The vision of… Harold Linssen

This year, Harold Linssen will celebrate his tenth anniversary as managing director of Keppel Verolme, a shipyard in Rotterdam-Botlek, the Netherlands, that specialises in refits, repair and maintenance of big offshore platforms. ”My work is extremely dynamic, and every day offers new levels of excitement. The big and challenging projects we take on at the yard never fail to motivate and spur me on to do better each time”, shares Linssen.

Keppel Verolme is part of Keppel Offshore & Marine, a network of 20 yards worldwide with headquarters in Singapore. The yards are situated at strategic locations to be near their customers and their markets. Linssen says: ”Shipyard Verolme was bought by the Keppel Group in 2002, because it is the biggest yard in the North Sea region active in this market and Keppel wanted us to be part of their network. The owners of offshore units in this region can get their maintenance work done in Rotterdam. Often these parties also order their newbuilds with the group. Repeat customers are loyal to the group and leverage the worldwide network that Keppel has. An advantage of being part of such a network is that you are seen as part of the group, which gives you a strong basis and foundation. We also collaborate on certain projects, where one part of a project is done in Rotterdam for example, and the other parts of the project at other yards across the group.” 350 fixed term employees currently work at Keppel Verolme and projects are carried out in close operation with subcontractors.

After graduating from the Maritime Institute De Ruyter in Flushing, the Netherlands, Linssen started his career at Wijsmuller. ”I worked as an engineer at sea, but at some point I wanted to start building my life onshore and became a project manager at Wilton Fijenoord yard”, Linssen shares. ”The yard Verolme Botlek was part of the same holding and in 1994, I was contracted to Verolme. While Wilton Fijenoord did a lot of machine work, at Verolme it was more about the big steel works and the people working there were very enthusiastic, which made me want to work there too. In 1995, I

Our big and challenging projects continue to motivate me

became a project manager at Verolme. Through the years, I was given more responsibilities and one year after Keppel Offshore & Marine bought Verolme, I became its managing director. We work in a pleasant atmosphere and our people stay with us for a long time. That is important to me, that our people enjoy their work with us.

If not, we analyse and assess why and take the appropriate remedial actions.”

Memorable projects

About 100 vessels and units arrive and berth at the Rotterdam yard each year. Over the years, the company completed many interesting projects, some of which were very memorable to Linssen: “I was a project manager during the refit of Heerema’s Balder in 2001, when the semi-submersible crane vessel was turned into a deep water construction vessel, a huge, complex project that took ten months to complete. The cooperation with the client was excellent and we worked together toward a common goal, which made the course of the cooperation very smooth. In 2005, we performed the lengthening of one of Royal Caribbean’s cruise vessels, the Enchantment of the Seas. This very dynamic, complex and challenging project had to be finished in a very short time span of seven weeks and received a lot of media attention. Another very interesting project I remember well was the conversion of Allsea’s Audacia. The client knew exactly what he wanted and was looking for a yard that would be able to convert a bulk carrier into a pipe laying vessel. This collaboration also went really well. What I really like about my j ob is that we have many different customers, and for every customer, we always strive to seek out the best solutions that are customised to their needs and requirements.”

At the time of writing the Stena Spey, a semi-submersible drilling rig owned by Stena Drilling, was berthed at Keppel Verolme for upgrading works. The work scope includes dry-docking, maintenance works and the installation of a new crane and the upgrade of the helideck and accommodation module, a big project that takes about three to four months. Also Rowan Gorilla VI, a jack up drilling rig owned by Rowan Companies, is currently in the yard for a special periodic survey and soon a BP FPSO will arrive from the field to be cleaned and prepared to be sold. “Another interesting project we are currently working on is Saipem’s semi-submersible drilling rig Scarabeo 5, a sister of Scarabeo 6 which left the yard early December 2012. This unit, at our yard for maintenance works, was dry docked in an ‘old-fashioned’ way using a camel-barge, where the barge was placed between the floaters of the rig and once de-ballasted under the rig, is given additional buoyancy, hence allowing the unit to be placed on blocks in our large drydock with its eight propellers still attached”, Linssen explains, referring to a method that has been in use since 1690, when the ‘ship camel’ was invented by Dutchman Meeuwis Meindertsz Bakker. A ship camel is an external floatation tank that can be fitted to a ship to increase her buoyancy or reduce her draught. The ship camel is partially sunk using ballasts, installed on ship, and water is then pumped

Safety is something you can distinguish yourself with

out. The increased volume provided by the camels allow for the system to float in a reduced draught. Linssen further explains: ”For this project we collaborated with Boskalis/Smit and used their expertise regarding ballasting. We often work together with companies from the Netherlands. It is not a rule, but there are just so many knowledgeable Dutch companies that we have worked with a lot and have grown with us regarding safety rules for example.”

The importance of safety

”Safety is an important component of our business”, Linssen continues. ”The basis of safety is a good measurement system, as you need to know where you stand. 15 years ago we had a different measurement system, which is out-of-date now. To update such a system, you need to consider the whole industry. We learned a lot from our clients and shared our experiences and practices with the large oil companies. It is not sufficient to just report an incident, but more importantly, we need to examine the cause of the incident and we do this by investigating the incident on several levels. Based on the detailed information, we make an analysis and determine what needs to be improved, and later we check if these improvements are lived up to.” Two to three people are permanently working on this, as compared to ten years ago, which saw only one person. ”It is important to us and to our clients that we are permanently working on safety, as this is something you can distinguish yourself with from your competitors. If you have a bad track record, clients may use that as an argument against you. It is a process that takes time and energy, but that is very important.”

As Keppel Verolme is part of a larger network and mainly operates in the offshore market, the crisis has not hit the company too hard. Linssen shares: ”Our clients operate in a market segment that continuously asks for investments, machines and drilling platforms that constantly need to be improved. Our client base has stayed the same, however we see a bit less speculative clients. I expect this year to also be a good one for us. Singapore, too, saw many new orders and also deliveries, and I think we are doing well overall. The North Sea triangular, think of Aberdeen, Stavanger and the Netherlands, is the cradle of many drilling-related technological developments. The industry is constantly innovating solutions to operate in difficult and harsh offshore environments.”

Sustainable investments

Sustainability is another important issue to Linssen. ”We have a sustainability report, we measure our actions and set goals to minimise emissions and the use of energy, and to use our natural resources more efficiently. Some 

It is an interesting challenge to connect the industry with educational institutes

measures we have taken include renovating our head office and renewing the facades to make them more energy efficient for heating and electric usage. We also plan to make use of geothermal energy and perhaps even solar power. These are only small steps, but being environmentally friendly has to start with these well thought of steps. In the past we used many diesel-driven generators for air and electric power, and the use of hydrocarbons fuel resulted in lots of emissions which is a problem. Therefore, we started to change our power grids to enable them to substitute diesel with electricity. The Keppel Group has shown their support for us regarding our long-term vision about sustainability investments.”

For the future, Linssen is mainly interested in the offshore wind industry: “We see a future in offshore wind and want to get involved more in this area. Keppel FELS already built the Seafox5- a self-propelled installation jack-up vessel designed to perform turbine foundation installations, turbine hook-up and maintenance service works. Keppel Verolme also delivered a 400 MW OWF transformer platform for a German client, offshore the German coast. Moreover, Keppel invested in a Norwegian engineering company that specialises in jackets for the wind market. As is clearly seen, we are investing in this specific industry and keeping a close watch on its developments. There is a lot to gain as this industry delivers clean energy and generates jobs in regions where the turbines are placed.”

”Don’t call it a problem, take action”

Since the 1960s, Keppel Verolme has its own education centre to train metal workers and mechanics. ”So far, we have trained about ten to 15 youngsters every year. Many of them will undergo more training during their time with us and establish a career in our company. We also hire college and university graduates for our trainee programme, where they can find out what their strengths are. As a company, we are always in need of good people and because of our education centre, we found a solution to meet this demand. Greater attention has been placed on the maritime industry over the years, and we are seeing more cooperation in this field between the individual sectors. For example, the dredging companies are now collaborating with civil engineering companies either to attract youngsters or funds. We can benefit most from collaborating instead of pursuing individual actions.”

Linssen continues: ”It is an interesting challenge to connect the industry with educational institutes, as the industry assumes that their appeal is heard, while the educational institutes think they are doing a good job in educating youngsters. Lately, technical studies have gotten a more positive reputation again and the educational institutions can profit from that. The industry, however, should keep the communication lines open and help the institutions, for example with the curriculum, so they can continue to offer good education.” During last year’s Maritime Week, an initiative of the maritime branch organisations, the industry was asked to give maritime guest lectures. Linssen also participated in this initiative: ”I gave two guest lectures of 50 minutes each to two classes of eleven- and twelve-year-old kids of the elementary school my children go to. I was a bit nervous and worried that my story would not be interesting enough. However, I was surprised at their enthusiasm and eagerness to learn. These kind of initiatives help to get children excited about technology. You don’t educate the young for your yard per se, but for the region as a whole; they will come to you on their own as they will have heard about you. Next year we will have a fascinating project with the world’s largest cruise vessel being in our dock, and we will use that for publicity, too. We still have a long way to go to show the outside world what we do in Rotterdam, and significant projects such as the cruise vessel docking are but just one of the many we seek to achieve.”

Gail van den Hanenberg