eSea 17 - The Great Bag of China - What's the Secret of good Branding?

Carload of Hopes >Revolving door >

Caught Flagging >Logomotions >

Hard Drive for Soft Skills >Perfect Pressure Performance >

Marstal - port of passion and ferry tales >Rockall - All Rock or Oil Rock? >

eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 17/ 2 0 1 4

EM AGA ZINE FROM M A ERSK TR A INING

17

The Great Bag of China- what's the secret of good branding?

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Caught FlaggingThere can’t be many of us who have not encountered stress in the workplace – if not as a personal situation certainly as from an observational standpoint. But stress is a vital part of the ability to survive, and create. Animals without stress are food. >

LogomotionsCompanies are often made or defined by their corporate logo – it’s their face to the outside world, but how do you ensure you look your best? Here we have selected a handful of logos, each with a different origin. >

Carload of HopesJonny is so convinced that the future is in renewable energy that he sold his car to be able to survive the twelve weeks it will take him to gain the level two diploma which will launch his latest career. >

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Hard Drive for Soft SkillsWhen you spend over $850 million on a vessel it could be deemed prudent to make sure that those who operate it know exactly what they are doing. >

Perfect Pressure Performance In the search for oil and gas the opportunity to go through potential scenarios and develop new work practices to target the best result, is vital. >

Marstal - port of passion and ferry tales The capital of Denmark’s sunniest island basks in its glorious seafaring past, but wonders what is on the horizon. >

Rockall - All Rock or Oil Rock?Dustbowls, desserts, barren islands, harsh seas – oil and gas doesn’t normally hide itself in beauty. Geology has dealt a wealthy card to countries who, without the discovery of crude oil and gas, might have struggled economically. >

Mein KaffeThe idea started as a brainwave and ended as ‘a stupid chain of unfortunate circumstances’. They are the words of an executive from a German furniture company who recently put a new rage of ceramic mugs on their shelves, briefly. >

Revolving door opens the information highway ‘What is a brand? It is that full perception of everything we do, how we do it and how it is perceived. So it’s not just one thing.’ >

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The Great Bag of China – the cover photograph

came as a warm joke from a colleague, but

it wonderfully captures what some of this

edition of eSea is about, how to place a product

or brand into the mind of others.

The Maersk Training mule bag is undoubtedly

a world traveller. Nearly every course

participant leaves with one crammed with

notes and other essentials. What they end

up doing is another thing. Perhaps they are

stuck in the corner of a home office or cabin,

probably they are recycled to become the

bearer of groceries or computers, laundry

or schoolbooks. Probably, perhaps, but what

doesn’t change is that the logo goes out there

into the world of other people’s subconscious

intake.

Here’s a test. Chose a global brand of sports

clothing and time how long you can go

without seeing it. It’s like trying to avoid the

World Cup, its there at every turn. What

started us on a look at branding in this edition

was a story in eSea 16 where in Marstal

Maritime Museum, there hangs a six-pointed

star on a pale blue background. There was a

obvious similarity to a seven–pointed star and

the one ship company gracefully accepted that

and removed it from the vessel’s funnel.

Here we talk with the current custodian of

that seven-pointed star finding out how it is

used and protected today. That opened the

door to some other branding tales.

One story that isn’t in our remit is that of a cut-

price brand of clothes. Last week in Northern

Ireland a woman noticed when ironing the

trousers she’d been wearing for months,

that under the pocket flap with the company

name and washing instructions was a neatly

sewn patch. On it, written in Chinese, was a

cry for help about conditions in the factory.

Getting the message across is truly a global

experience.

The name Marstal will travel the world in a

positive way. The latest Triple-E, the biggest

ships in the world, bears the name and we

return to the small island port to look at life

in a town with so much maritime history and

ask how it looks to the future.

We join a trio of men who with vastly different

backgrounds, see a similar future. They are the

first intake in a scheme with the twin virtues

of creating a jobbing skills community in an

industry crying out for them, the maintenance

army for the thousands of offshore wind

turbines now contributing to world energy.

And looking to the future, in the next edition

of eSea, which will be out after the holidays,

we visit Siemens to see how they train ‘their

army’ of technicians. Fittingly their offices

are on the site of the blacksmith’s workshop

who first made Bonus windmills for farmers

to draw water. In a corner sits an thirty-year

old turbine which with five metre blades

generated 30 Kw of power, enough for a few

households, the latest have 75 metre blades

and generate 6 Gw, supplying 6000 homes.

editorial

Richard [email protected]

Hamburgefintsiv 4

5Carload of Hopes

tests which included both the

physical and mental kind. Jonny

was one of the chosen, as was

Michael Weightman, who joined

the course after a spell of twelve

years in jail, as a prison officer,

and Shane

Taylor a former merchant seaman

who saw this opportunity to the

offshore job he’d always wanted.

The twelve week course they

are on has the embracing title,

Level 2 Diploma Staying Safe in

the Wind Turbine Environment

(Onshore and Offshore) and is

itself very embracing and, with

a view to reality, it even includes

instruction in that final hurdle,

preparing a CV and performance

at the interview. The course is

split into twelve sections and

doesn’t stop at the end of the

day, there being preparation and

homework.

Understanding the need to be

physically fit Shane had just

returned from the gym when we

first spoke, Michael was writing

an essay intro into electrics

and electronics and Jonny was

driving home in his new car.

‘I’d paid my old car off, so I sold it

and have now bought this one on

a loan, ‘he said on his hands-free,

‘I need the money to survive and

to carry on with blade inspection

and spot repair courses. I then

have to hope that a job comes up.’

‘It is a risk I want to take, a career

I want to take,’ he added.

Michael too sees it as the future.

He’d been preparing for the day

the prison gates would be behind

him by going to college for two

years to qualify as an electrician.

Although only 33 he felt the need

for a new career to take him to

retirement and renewable energy

was the perfect one.

At 37 Shane is the senior of the

trio and apart from his time with

the merchant navy as an able-

bodied seaman, he’d spent time

a heights becoming a technician

and had taken a rope access

course, ‘so I’ve no worries about

being up there, in fact I really love

heights,’ he says.

What worries him a little is the

essays and even more so the

presentation – ‘but it is all about

getting you ready for that job

interview – it’s so far been very,

very thorough, there’s nothing

they haven’t thought of.’

We caught up with the trio on

week three of the course and will

be with them again at the end. ●

WEEK TOPIC

1 Health & Safety Introduction

2Client Contractor National Safety Group Safety Passport

3Introduction to Electrics and Electronics

4 Working at Height

5 First Aid

6 Manual Handling

7 Fire Awareness

8 Confined Space

9 Sea Survival

10-12Unit Catch up, Project Work & Portfolio Development

Level 2 Diploma Schedule

Hamburgefintsiv 6

Revolving door opens the information highway

The front doors at Esplanaden, the Maersk Group headquarters in Copenhagen, have been revolving for 35 years, keeping out drafts, noise and strays, keeping in heat and protecting the precious aura of a particular shade of blue. Or so it used to be.

7Revolving door

One person passing through

them recently was a freelance

television director, perhaps a little

bewildered and shocked about

the meeting he’d just had. He’d

come in to pitch an idea and left,

his mind abuzz with ideas and

opportunities. These had replaced

the anxiety on arrival of making

a novel proposal in what might

have seemed like the ultimate

crucible of conservative thought.

Over the past decade there’s been

a significant revolution within

Esplanaden and the revolving

door might well be its symbol. It

is a constant which maintains

a controlled atmosphere inside,

countering conditions outside

whilst allowing a free-flow of

ideas and information, in and out.

Esplanaden, once a journalistic

cul-de-sac, is now an information

highway. It has been recognised

as an innovative leader in

communicating, particularly in

relation to social media.

The television director had just

spent over an hour with Tobias

Lassen Falkencrone, Head of

Marketing and Branding, and

was leaving inspired and full

of positive hope that the series

proposal he’d tentatively made,

would itself be made. The major

difference in this new world

is that the director would be

granted access that promised to

be free from corporate colouring.

Now it was my turn. Meeting

Tobias is like an encounter with

a passionate evangelist, but

with one enormous difference

– he doesn’t try to force feed

you his own particular brand

of religion. Certainly he oozes a

certain shade of blue* with every

word, but there is no preaching

about the sacredness of the star,

the preciousness of the font.

I’d expected a pantone tone

referenced conversation with the

Ten Commandments on where,

when, why and how to place

the logo on everything from an

envelope to an antelope.

But no. The head of branding for

one of the three most identifiable

of Scandinavian commercial

names, sees the gold at the end

of the rainbow, not by following

colours, but by taping in on a

spirit. It is a spirit which he sees

distilled from the company’s long

established core values.

As Tobias views it, it is the pure

simplicity of the values which

makes them endure -, it is the

manner in which the business

card is exchanged, the quotation

made and not the exact shade of

the white star’s background that

makes the difference. Uprightness

he says will never go out of

fashion.

‘What is a brand?’ he asks. ‘A

brand is not just sales or just

marketing, it is not the wrapping

or lacquer on our cookies, it’s not

the logo on the brochures – the

brand is the sum of every single

contact point we have with every

single stakeholder out there.

‘From a look in the eye to the

handshake from the salesman

who is going out, to the email with

quote that gets to the customer

fast, to the presentation for

the annual general meeting, to

recognition of the star on the

funnel as the vessel comes in,

to the stories you read about us

in the newspapers – all of these

are part of and contribute to the

brand. It is that full perception of

everything we do, how we do it

and how it is perceived. So it’s not

just one thing.’

‘What is a brand?It is that full perception of everything we do, how we do it and how it is perceived. So it’s not just one thing.’

‘I’d like to think there is something special about the way we do things here.'

8Revolving door

One thing that Tobias’s

department is not, is a branding

police department. He points

out that it is too time consuming

and it serves very little purpose

‘because you are trying to stem

a flood. What I’ve wanted is to

educate, make people know why it

matters.’

Last year his department did a

survey in Kenya with students,

potential employees and business

people. It was focused on trying

to gauge Maersk’s footprint in

a country in which it has no

physical presence. Despite the

low local profile, around 50%

instantly recognized the logo, and

25% put it in the right category.

Whilst marketing takes your

resources and message outside,

Tobias spends much of his time

keeping the branding message

inside, getting it into the culture

so that when everyone of the

Maersk employees go through

the revolving door, those on the

outside see ‘a certain kind of

person.’ The words are treasured

ones for Tobias. It is not about

being the best, it is about being

distinctive in manner, approach

and how situations are tackled.

Quoting the late Mærsk Mc-

Kinney Møller ‘we are a “certain

type” of people,’ he says.

‘I’d like to think there is

something special about the way

we do things here,’ he says. He

turns again to the values which

define the company and plays

one off against the other. How

difficult is it to have pride, which

is a natural emotion, but within

the confines of remaining humble,

which is a value?

‘We are not satisfied with having

the most efficient ships in the

world, we want to go that one

mile further striving for better

performance with less effect on

the environment, as with the

Triple-E’s.’

Returning to the TV director

Tobias explains how he would

like to feel about how he reflected

on their meeting. ‘I hope he goes

away thinking, these are people

I want to work with, these are

stories I want to tell.’

‘We used to issue news releases

about annual reports, now we

have dialogues with journalists

and programme makers.

Everything we do on social

media is also acceptance of the

fact that the name of the game is

dialogue. We have to be where our

stakeholders are and allow them

to tell our stories as much as we

tell them. The real brand is not

defined by us, it is the sum of all

those touch points.’

The change in perception from

those in the world outside of

Esplanaden on how they view

the world of Maersk is palpable.

‘I think is it because we have

become decidedly better at telling

our stories. When I started, pride

was seen to run in conflict with

our value of humbleness. That’s

probably no longer so, there is

good reason to be satisfied at a job

well done.’ ●

* Pantone 631, if you must know.

‘We are not satisfied with having the most efficient ships in the world, we want to go that one mile further striving for better performance with less effect on the environment, as with the Triple-E’s.’

9

These days there can’t be many of us who have not encountered stress in the workplace – if not as a personal situation certainly as from an observational standpoint. But stress is a vital part of the ability to survive, and create. Animals without stress are food.

There can be few things that

provoke it more than a single

task resting on single shoulders,

like the role of designing a

company logo. Take the case of

the task Fred Brownell was given

one evening twenty years ago in

February, 1994.

The phone rang and the voice

at the other end made a clear

request, ‘we need a new national

flag, and need it in one week.’

The South Africans had known

it was coming and a nationwide

competition had attracted 7000

entries, but none of them worked.

As State Herald, the person

responsible for the country’s

emblems, Fred had known the

need, put a little thought into it,

but never married the thought

to the practical. They needed

the flag designed and then

approved by the existing and

outgoing administration and

then approved by the potential

incoming government... and then

100,000 produced! The country’s

flag manufacturers could only do

5000 a week, so it became a global

operation so that at the upcoming

election every polling station was

marked by the new flag.

DOWN TO FIVEFive designs from those already

submitted and two of Fred’s

instant versions were sent to

the F.W. de Klerk cabinet and

their eyes were drawn to one

in particular. It was agreed to

send it on to Nelson Mandela.

However the fax machine at

the headquarters of the African

National Congress was basic,

it was only black and white.

When Fred’s suggestion arrived,

someone was sent out to buy

colouring pencils. Such is the stuff

of legends.

They mightn’t have to send

someone out in New Zealand. In

the land of the long white cloud,

there is a call for a new flag, the

favourite being the silver fern on

a black background. Since silver

will be portrayed in white, next to

a pirate flag it will be the easiest

to deliver.

In certain countries flag

manufacturing is big business.

Leading flyers, the Danes,

Americans and the Swiss have

a passion for displaying their

colours, but at a cost. The average

lifespan for a flag flown daily is

between three to six months, the

bigger the flag, the shorter the life,

a bit like dogs. ●

Caught Flagging

10

It was Steve Jobs who designed

the original Apple logo, an over

fussy, elaborate confusion. It

was so out of place with his

company vision that it lasted a

very short time. Its replacement

was a rainbow coloured version

of the symbol which today is

probably the world’s most widely

recognized logo.

It is not without controversy.

There are several theories about

the distinctive bite on the side. Is it

a visual pun, byte as in megabyte?

Or is it Adam’s first move under

the tree of knowledge?

Often the most simple of ideas

are the best. By choosing the

name Amazon the company’s

founders stumble upon a nice

visual gag. The graphic designers

spotted it and underlined the

breadth of commerce available

on the website with a logo which

subtlety underlines services from

A to Z.

It was a sharp-eyed designer

who came up with this one, so

sharp that today most people

don’t see it until it is pointed out.

Typefaces play an enormous

part in portraying an image,

a culture, a product. Think of

Coke and you see one crisp font

instantly, think of Coco Cola and

you see another sweeping italic.

Now look at FedEx and see how

the positioning of the second

E and the X creates an arrow –

indicating service as straight and

fast and an arrow.

Stars have played a prominent

part in the identification of

vessels - the seven pointed white

star on a blue background has

a deeper, more precise meaning

than most. A.P. Møller’s father,

Captain Peter Mærsk Møller

was a deeply religious man.

On one voyage in 1886 he was

accompanied by his wife Anna

who became seriously ill. On

deck he prayed for her recovery,

noticing a particularly bright

star. Anna recovered and Captain

Peter put the white star on the

funnel of his first steamship, the

SS Laura as a reminder of that

Companies are often made or defined by their corporate logo – it’s their face to the outside world, but how do you ensure you look your best? Here we have selected a handful of logos, each with a different origin.

Logomotions

11Logomotions

anxious prayer answered – the

symbol has remained ever since.

Maersk’s distinctive and unique

typeface was designed by Danish

architect Acton Bjørn in 1973.

Perhaps the most simple of all

logos has perhaps the most

fairytale-like beginning. Carolyn

Davidson was a graphics student

who couldn’t afford the full course

so she had to sit out certain

lectures. Standing in a corridor

and missing out on oil painting

class, she met Phil Knight, an

assistant accounting professor

with a side job in running a sports

shoe distribution company Blue

Ribbon Sports. Knight said he

needed some charts for a sales

pitch and would pay her $2 an

hour – this was in the Sixties.

In 1971 Knight fell out with his

Japanese master company and set

up on his own asking Davidson

to come up with a logo for the

shoes. She doodled for two or

three weeks before presenting

the final five – ‘the swoosh tick’

was accepted but not embraced –

‘Well I don’t love it,’ said Knight,

‘but maybe it will grow on me.’

Davidson got paid $35 dollars for

her work. Twelve years later they

gave her a diamond swoosh and

shares in the company.

Many origins are shrouded in

mystery, mainly confused by

myth. The BMW logo falls into

the latter. It is not, as has been

frequently promoted, the image

of a spinning propeller. As the

Bayerische Motoren Werke

originated in a profoundly

proud region of Germany, it is

the Bavarian national colours,

white and blue that make up

the memorable quarters. The

significant order of the colours is

because by law you cannot use

the Bavarian flag for commercial

purposes, so they are reversed

on the BMW logo. The plane

connection emerged firstly

because the original company

RAPP made them, and then long

after the company had been

established a magazine published

artwork with the log emerging

from the spinning propellers of

two aircraft. The official company

line remains the story of the

national colours though true

BMW lovers will note that today’s

blue is a little greener than that of

yesteryear. ●

Product Placement – Maersk Training instructor Per Mazur, conducting a

safety awareness course in China snaps the Great Bag.

12

When you spend over $850 million on a vessel which is designed to work in a particularly hazardous environment, it could be deemed prudent to make sure that those who operate it know exactly what they are doing. Maersk Drilling’s new fleet of extra-large rigs and drill ships are just coming on line, crewed by many people new to their company, new to their way of doing things. By training standards they have spent a considerable sum in making sure those on board will work safely and efficiently.

Across industries traditionally

training is one of the first

casualties when harder times

are first encountered. From the

boardroom this makes perfect

sense, it is fairly easy to action

and also rapidly visible on the

bottom line. It is made easier

still when decision makers do

not understand the value that

training adds to a great many

factors critical to business

success, including safety,

efficiency, staff morale, personnel

recruitment and retention.

In safety critical industries, many

market leaders aspire to perform

better and to achieve higher

safety standards. Some prefer

different methods of framing and

achieving this objective, such as

High Reliability Organisations

(HROs) or Resilience Engineering.

One thing is for sure, that

investment in training tends to

be a common attribute of such

aspiring organisations and there

is a growing understanding of the

need for the non-technical aspect,

what some people refer to as soft

skills.

Human and organisational

factors, including deficiencies

in non-technical skills are

still frequently cited as causal

and/or contributory factors

in many of the recent oilfield

disasters and incidents. In a

number of offshore oil and gas

companies there is a degree of

maturity which recognises these

deficiencies are not the fault of

individuals, but due to the way

the organisation manages such

failings. Non-technical training is

one such component, along with

other measures, such as better

engineering controls with less

reliance on human intervention.

Whilst there are significant

safety concerns with incidents as

lagging indicators, the offshore

drilling industry continues

to push the boundaries for

Hard Drive for Soft SkillsBy Ed Corbett – Human Factors Specialist

13Hard Drive for Soft Skills

oil and gas extraction, with

deeper waters and deeper

wells; higher pressures and

higher temperatures. Based on

modern rig specifications, it is

easily possible that the bottom

of a well could be some eight

kilometres from the drilling team

on the surface. Maintaining safe

operations is therefore highly

reliant on the remote crew

receiving, interpreting and acting

on data from a range of sources.

MILLION DOLLAR HICCUPSAlong with the technical

challenge is the constant balance

with safety. Whilst safety often

resonates as priority number

one, a modern drilling rig can

cost up to $650,000 (US) per day

to the operating company to

hire, plus a similar sum again

in operating expenses. Day-

to-day tasks and performance

metrics are therefore also an

important factor, and often an

uncontrollable or subconscious

distractor from safety;

particularly logical decisions

based on true risk. If crews don’t

fully understand hazards and

risks, fail to recognise potential

decision biases, struggle to

identify safety issues from

‘background noise’, or are less

than 100% confident to raise a

safety concern, then operations

being stopped purely on safety

grounds is far less likely.

Whilst technological challenges

and time pressures exist, there

are also other issues in the

industry.

UNDER PRESSURECurrent growth in the offshore

drilling sector, particularly

for ultra deepwater and harsh

environment market segments

means that competent crew are

in significant demand. Whilst the

industry works hard to ensure

the current workforce is fully

trained and competent, there is

also pressure to crew new, even

more advanced rigs. Getting the

right people in such significant

numbers is therefore rarely

straightforward.

Oil and gas companies are also

under pressure in some areas of

operation to comply with local

government nationalization

schemes. These provide great

benefits to local employment, but

require significant effort to ensure

that accelerated competency

development is effective.

Training undertaken by the

new Maersk Drilling crews

incorporated non-technical skills

and combined classroom theory

and exercises with a number

of sessions in the simulator

over five days. This mix takes

account of different individual

learning styles and incorporates a

feedback loop through debrief and


coaching. It is anticipated that this

will translate to enabling teams to

function as higher reliability units,

increasing safety for well control

and overall drilling performance.

Initially training begins in the

classroom, with a significant

focus on the human factor over

the first two days. A first step is

to ensure that each drilling team

gains a greater understanding

of human limitations. This

includes issues associated with

perception, attention, memory

and cognitive biases. Whilst

drillers may sometimes have

initial scepticism of human factor

inclusion, they soon start to see

the potential negative impact of

human limitations, including our

subconscious irrationality.

INDECISION IS FINALEnhancing risk perception

forms a strong component at

this early stage as individuals

can sometimes be unaware how

certain apparently innocuous

actions, or lack of action, can

contribute to a major incident

causation or escalation. Without

an accurate understanding

of such risks, then other non-

technical skills, such as situation

awareness, communication and

decision-making are immediately

inhibited.

Each day there is also an exercise

in the advanced drilling simulator,

often lasting several hours. The

simulator provides a high fidelity

environment which closely

replicates the drillers’ cabin

offshore, including a 180 degree

view on to the drill floor and

many of the key human machine

interfaces, including the drillers’

‘cyber’ chairs. The participating

drilling crew are also able to

communicate with wider rig crew

via radio, and the telephone, as

they would do in reality. All other

rig personnel are role-played by

the instructors. This provides a

fully immersive environment for

the drilling team.

THE TALKING TOOLBOXThroughout the simulation

sessions the participants are

under visual and auditory

observation from instructors

in the control room. Here, the

unravelling scenario can be

monitored and modified in line

with each training scenario

and learning objectives.

The instructors also record

observations for the debrief and

feedback sessions.

Simulations usually begin

with a shift handover. This

offers HF instructors the first

opportunity to observe safety

critical communications.

The participants then begin

an exercise, which may be a

relatively straightforward task,

or something with the potential

to escalate into a serious incident.

Whether a situation does escalate

into something more serious

depends entirely on how the

team responds to the situation,

as would be the case offshore.

Processes and systems used


offshore, such as toolbox talks

and genuine procedures can also

be used by participants.

Throughout the simulations,

both technical and human

factor instructors monitor

the progress of participants,

recording key notes on good

performance and improvement

areas. If crew numbers permit,

then a member of the drilling

crew is also sometimes included

in the position of observer with

the instructors. This provides

the opportunity for further

development of senior drilling

crew skills relating to providing

feedback and coaching to other

team members.

DEBRIEF ENCOUNTERSAt the end of each simulation

session follows a team debrief.

The participants are encouraged

to self-facilitate this process to

a large extent, identifying what

aspects of the exercise went well,

and which could have been better.

Input is then also provided from

the human factor and technical

instructors to add further detail

if required. If deemed appropriate,

one-to-one feedback and coaching

can also be incorporated. The

debriefing and learning process

is expected to be applied in the

field once the participants return

to their rig. The goal here is to

embed reflection and continuous

improvement (with the inclusion

of the human factor) into offshore

operations.

Competence comprises only a

part of the picture for optimum

performance and safe operations.

MOSAIC simulator complex

sessions will also include

research on human failure.

This will enable more detailed

understanding of failures in

abnormal and emergency

situations, which is often only

possible in predictive risk

analysis and retrospective

incident investigation, both of

which have their limitations.

It is anticipated that use of

the simulator complex for this

purpose will support future

sociotechnical system design,

with equipment design changes

likely to offer significant

human reliability advantages.

Professor Rhona Flin and PhD

student Ruby Roberts from the

University of Aberdeen are also

involved in research relating

to MOSAIC, which will build a

greater understanding of drillers’

situation awareness. ●

Hamburgefintsiv 16

Perfect Pressure Performance

background of the downhole

simulation were the result of

accumulated knowledge from

continuous R&D and modelling

in drilling. This knowledge was

assembled in an Integrated

Drilling Simulator. Models

with the appropriate degree of

complexity were selected, and

the models improved where it

was seen as necessary, and re-

implemented using methods

that were optimized with

respect to challenges in real time

applications and training.

The programme brought into play

torque/drag, rate of penetration,

topside as well as downhole

pressure and flow. All the relevant

facts and figures were fed into a

bank of computers which worked

off each other, indeed the topside

and the downhole were two

separate simulators integrated

into one simulator. Integration was

not confined to hardware since the

program included the involvement

of an onshore engineering team.

In all there were a total of ten

prepared cases. ●

“The testing lead to several

significant changes to the

operator’s manual and

operational procedures. At

the same time it allowed the

engineering team to test and

rectify the drilling program

prior to deployment of the

operation. The MPD technique

was tested in the simulator

as well, and the various

contingency procedures

were assessed. It allowed

the rig contractor, operator,

and the MPD provider to

find the operational routine,

communication and best

practice prior to start operation

offshore. The team’s decision

trees where reviewed and

updated during the simulator

training.

Since the crews actively had

a part in the final revision

in the manual, the operator

experienced that the crews took

an ownership in the making

of the manual and the offshore

operation.

As a resultant effect, the drilling

crew and MPD operators rapidly

adapted to the MPD procedures

agreed upon during training,

when operation started.”

Source: IADC/SPE 167958,

Harald Blikra and Giancarlo

Pia, Talisman Energy Norge AS;

Just Sverre Wessel, Maersk

Training; Morten Svendsen,

Rolv Rommetveit and Sven Inge

Ødegård, eDrilling Solutions.

Conclusion on the research

17

Hamburgefintsiv 18

Marstal - port of passion and ferry tales

A while back their hearts sank when they lost their ferry link; now

their spirits have soared again with one of the biggest ships in the

world being named after their town; for the people of Marstal don’t

have blood in their veins, they have the salt water. There’s barely

18

The former ferry arrives in Marstal on a more hectic day

The capital of Denmark’s sunniest island basks in its glorious seafaring past, but wonders what is on the horizon – the answer, Marstal Mærsk, one of the world’s largest ships

19Marstal - port of passion and ferry tales

a house, a street name or a grave-

stone that does not bare witness to

the fact that its soul lies in the sea.

At its peak in the winter of 1893,

331 ships were moored to its piers;

on a bright sunny day nearly a

century and a quarter later there

was a preserved coaster and two

ferries, just for repair, and the

locally based coastguard patrol

boat. It is a port with little to

harbour.

SAD BUT SMILINGThe loss of the ferry hit the close-

knit community on this part of the

southern Danish island hard. A

ferry still bears the town’s name,

but it rubs salt into the wound as

it now goes to Ærøkøbing in the

centre of the island. From there

Jesper’s bus service completes the

last 20 kilometres of the journey -

for free. It you want to see people

smiling on public transport, go to

Ærø. But these are seafarers and

islanders and as Erik Kromann

explained with a passion, for

an islander it doesn’t feel right

to come home on a bus. ‘People

misunderstand the sea, the sea

is not a barrier, it is a way of

connecting people,’ he proclaims.

Erik is the head of the local

maritime museum, an impressive

ramble of several buildings

somehow connected by various

means, corridors, alleys, spiral

and ordinary stairways, but most

of all by a common theme, a love of

the sea. It is absolutely crammed

with maritime goodies and

interesting gems. It is a very full

way to spend the best part of an

afternoon. Perhaps in Marstal it is

the best way to fill an afternoon.

‘The news that one of the Maersk

Line’s Triple-E’s* was going to be

called Marstal Mærsk made us

all a foot taller, we felt good again

inside,’ he says. He’s already

using his connections to see if

somehow they can organize a

way of connecting the vessel to

the small town in a memorable

way. With a draft 10 metres more

than the maximum Marstal can

offer, the eighth in the Triple E

series won’t get within a telescope

19

Hamburgefintsiv 2020

sight of the town with its name,

but maybe the townsfolk can get

out into the Baltic and see it pass.

Erik looks out of his office window

at the Samka, a fifties coaster

and sister ship to the Caroline S

which is a permanent feature in

Svendborg’s harbour. They built

23 of these little sea workhorses

in Denmark, many in Marstal and

Svendborg. A hundred years ago

there were eight shipbuilding

yards in the port, today there is a

single floating dry dock and repair

work trickles in. ‘Maybe we could

take the Samka out to meet her,

it would be nice to do something

special’ he thinks out aloud.

Marstal Mærsk could not come at

a more appropriate time – 2014

marks the 500th anniversary of

the port.

In the meantime Erik has

another big date on his mind. The

Queen is a regular visitor to the

museum and in June the royal

yacht called at the port for a visit

drawn by the half millennium

and the museum’s latest

project. A memorial to Marstal’s

shipbuilding past is a partially

completed hull of a wooden brig.

Partly completed is its intended

final state. In February it stood

on wet builders’ mud. Erik’s then

hope was that Queen Margrethe

would stand on firm grass.

One suspected that if it didn’t

grow, Erik would get someone to

donate it. The A.P. Møller Fund

paid for the monument and at

every turn the museum is full of

exhibits that others didn’t value

yet were saved at the last minute

to tell vital parts of Denmark’s

maritime history. Somehow into

what looks from the outside like

a typical, but large, Marstal house

they have been able to squeeze in

huge chunks of vessels, cabins,

bridges, telegraphic rooms.

Marstal itself feels a little bit of a

journey back in time. Erik points

out numerous chimneys you’d

not find elsewhere in Denmark.

‘They are from Glasgow, London,

Liverpool, wherever Marstal

21Marstal - port of passion and ferry tales

sailors went in the UK they saw

and liked the chimneys and

brought them back home,’ he

explained.

A BRIDGE TOO FARThe smoke trickled out the top

of one to prove that a century

on they still did what they

are supposed to do, but Ærø is

not locked in the past. It is the

sunniest part of Denmark and

its fields contain its richest crop,

rows and rows of solar panels

capturing the power to such and

effective extent that 40% of the

electricity on the island is God

given. Wind power adds to this

on this very green island.

Everywhere you look in the

town there are symbols of the

sea and seafaring. Erik admits

that the loss of the ferry hit the

local community. Ærø is the

only remaining large Danish

island where a bridge connection

would be feasible, but to Erik not

tolerable. ‘There is something

about being an islander, you can

look around you and see and feel

that it belongs to you. I don’t think

you get that on any mainland.

Here you are part of what you see

and it’s part of you.’

He looks out towards the

neighbouring island of Langeland,

‘someday the ferry will return,

a green ferry perhaps. We miss

it, not just the connection, but it

coming round Skarø buoy and

its arrival were part of daily life,

as much as a town clock it was

something that marked out every

point in that day.’

In the meantime the people of

Marstal must gather and wait

for the hourly bus to the outside

world. As if to highlight the pain,

it starts its journey from the

port; meters away the barrier to

the ferry ramp is down, the lock

rusting. But 500 year-old Marstal

is not wallowing in the past, today

there is a buzz of excitement in

the air, they are getting ready for

the visit to a pub of a burlesque

dancer. Perhaps that’s why the

bus to Ærøkobing that afternoon

was virtually empty. ●

21

22

Dustbowls, desserts, barren islands, harsh seas – oil and gas doesn’t normally hide itself in beauty. Geology has dealt a wealthy card to countries who, without the discovery of crude oil and gas, might have struggled economically.

It is almost as if difficulty is

a signpost to where the next

economic miracle might be hiding.

That is what the people of the

Faroes are quietly hoping for and

why a remote bit of granite might

become an international issue.

If you look at an oil prospecting

and production map of the North

Atlantic and you will see that

from Norway to the Shetland Isles

to Scotland to eastern England to

northern Germany and you see

dozens and dozens of dots which

mark that below the sea, below

earth’s crust there lies oil, gas

or hope. That line stops halfway

between the Faroe and Shetland

Isles. Why?

It’s a why they’ve been asking for

a quarter of a century and one

partially answered by the geology

that supports the 18 small islands

that in turn support 49,506

people. Underneath is basalt, a

heartbreaker for prospection,

hard and often too thick to think

about. But some have, notably the

Danish company DONG who have

four licences to drill. They have

however a further 18 closer to the

Shetlands, which says much for

their expectations. Interesting

and hopefully for striking oil, the

basalt was found on one test drill

not to be as thick as expected.

The expectations of the people

of the Faroes are mixed. Some

look over one shoulder and see

the Norwegian story where the

wealth of their seas has filtered

through society. Over the other

shoulder they see a green and

treeless string of islands, to

them misty and magnificently

untouched.

But the islands need more than

sheep to sustain themselves. For

the past few years, the number

of inhabitants has been trickling

downwards, those who are

looking forward, the search let

Rockall - All Rock or Oil Rock?

Rockall - All Rock or Oil Rock?

along the discovery of natural

resources might stem the drain

and attract the bright young

people back.

Being uninhabited sets up its own

problems - the Faroese, along

with the Danes, the Irish and the

Brits are interested in a totally

benign lump of granite which is a

favourite with all those familiar

with the shipping forecast –

Rockall.

Rockall has an area about the

size of a decent house, but being

virtually all vertical it has

nowhere to place anything bigger

than a sofa and two chairs. Some

have tried to live on it in order

to claim ownership, and failed.

The current record is 45 days. As

you read this an adventurer, Nick

Hancock, is attempting to make a

second attempt to begin a 60 day

visit, having failed to land last

year.

You can follow him on http://

www.rockallsolo.com/

Why three and possibly four

nations, should Scotland split

from the UK, want to claim this

bit of seagull splattered stone, is

not for the fish that swim around

it, but for what may lie beneath

it and its extended territorial

waters. Take the water out of the

Atlantic and the Faroes would

look like a mountain, but Rockall

would be a monument on the edge

of a huge peninsula, part of the

European continental shelf.

Stick up it does and it was

nearby rocks which don’t stick

up as much that caused the

biggest nautical disaster in

history, up to that point in time.

The Danish-owned SS Norge, a

regular passenger liner sailing

from Copenhagen via Oslo and

Kristiansand to New York,

foundered there in 1904, with the

loss of 635 people. As a pre-sequel

to the Titanic there were only

enough lifeboats for 281people, in

fact only 160 survived as the ship

went down in just 20 minutes.

Rockall is too small to get

island status and therefore is

an islet; without habitation

global authorities say that it is

international in international

waters. The nearest inhabited

land is the Scottish island of St

Kilda, itself a remote hulk of rock,

but so-placed to be worth the UK

establishing a permanent military

base.

These have only really become

issues in the past decade or so

since the ability to search for oil

has developed. Drillships and the

extra-large ultra-harsh condition

rigs, open up a whole new world

for prospecting. The oil maps

we look at today may be very

different in 2030. ●

The Danish-owned SS Norge, a regular passenger liner sailing from Copenhagen via Oslo and Kristiansand to New York, foundered at Rockall in 1904, with the loss of 635 people

23

Hamburgefintsiv 24

The debate about who owns what out there in the North

Sea is part of a BBC documentary to be shown in July –

Scotland: For Richer or Poorer? To make the documentary,

the team needed to pass the relevant safety courses and

that’s why economics editor Robert Peston, along with

director and cameraman, ended up on a Maersk Training

survival course in Aberdeen. The trio entered the HUET,

helicopter underwater escape training, course with great

enthusiasm and passed all elements to enable them to

subsequently film material on Maersk Oil’s Gryphon FPSO,

a floating production storage and offloading vessel anchored

280 kms north east of Aberdeen.

Lights Camera Splash

25

Mein KaffeThe idea started as a brainwave

and ended as ‘a stupid chain of

unfortunate circumstances’ –

no it’s not the miss-order of the

century, the 2000 trains that were

too wide for the French railway

system. They are the words of

an executive from a German

furniture company who recently

put a new rage of ceramic mugs on

their shelves, briefly.

The concept was to create a

relaxing message on the outside

of the mugs, a rose, a soothing

bit of poetry and some worldly

illustration. They’d sold 175 of

them before someone noticed that

the mugs’ worldly illustration was

a faded postage stamp - a stamp

with Adolf Hitler as the central

character.

For fairly understandable

reasons, since World War II, not

a lot of kids have been christened

Adolf. As a marketing ploy, even to

generations far removed from his

presence, his image isn’t up there

with Marilyn Monroe, James

Dean or Clark Gable in terms

of poster appeal, yet somehow

his mug shot slipped on to 5000

cups ordered by the furniture

company.

The finger of blame wobbled a

bit, but it appears to be a classic

case of assumption running

rampant. Once the finger steadied,

it pointed at the Chinese designer

who, in naïve innocence, failed to

realise the significance, after all,

a stamp is a stamp and to him, all

Europeans might just look fairly

similar.

But again you can’t easily shove

the blame eastwards, somebody

clever somewhere came up with

the concept, somebody important

somewhere OK’d it, somebody

not so important in the shop

unpacked them and put them on

the shelf . . . and then somebody

a little more important, actually

sold them. At that point they

cost two euro, but the furniture

Poopdeck

26Poopdeck

company, eager to curtail their

embarrassment is now offering

twenty to get each of the 175 back.

Once the design was dubbed ‘a

terrible mistake’ the remaining

4825 were taken off the shelf

and out of the storeroom and

destroyed. The practice however,

of offering ten times the price to

retrieve them is not particularly

sound, the survivors are now

collector’s items with at least

one museum eager to track them

down.

Anyone who has tried to present

any concept to a group of people

will marvel at the whole incident.

It brings into question, how

do things get off a designer’s

desk and through a cauldron of

committees and onto the market,

or in the French case onto the

railway lines, but not into the

stations?

The other day in a railway

station’s 7-Eleven there was a

rack of convenience food which,

until I’d seen it, I had always put

it down quite simply as fruit. Can

you imagine the pitch the creative

team made to come up with the

concept? ‘You can take an apple

wash it and place it in see-through

bag and label it “Ready To Eat”?’

In my life I never remember an

apple what wasn’t really ready to

eat – in food terms they are not a

big consumer of preparation time,

yet here they are being give the

full marketing treatment.

It puts into question every other

fruit stall across the planet, in the

current mood for avoiding legal

action, shouldn’t they be forced to

give warnings about all ‘Unready

to Eat’ items. As a marketing

classic it goes alongside the

shampoo called ‘Gee Your Hair

Smells Terrific’ and ‘I Can’t

Believe It’s Not Butter’, the latter

being a genuine remark made by

the husband of an employee.

But the biggest bit of global

marketing madness must surely

be bottled water. In the States

the need to buy something

which is basically free and for

a disproportionately huge sum,

is rampant. Bottled water has

overtaken beer and milk in

terms of sales – over $100 billion

annually - in fact each week

enough bottled water is sold

in the US alone to encircle the

world five times, that’s a single

plastic pipeline 15cm wide and

40 thousand kilometres long . . .

every week. Add to that the rest of

the world and the consequences

of the creation and removal of the

containers doesn’t bear thinking

about. We are talking mountains

of plastic when ironically many

of the companies opt for snow

covered peaks to market their

product.

One exception is Fiji Water

which marketed itself under

the campaign, ‘The label says

Fiji because it’s not bottled in

Cleveland’. Now the folks in

Cleveland took offense and went

face-to-face with the water

company. Tasted and tested they

put tap against bottle and on

every count, the water that the

Cleveland people used freely and

almost for free, came out on top.

In fact the Fiji sourced water was

found to contain 6.31 micrograms

of arsenic per litre!

The sheer madness is surely not in

the marketing, but in the overall

concept that requires empty

containers to be imported, filled

with well water, labelled ‘bottled

at source’, and then containerised

in order to be transported

thousands of kilometres away

from a country with rural water

shortages to a country awash

with it.

I feel the water marketing boys

are missing a trick here. Eighty

per cent of the brain is water, an

amazing 1.4 litres. That’s nearly

one of those big bottles, how do

we fit it in? Can you see where I’m

going? So cut out the clean, snow-

capped mountains marketing

stuff and find out where the most

intelligent people on earth live,

connect a pipe to a tap, bottle and

then sell Brain Waves, there must

be millions in it. ●

27eSea library To go back in time and access articles from

previous issues, simply click on the photo of the edition.

The numbers in front of the articles is the eSea issue.

For direct access click on the article title

eSea 1 Instructors’ back to sea programme - Sea Time Reduction announced - Vetting for Supply - New Deepwater Horizons open up

eSea 2New Towmasters’ course gets full simulation treatment - Deepwater course piloted - Wind industry - Drill instructor gets back to the well head

eSea 3MOSAIC II announced - Offshore wind, the new challenges - West African pilots use simulator to deal with the ‘big boys’ - CraneSIM in Vietnam - Piracy through the ages

eSea 4MT launches new website - Chinese in big safety push - Rig crane put in a box - Safety and People Skills build platform emergency course - how to communicate across cultures

eSea 5Maersk Training pennant raised in Dubai - Platform crews pilot Emergency Response course - How to be best in Vetting class - Danger of computer over reliance

eSea 6MOSAIC II, the ground is broken - Rig participants up to elbows in some very special mud - Semi-sub crew learns anchor handling - West African pilots start payback

eSea 7Chinese Container crews look to safety - Rig crane simulator tested - Esbjerg’s new facilities - MOSAIC II update - DP sea-time reduction - Coffee Break with Bent Nielsen

eSea 8Titanic Edition looking back at 100 years of increased safety and improved training - the lifeboat revolution - man overboard - spreading knowledge - tomorrow’s seafarers

eLibrary

eSea 9$15million Phone call - Wrappers off MOSAIC II - 5 Year drilling package - Tomorrow’s leaders today - Family comes too - Learning in luxury - Danish Olympians teambuild

eSea 10Breaking the ice, a new route in navigation - crane simulation arrives - Newcastle’s drop in course for the high life - the silent disease, loneliness - Chinese catch safety bug

To go back in time and access articles from previous issues, simply click on the photo of the edition or use the QR code.









eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary












eLibrary




eSeaM A R I T I M E /O I L & G A S/ W I N D/C R A N E · JA N UA RY 2013

macondo – a lesson unlearnt? the worlds most advanced offshore simulation complex >�

the most socially isolated person on planet earth? >

training to avoid skyfall >

captaining a floating town >

combating stress with underwater rugby >

11










eLibrary












eLibrary




eSea 1

eSea 10

eSea 9

eSea 12

eSea 13

eSea 14

eSea 15

eSea 16

eSea 11

eSea 8

eSea 7

eSea 6

eSea 5

eSea 4

eSea 3

eSea 2

MARITIME1 DP Sea Time Reduction1 Vetting for supply2 Towmaster course3 West African pilots’ eye-opener 6 West Africans payback time 10 Ice breaking through world short-cut 12 Bridge and engine room in sync 12 A new look at mooring 14 What MLC 2006 means 15 All Fired Up – a very real computer game 16 Ngoc’s Fourth Bar 16 838 Days – Søren’s days in pirate captivity

O&G5 Rig crew responds to an emergency 6 Semi-sub crew handling anchors 6 Mud course9 The $15million phone call 11 Macondo – a lesson unlearnt? 12 North Sea, experts look to bright future 14 Brazil’s oil and gender revolution15 Gulf Lessons – performance enhancement 15 What is Performance Enhancement?

WIND POWER3 Wind industry – new challenges12 The father of wind power12 A2Sea’s new windcarrier12 Olsen team get specific training 13 Training at heights for lady with no

vertigo 14 Blade Runners, the new high level

repairmen

CRANE3 CraneSim in Vietnam4 Rig crane in a box7 Rig crane simulator tested13 APMT’s management improvement

programme 15 Slinging in the sunshine

SAFETY4 Container industry in big safety push 7 Chinese container crews show huge

progress

MISCELLANEOUS3 Piracy through the ages5 Training in Dubai8 Titanic edition looks at progress since

1912 9 Choosing tomorrow’s leaders 9 Turning a course into a family holiday 10 Loneliness, the problem of isolation 11 Underwater rugby, combating stress 13 The global social media revolution 13 Piracy and the cross - the roll today of the

seamen’s mission 14 The Story of Ngoc – a remarkable tale of

resilience and good fortune 14 Eat meet and leave – the messages in our

diet 15 Puffed – Hawaii’s Ironmen 15 Michael Bang-From defusing to

enlightening 15 The story of the world beating blue boat 16 Colony of Hope, meeting India’s

stigmatised community

eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 1 2 / 2 0 1 3

wind powerWindmills - never ending or beginning >�Poul la Cour. Father of Wind Power >Olsen band crack safe operation >The Floating Table >Bridge and Engine in Sync >Door Knobs to Safety >The North Sea Glory Story > 12


eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 14 / 2 0 1 3

food


Don’t blame the cook >Eat meet and leave >

Triple E = 3M’s >Brazil’s oil and gender revolution >Funny Tummy

So what is the MLC 2006 all about? >Food for Thought >Blade Runners >

Playing the name game >

The Story of Ngoc



15

Gulf Lessons >Keep taking the tablets > What exactly is Performance Enhancement? >When BP means Better Prepared > Nintendo boys, game on >Puffed, but the magic drags on >No bang Bang >Girls Out Loud >Every Boat Tells a Story >Science - stronger than steel >All fired up >Space, the final frontier >

performance enhancement

Piracy – Søren’s Somali Story

Ngoc's Fourth Bar >Colony of hope >

Farewell Favela, So Long Shanty >Starbuster >

All Sorts Have One Aim >Knowledge Seekers >

Helsingborg to Prague, via Svendborg >Surely not >



16

Hamburgefintsiv 28

ContactEditorial issues and suggestions:Richard Lightbody - [email protected]

Names and emails of those able and eager to help with specific enquiries arising out of this issue

Sales enquiries Aberdeen (UK): [email protected]

Sales enquiries Brazil:[email protected]

Sales enquiries Esbjerg (DK): [email protected]

Sales enquiries India:[email protected]

Sales enquiries Middle East:[email protected]

Sales enquiries Newcastle (UK):[email protected]

Sales enquiries Norway: [email protected]

Sales enquiries Svendborg (DK):[email protected]

Or visit our website www.maersktraining.com

Documents

eSea 17 - The Great Bag of China - What's the Secret of good Branding?