Dutch offshore firm Heerema Marine Contractors has decided to discontinue its offshore pipe lay activities as part of a strategic transition at the company.
“The decision follows a further review and commercial evaluation in early 2018 of HMC’s current position in the highly competitive pipe lay market which continues to suffer from significant overcapacity,” it said in a statement.
Hareema will cease pipe lay activities immediately although it will honour current commitments in ongoing projects. Deep water construction vessel Aegir will be used as heavy lift vessel in future, while around 350 permanent jobs will be lost via forced redundancies.
Pieter Heerema, chairman of Heerema Marine Contractors, commented: “Dictated by the difficult market conditions we have to change into a different kind of organization. I deeply regret the consequent loss of trusted and professional colleagues who have helped building our strong reputation in the offshore (pipe lay) market. At the same time we have to continue our process of transforming into a marine contractor which is leaner, more efficient and capable of benefiting from the opportunities the offshore market still represents.”
Heerema has taken up an interim CEO role to help the company through a restructuring which will see a focus on offshore structures, decommissioning of platforms and the execution of projects in the renewables sector. The company is currently searching for a permanent CEO.
