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Olympic Shipping: Shared knowhow

Fosnavåg: Stig Remøy grew up on Remøy, an island in Herøy, a municipality with a long history of fishing. His father and grandfather were fishing masters, and it was natural for him to choose the same profession.
A Master Mariner, Remøy is now keen to share his knowledge with the next generation of seafarers. As well as fishing, Remøy is a significant name in the offshore support vessel sector via his 1996-founded Olympic Shipping. Today, Olympic has close to 1,000 employees, operating 24 vessels worldwide.
Within the maritime cluster in Møre in the northwest of Norway, a handful of shipowners have joined hands in building a simulation centre. The owners, led by Remøy, are aiming to make this outpost a maritime knowledge hub.
“We are both competitors and collaborators working together, aiming at sharing technology. We all see the marketing effect of promoting us as a leading maritime centre,” says Remøy, explaining the rationale for the combined NOK450m ($65m) outlay.
The simulation centre is located in Fosnavåg where local owners control a fleet serving the oil industry valued at NOK40bn. The area is also well served by a number of yards. Leading French offshore player Bourbon has also chosen to set up its Norwegian headquarters here.
“It’s all about the people now if one wants to be among the best, one needs to be innovative, smarter and greener,” says Remøy who has a traditional maritime background but is well aware that the future lies with ever-increasing automation of operations. He sees training from computer-based technology as the future.
Remøy has seen by his own experiences the need to continually update the skills of his crew. Four vessels from Herøy were working in the Gulf of Mexico when BP’s Macondo accident occurred resulting in widespread environmental damage and media attention. He remembered he could sit on his computer in Fosnavåg and watch oil flow out from the pipeline with a camera on his remote operated vehicle, just days after the accident. Incidents of this scale prove the need for simulators, he stresses.
The owners behind the centre reckon they have around 3,000 staff that need to be put through the centre, and that the need for additional training is a never-ending story. In 2013, Remøy sent his crew on 600 courses and 80 audits.
Among other shareholders in the centre are Bourbon and Havila.
Remøy is one of 17 owners profiled in the latest issue of Maritime CEO magazine which readers can access for free here.  [09/12/14]

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