Marine Platforms counting days to ‘African Inspiration’

In April 2013, the Nigerian company Marine Platforms Limited ordered a Havyard 857 subsea vessel. On 5 November, Havyard’s shipyard in Leirvik in Sogn will hand over the ship to the Nigerian company, and on the following day the ship will be named and duly celebrated in Fosnavåg in Møre og Romsdal county.

When the contract between Havyard and Marine Platforms was signed, many years had passed since the last time a Norwegian shipyard delivered a vessel to an African shipping company.

“We already knew of Marine Platforms because they had bought an offshore vessel from one Norwegian shipping company and chartered one from another’, says Havyard CEO Geir Johan Bakke.

“When I met Taofik Adegbite, who is a co-founder, owner and CEO of Marine Platforms, he made a good impression on me right from the start. The first impression has been confirmed, and we have cooperated very well throughout the project. There have been challenges along the way, and we have to admit that the challenges relating to financing have been somewhat greater than for most projects, but our cooperation has always been very constructive and solution-oriented. On the basis of our experience and the relationships we have built, we have great faith in the possibility of achieving more in cooperation with Marine Platforms and in the African market in future,” says the CEO.

Open ship, naming ceremony and shipping club

As usual, Havyard writes, Norway’s Minister of Finance Siv Jensen (photo below) has a tight schedule planned for her visit to Fosnavåg. First she will attend a conference hosted by Fosnavåg Shippingklubb. The plan is to hold the conference on board the ‘African Inspiration’, and it will begin with a speech by Siv Jensen and focus on the business opportunities for Norwegian enterprises in the Nigerian oil industry. Jensen will then serve as godmother and name ‘African Inspiration’, before concluding her visit to the Sunnmøre region by a meeting with some of the local enterprises.

The locals and other interested people will also have the opportunity to take a closer look at Havyard’s newbuild in Fosnavåg before the conference. The lower and upper secondary schools in Herøy municipality will receive a special invitation to visit the newbuild. Havyard 857 ‘African Inspiration’ is a high-quality state-of-the-art subsea vessel, and such vessels will always attract a lot of interest in ‘the offshore capital of Norway’.

The shipping company

Marine Platforms Limited is a Nigerian company that offers a range of services to the Nigerian and international offshore oil industry. Their services include well services, deepwater subsea solutions and the leasing of ships for various offshore assignments.

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 build 115 ‘African Inspiration’

A Havyard 857 Subsea IMR (Inspection Maintenance and Repair) ship 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.

Length:                                                                                          113 m

Breadth:                                                                                        22 m

Cabin capacity:                                                                          120 persons

Cargo deck:                                                                                 1,200 sq. m

Offshore crane with active heave compensation:      250 tonnes