore, directly leads to cost effectiveness for our customers in both markets. Allowing them to use just one jack-up for a broad spectrum of support services creates efficiencies by definition.

And flexibility was at the very heart of the creation of a new W2W vessel, the Seafox X. Her functionality anticipates one of wind industry’s main target: reducing costs per megawatt. Optimising offshore logistics like replacing or reducing heliflights, offering crew comfort and providing safe but efficient daily operations are combined in one vessel. We are currently investigating this addition of our fleet together with several market players, both in oil and gas as in wind.

So you see why flexibility is an important core value that is embedded in our company in order to innovate and participate to the requirements of the markets we operate in, now and in the future. Once competency has been established and reliability is created, flexibility can be used to maintain your position within your market as times are changing.

Keesjan Cordia
Managing Director Workfox B.V.