The distinctive profiles and rich blue and white liveries of Bibby Offshore’s dive-support/construction ships, Sapphire and Topaz, are quite unmistakable and easy to spot when they are in Aberdeen or lying out in the bay.
They are a strong signal of the huge progress made by the company – a subsidiary of Liverpool’s venerable and still privately owned Bibby Line Group – since it was created in 2003 to channel its parent’s oil&gas-related business.
CEO Howard Woodcock told Energy that the company had matured into a fully fledged subsea contractor considered to be in good shape for future growth, both in the North Sea and selected international markets.
This is a company where its team have relished the chance to build a business, more or less from the ground up, but one that is clearly backed by a solid, highly experienced parent. Moreover, that team shook the marketplace by being the first company in many years to order new dive-support vessels (DSVs), since when others have realised that this class of vessel is highly relevant to the offshore industry going forward, including on the renewable-energy front.
For now, at the heart of the North Sea business are the two ultra-modern seagoing toolkits – the Sapphire and virtual sister Topaz – plus the company owns the Aquamarine, which works in the Asia-Pacific theatre.
In Bibby Sapphire’s case, she started out configured as a construction ship but was put through conversion to a DSV in 2006. Initially chartered from Norwegian company Volstad, she was bought outright earlier this year.
“We took her into Cammell Laird on the Mersey and started the conversion into a DSV,” said Woodcock.
“This was a large, complicated and challenging project. I believe it was the first time that a new DSV had been created for many years and, as a result, we found that a lot of the skills and knowledge needed to complete that had dissipated and were not easily found.
“We purchased all the equipment, put together a plan and associated budget and commenced the work. As you might expect with such projects, things came out of the woodwork … things you don’t expect. The project overran, plus it was slightly over budget. But, at the start of 2007, we left the yard and took the vessel around to the North Sea and started diving with her.
“Since that time she has completed something like 1,600 dives. She worked extensively for Talisman UK for the first two years as a DSV and proved to be highly capable.
“The decision to purchase (from Volstad) was straightforward. The charter had a finite life and we wanted to secure access to the asset for a much longer period. So we negotiated a deal with the owner.
“We already owned the dive system onboard, so the purchase united both and enabled us to take complete control. April 21 was the day we took ownership.
“It also shows a long-term commitment by our shareholders. Whereas a 10-year time charter is nice, a 25-year investment in a vessel is a significantly greater commitment, obviously.”
One ship was never going to be enough as an adequate North Sea starter pack. There needed to be a fleet of at least two units operational within a reasonable time, which is why, in 2006, the Topaz project was kicked off, with Bibby having a major influence on both the design and build.
“That project started in 2006 during the construction of the Bibby Sapphire and it showed that we recognised we needed to get vessels into the market quickly. Conversion was the fastest way to do it with the first vessel, but we had the time and resource to do the Bibby Topaz from scratch as a fully integrated DSV.
“Lessons learned from the Sapphire project were rolled into the Topaz and, by early-2008, we found ourselves being the only company that had delivered two DSVs into the market for about 10 years.
“We were proud of that fact, though it wasn’t without its problems – and wasn’t without a significant amount of pain and learning. But we got two very capable vessels into the market in time to capitalise on opportunities.”
A major step forward in the current year for Woodcock and his team is the decision by the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) and UK Health & Safety Executive to approve self-management of the company’s own dive operation – that is, taking direct control of the diving side of the business.
Until now, Bibby has relied on ISS (Integrated Subsea Services) to manage the dive and subsea-related personnel services side of the business.
“We never compromise on safety; nobody in this industry does. We’re keen to make sure that we have absolutely the right systems and procedures in place to make sure these people are safe,” said Woodcock.
“So, having the right people working together and having good robust systems is very important, hence we went through a very detailed and rigorous audit with IMCA.
“We did that at the start of February this year. There was a two-day on-site audit here (in Aberdeen) … manuals, dive procedures … we more than met the standard and were accepted as a member of the IMCA diving committee.
“The HSE has also accepted IMCA’s findings, so we’re good to go in the North Sea, changing over operationally on or about October 1 on the Sapphire and Topaz.”
Linked with this is the decision to self-manage the subsea and diving-related personnel aspect of the business, despite the strong relationship with ISS.
This reaches back to 2003, when Bibby Offshore was established in Aberdeen and which drew together all offshore activities that the Bibby Line group was already engaged in. It was then that the company also bought its first DSV , the Aquamarine, which had previously been owned by Subsea 7.
“We’ve held a contract with Chevron upstream Europe for 17 years to manage their Alba floating storage unit, and we still do that today; plus we own jack-up rigs and various other things,” said Woodcock.
“But when we bought the Aquamarine (when the company was formed) and, having no previous exposure to the subsea market, we decided we needed a competent partner to help us do that safely, and we entered into a contract with ISS to provide the personnel and diving service on board the vessel.
“That has been a very successful and fruitful relationship for both organisations over the years. It has helped us grow and bring the Sapphire, and then Topaz, on line.
“However, we came to a point late-2009/early-2010 when, strategically for Bibby Offshore as a subsea construction and IRM contractor, it was not sensible for us to continue outsourcing that part of our business.
“It is a key part of our service and, whereas the management systems and development of ISS and Bibby Offshore had followed parallel tracks and had gone hand in hand for many years, we felt the time had come for us to internalise that service and take complete control of it, so removing an interface within our management system. This was something that our clients had intimated they would like to see. It certainly strengthens Bibby Offshore to be completely integrated this way and no longer reliant on a third party for a key part of its service.
“We want to give ISS some time to wind down their operations, and for us to recruit the right people. And, inevitably, because of the way the offshore project teams aboard DSVs are traditionally employed, the vast majority of the people who already work on the vessels will transfer across and work for Bibby, we think. We’ve certainly planned on that happened.”
Woodcock argues that 2010 is the right time to reinforce Bibby Offshore and prepare it for the next phase of growth, in this case solidly supported by a privately owned company that knows the business of ships and what they do inside out, having had more than 200 years’ practice.
“What we’ve done is very much about using the opportunity as we saw it and the lull in the market to strengthen this business for the long term and to make us more efficient and cost-effective.”
That includes building the North Sea presence, more ships and a broader menu of services.
Geographic expansion is in the plan, too, with two satellites firmly established – Asia-Pacific and Trinidad – plus there is the possibility of widening the scope of activities beyond the current offerings, and that includes offshore renewables when that market is considered sufficiently mature.
However, is Woodcock out to build another subsea major or is Bibby to remain boutique – offering a particular approach?
“Particular approach is the key thing,” said Woodcock.
“We differentiate on our people, that we’re easy to deal with.
“We try to work in a mutually beneficial, non-confrontational way with clients. And if we mess up, I’d like to think we put our hand up and say we’ve messed up, but we’ll put it right.
“We don’t want to create another company like the ones that exist at the moment. There’s no point in doing that.”