Page 48: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 2013)

48 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? APRIL 2013 SERVICEMore than a decade ago Wilhelmsen Ships Service planted the seeds for what today is growing one of the world?s premier providers of services to the maritime and offshore markets globally. The company celebrated two signiÞ cant milestones in its quest, with the opening of its state-of-the-art training facility in Houston and the earning of ABS global approval for its safety ser- vices ? a two-year journey that makes it one of only two companies in the world with this approval (Radio Holland was the Þ rst) ? and the only service provider within the safety sector. Demand for technical talent is common across the maritime and offshore sectors, with companies of all size and locale vying for a Þ nite pool of top technicians. Simultaneous with the trend to carry smaller crews is the trend toward larger, more technically complex ships, a situation that has created a vacuum of technical specialists at shipping companies at sea and ashore and created a ripe environment for service companies to step in. ?It was very clear back in 2000 that the services business would grow signiÞ -cantly,? said Andrew Sheriff, WSS Business Director Safety, during an interview in the new Houston training facility. ?So we need to get into the service business, and that?s what we?re doing. But getting into the service business means that you have to train your people.?Target 2016 The year 2016 is Þ guratively circled in bold red across the WSS brand, as it is this target date driving the company to up its ante in the training of new tech-nicians to coincide with what is widely believed to be a strong rebound in shipping. Essentially WSS thinks it necessary to be proactive in increasing the general skill base of its technicians to ensure the fuzzy if not noble goal that it provides the industry?s most highly skilled technicians. Simply bolstering the technical tal-ent through a hiring spree was seen as a challenging if not improbable mission, so WSS decided the natural way forward was to develop its own apprentice pro-gram further and to promote from this level upwards to fulÞ ll future requirements. The Houston training facility is the Þ fth training cen- ter worldwide for the company, joining facilities in Shanghai, Singapore, Antwerp and Fujairah. The new WSS Service Technician training program is focused on creating professional technical levels of expertise for WSS technicians in marine safety systems, products and service management systems.In pure numbers, the company anticipates putting 50 people per year, 10 per world region, through the training system in the build-up to 2016, according to Sheriff. ?We?ll lose 30% through people determining that this simply is not for them,? said Sheriff. ?They will want something that is land-based and is ?8to 4? ? this certainly is not an ?8 to 4? business; it?s a 24-hour business.?WSS Today ?I think we all have our Þ ngers crossed now that you?re starting to see some good green shoots coming through in the shipping industry, and based on those green shoots we believe the business will grow. Even Europe is positive for the moment for us,? said Sheriff. Today, WSS Safety Services boasts more than 40 years of Þ re and safety experience, conducts 21,000 safety services annually via its network of 98 service ofÞ ces globally. The Middle East is one of the areas of strength, and the company?s training facility in Fujairah is a model facility. ?Fujairah is a very big port for us from a busi- ness perspective,? Sheriff said, ?as we have about 45 engineers working out of there purely for safety ser- vice.?The tanker business is the obvious driver in the Mid-dle East, and while WSS has a traditional strength op- erating out of the United Arab Emirates, Sheriff said as the shipping business is mobile, so too is WSS. ?We are starting to see that certain other countries within the Gulf are building up nicely, such as Qatar. Qatar Gas is a big customer with about 60 ships, and they want the service work in their home port; so we?ve opened a service station there. The market moves, and we must be agile, particularly with personnel.?Outside of the Middle East Sheriff said that the focus during the previous Þ ve years has been on the ?BRIC? countries ? Brazil, Russia, India, China ? and WSS has moved methodically to add stations and personnel in these regions.Brazil in particular is a growing force in both mari-time and offshore circles, and Sheriff counts Henrique Schlaepfer, WSS? Area Director, South America, as a source of strength on the continent.?If you go into a market like Brazil with an ex-pat, it can be very slow (growth),? said Sheriff. Alternately, Þ nding and keeping a quality local such as Schlaepfer ? someone who knows how things work and how to get them done ? can be instrumental in driving business further faster. ?Brazil today is adapting to the new reality of glo-balization,? Schlaepfer said. ?We want to do business. To enter Brazil and open a business in Brazil, the real challenge is bureaucracy as it is still very cumber- some.?Another challenge in the country is the overall quality WSS? Global QuestWith the earning of ABS global approval for its safety services and the opening of a Houston Training facility, Wilhelmsen Ships Services (WSS) passed two critical milestone?s in a quest to build and operate an ef cient, technically superior maritime and offshore services juggernaut. By Greg Trauthwein, Editor Henrique Schlaepfer, Area Director, South America Brazil is adapting to the new reality of globalization. We want to do business. Despite a tough global economy, in economic crisis the two things that people do not stop buying are food and energy, and Brazil has both. So today we have a lot of shipping lines that are now aiming toward our ports for trade. MR #4 (42-49).indd 48MR #4 (42-49).indd 484/5/2013 11:58:13 AM4/5/2013 11:58:13 AM