Singapore’s Keppel Offshore & Marine said that during 2015 it reduced its direct staff and subcontracted workforce by around 13,900 as it braced itself “for a possibly long winter.”
The numbers were revealed in Keppel Corporations annual results, the company saying it is optimising its operations and allowing for natural attrition of its workforce. Direct staff dropped by around 6,000 across all of Keppel’s yards, while a further 7,900 subcontractors in Singapore have been let go.
Keppel said that it also redeployed some offshore staff to its marine operations such as Keppel Shipyard, which focuses on repair and conversion projects.
Keppel Offshore & Marine secured around $1.8bn ($1.26bn) of orders in 2015, however financial problems facing Brazil’s Sete have cast serious doubts on several huge contracts worth approximately $7bn.
