Tideway Offshore Contractors

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To embark upon a partnership which marries essential local knowledge to world-renowned expertise and technological development excellence is nothing short of a recipe for success.

Tideway Offshore Contractors, a member of parent company the DEME group, have mastered just that.

“We always look for strength in different countries and then try to work with companies that have local knowledge. So we bring our own knowledge and technologies then cooperate with the local community in such a way that we can safely and professionally execute our work” Hugo Bouvy, Tideway CEO, says.

“A good example of this is the Deep Panuke project. We’re doing this as a joint venture with McNally which is a local dredging company in Canada. Together we are executing the work so they are really bringing the local knowledge of Canada and we bring the offshore oil and gas experience of how to do projects like this.”

Tideway completed the pipe pull operations at this project in Nova Scotia, Canada for Encana earlier this month.

“Tideway dredged the trench and Allseas installed the pipeline. We’re now pulling the pipeline ashore and after this the trench will be backfilled” Bouvy explains.

“Tideway is working on different types of projects right now. One of the things we are working on is fall pipe rock-dumping projects. We have two vessels ourselves; Rollingstone and Seahorse, and we’re building a third full pipe vessel in Singapore at the moment. Those vessels are occupied on the North Sea at the moment in various contracts with Shell and BP. These vessels will also work in Newfoundland later this year and in Mexico.”

Tideway’s third vessel, The Flintstone, is set for completion in January 2011.

THE FLINTSTONE
There are not many companies who can hold claim to record breaking results, but Tideway can.

“We have specialized vessels which can install rock at great depth. At this moment the records of placing rock has been made by ourselves on the Balearic project in the Mediterranean this past winter. That was 980 metres which is a brand new record in fall pipe rockdumping. The vessel that we’re now building will be capable of going to 2000 metres of water depth. We are launching a fall pipe through a moon pool of the vessel. The fall pipe is guided at depth by a remote operated vehicle (an ROV) which has all of the senses on it to directly position above the pipeline for wherever you want to install the rock” Bouvy explains.

“All of our vessels are Dynamic Position class two (DP2) and we are able to place rock very accurately with horizontal tolerances of less than half a metre and with vertical tolerances of less than 20 centimetres and at such great water depths so it’s quite interesting.”

The completion of The Flintstone is a subject of great anticipation and excitement for Tideway.

“With the new vessel that we are building, besides the fact that everything will go to greater depth and that the vessel is very fast, 15 knots, this vessel also has an ice class. That enables us to go to the arctic areas where there are a lot of new projects coming up.”

Tideway is already working on a wide range of projects all over the world.

“We are a company of about 250 people where about 70% of us are working all over the world” Bouvy says.

“We have an audit book which is full from now up until the end of 2010.”

ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS
One integral aspect of concern which Bouvy keenly emphasizes is Tideway’s efforts to minimize environmental impact and preserve the nature in their areas of operation.

“Environmental issues are a huge concern for us. Besides the fact that we have all of the normal certifications like ISO 14000, the difficulty is bringing these pipelines to shore in very environmentally sensitive areas such as beach areas where the tourists may be in the summer periods, but in the winter we have to bring pipelines ashore so we totally and utterly reinstate these sites to the way we have found them” Bouvy says.

“The vessels of course operate to the highest standards with zero spillage regulations and these kinds of measures. The environment in which we work is extremely important and we wouldn’t in the least bit consider doing anything to jeopardize it. If we did it would be a no-go for us to execute the work.”

A WORLDWIDE REACH
Tideway has recently completed the offshore trenching for the Pluto LNG project for Woodside in Australia, worked on the P9 project with Wintershall, and is increasingly receiving demand for services related to the creation of wind power facilities.

“We completed our one year goal for the NorNed project – that’s the power cable going from Norway to the Netherlands. We’re now also involved in the Brittnet project which is a power cable going from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands and as the DEME group we’re installing the complete ThorntonBank project . Tideway is responsible for the installation of the power cables going to the wind farm, the trenching of the cables and also the rockdumping work there” Bouvy says.

They have since been asked to take part in similar projects in Germany and Ireland too. But this does not stunt the great range of projects in which Tideway excels.

“We also recently executed a huge project for Allseas Reliance in India, the Dhirubhai project which was for the development of these big gas fields in Dhirubhai and there we had to really green field build up the site again for more than 200 people. That’s really the sort of business play we’re used to; going into the interface between land and water” Bouvy reveals.

“The short term goal for the company is to continue with our current projects for the moment.”

THE FUTURE OF TIDEWAY
So what is next for a company with the best staff, a global portfolio of partnerships, a record breaking service and new projects surfacing as the industry develops?
“The future is a focus on further growth. Also we look forward to adding the new vessel in January 2011. We are looking to gain market segment in power cables, landfall and offshore rock dumping” Bouvy summarizes.

“You see more and more of these projects coming on the market so there’s some very interesting developments happening now.”
Tideway continues to grow and enjoy successful partnerships the world over. Their focus is strong and the projects they partake in keep growing. The company values local knowledge, whilst bringing something more to the plate wherever they go. The company will soon have a stellar new vessel, is in-tune with its market position, and places due emphasis on strong communications between its worldwide employees.

Tideway is scheduled to appear at both the Offshore Europe in Aberdeen, Scotland and the 2009 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.