For over 30 years Offshore Reparos Navais has supported Brazil’s offshore oil and gas industry with a constantly growing bouquet of specialised maintenance and fabrication services. Director Bernhard Falke Döring spoke with Richard Hagan.
Offshore Reparos Navais opened its doors in 1981, being owned and operated by Mr Döring Sr, a highly skilled engineer. Though initially he was the company’s sole employee, Mr Döring Sr gradually developed a group of skilled operators around him, including general staff, mechanics and other highly trained and experienced individuals.
The company initially focused on engine repairs, but later diversified into offering thruster maintenance as well. This came directly as a result of demand for thruster repairs and maintenance from Solstad and Maersk, two of Offshore Reparos Navais’ earliest and most important customers at the time.
Thanks to its robust, decades-long relationships with industry-leading European manufacturers and distributors, Offshore Reparos Navais provides the highest quality parts and products to the highly demanding offshore industry. This is matched with highly skilled and experienced labour, working to rigorous standards.
Trusted for large projects
The company’s service offering broadly encompasses two areas: repairs, and maintenance. Repair works are generally
unplanned and require a faster response, specialised tooling and highly flexible labour. Maintenance is typically planned work carried out in a more controlled manner, thanks to Offshore Reparos Navais’ highly skilled and experienced in-house teams, many of whom boast over 20 years in the industry.
Offshore Reparos Navais’ willingness and ability to adapt to Maersk’s needs remains a core philosophy at the company, whilst also keeping it at the forefront of the industry and ensuring its continued growth.
The benefit of the company’s ongoing diversification of its portfolio was on full display during a major recent project. In 2023, Offshore Reparos Navais received a TechnipFMC Pipelay Vessel for maintenance. The project entailed detailed maintenance work on all of the vessel’s main systems, including its ten (7 + 3) thrusters (3 units of 30-tonne each), three cranes – one of which is a prototype with a 200-tonne capacity – and six mid-speed diesel generator engines. All of the work had to be carried out simultaneously.
“We also performed work on several pieces of equipment (ventilation electric motors, valves, mush ventilations, etc.) and steel work on the Vent Trunking
mezzanines as part of the project, along with a variety of electrical and hydraulic work,” recalled Director Bernhard Falke Döring. “It was lots of work in one go, but it is typical for a large project like that.”
Offshore Reparos Navais completed the project on time and to the highest standards. As Mr Döring highlighted, the project’s successful completion validates their client’s trust in Offshore Reparos Navais: “TechnipFMC has a joint venture with DOF, our Norwegian client, under the terms of which they share ownership and management of several vessels. We have handled the most sensitive work on many of the vessels from that partnership.
“For a big company like that to waive the OEM’s warranty and trust us with the work instead is a big indication of their trust in us.”
The power of partnerships
Offshore Reparos Navais’ clients benefit from the company’s robust strategic partnerships throughout the industry. The company is strategically located near several esteemed parts distributors with whom Offshore Reparos Navais maintains close relationships.
“We are close to the best local suppliers who are readily available to supply various parts including both imported brands and locally manufactured components,” said Mr Döring: “Our approach is similar to the Norwegian mindset, in that if you have one good supplier for a product, then you should use them all the time.
“By building those relationships, it gives us access to the owner or manager, ensuring that they will willingly open their shop for us on a holiday or during a weekend, or import rare parts that they would not normally keep in stock. Our relationships allow us access to all of that and even our clients –
despite their size – seldom have that same level of access.”
Mr Döring highlighted three partnerships that have been especially key to Offshore Reparos Navais’ success over the years. Two of them are clients, one of which is TechnipFMC, a client and a global leader in energy projects, technologies, systems and services. TechnipFMC provides its clients with deep expertise across subsea and surface projects, leading the change with its belief in innovation, smarter design and seamless workflows.
Offshore Reparos Navais has been working with TechnipFMC for over 40 years, partnering with TechnipFMC’s UK and Brazilian branches to complete a raft of extremely demanding projects over that period.
“When TechnipFMC has a big project in mind, they usually invite us to work on all of their departments at once,”
Mr Döring continued. “At this point, we
are even able to carry out the work without the manufacturers’ technical assistance. We’re completely standalone in our abilities.”
Solstad Offshore, a Norwegian offshore service and supply ship shipping company, is another key client at Offshore Reparos Navais. Operating 89 vessels, including 26 construction service vessels, 21 anchor handling tug supply vessels and 42 platform supply vessels, Solstad Offshore continues to play a major role in Offshore Reparos Navais’ success.
Finally, Mr Döring highlighted his company’s relationship with Rubbertec, a Brazilian supplier of sealing solutions for hydraulic and pneumatic systems. Rubbertec has been present in the market
since 1985 and has become a reference in the industrial sealing market.
Offshore Reparos Navais proudly uses Freudenberg Sealing Technologies products purchased from Rubbertec and these have become key to Offshore Reparos Navais’ success. Headquartered in Weinheim, Germany, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is active in a large number of markets worldwide, of which commercial marine is one of its speciality industries. The company provides complete solutions for drive and steering systems, offering sealing packages that are optimally matched in terms of materials and functionality.
“We really wish to highlight our relationship with Rubbertec; it has been seamless,
and we have never had any problems in that respect,” Mr Döring said.
In closing, Mr Döring reflected on his affection for his job and the industry: “I personally love not having a routine or a pre-planned schedule. I’m approached
every day by clients and challenges requiring that we have to adapt and sometimes travel. Between that and caring for our teams, I love the industry and couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else.” n
