Rem Offshore is a new company with older roots. Since beginning operations in 1978 in service of the Norwegian fishing industry, the fleet today provides offshore support vessels worldwide, with a main office in Fosnavåg, on the west coast of Norway. Ronny Pål Kvalsvik, CCO, explained to Hannah Barnett more about what the company does.
Rem Offshore prides itself in being a pioneer in several different offshore markets, while continuing to build its presence throughout the industry. The company’s fleet is built up with well-known designs bought on the market. With a new build recently added and another due next year, Rem Offshore is expanding to include high-specification vessels fitted with cutting-edge technical capabilities.
Strong partnerships
2023 has already been a good year for Rem Offshore. It has signed contracts for several PSVs, established on market terms. This ensures that the company will
maintain high fleet utilisation during the next year.
These include contracts for Rem Cetus and Rem Insula, which were extended for one year with Apache North Sea Limited in the UK sector, and the company values this continuing relationship.
“We have been working with Apache for a while,” Ronny Pål Kvalsvik, CCO, said. “The contract extensions show trust in our organisation and satisfaction with the performance of our vessels. We have had several contracts with the company and this is one of our key customers in the UK market.”
At the same time, Rem Arctic has been awarded contracts with Well Expertise (DNO Norge ASA and Wellesley Petroleum AS) supporting Deepsea Yantai and Neptune Energy. Rem Commander has been awarded a 14-well plug and abandonment contract with Spirit Energy North Sea Oil Limited, which is estimated to last ten months.
It is clear that Rem Offshore is reaping the benefits of multiple closely forged ties with its partnership network. “It’s aways good when you have a track record working
with a customer,” reflected Mr Kvalsvik. “To ensure longevity, you need to establish a good relationship and agree on what you need to deliver. That is very important. And that is why the majority of our clients come back to us.”
Working in renewables
One of the jewels in the Rem Offshore crown is Rem Energy, a CSOV offshore supply ship built in 2021 to sail under the Norwegian flag.
Rem Offshore has a five-year contract with Siemens Gamesa and Rem Energy has proved a vital element in the evolution towards working in renewables.
“I think what we have been able to do with Rem Energy is a big step,” said Mr Kvalsvik. “Because we were able to use one CSOV to cover two offshore wind fields in the German Bight. It is very efficient and is one of the top vessels working for Siemens Gamesa.”
Another key vessel in the offshore wind sector has been Rem Inspector. The vessel has been working since the early days of the still-emerging renewables market. It was built in 2013, sails under a Taiwanese flag and is currently contracted for Siemens Gamesa in Taiwan.
“It was with Rem Inspector that we first established a good relationship with
Siemens Gamesa, especially for our work in the German Bight, and other areas within wind too,” said Mr Kvalsvik. “That laid the foundation for us to move into providing our tailor-made solutions for the client with vessels like Rem Power.”
Rem Power, the company’s new build sailing under a Norwegian flag, will perform maintenance on various wind farms in Denmark, France and the UK. “We also have two PSVs working in renewables. One is Rem Supporter, which is being used in the UK renewables market,” added Mr Kvalsvik.
A green direction
Rem Offshore has a target to create a balanced portfolio of vessels via an environmentally conscious fleet conversion, according to Mr Kvalsvik.
“You can call it a target, but it's also a challenge,” he continued, “with all the
alternative fuel options out there. But we all need to go greener, we need to look at technology and how to utilise it; how to do things smartly and efficiently. That is part of our strategy at Rem.”
The company already has Rem Power, operating more efficiently and using less power than some of its older, sister vessels. Rem is also working on its port system with long-term strategies in mind to improve sustainability.
“Like everybody else, we are considering the low hanging fruits by starting to implement batteries with a shore connection,” explained Mr Kvalsvik. “I think that is very welcome to see at Aberdeen port now. Later this year, we will be able to implement batteries on one more vessel in our fleet. That's a good step for the industry in general.”
Rem is part of the Ocean Charger Project, a consortium of industry and research partners, leading the way from research to testing, validation and commercialisation of new technological solutions for energy transfer to battery-powered ships offshore. “The work will be performed over three years, and we are spending a lot of time on it. We are doing the pilot testing which will be performed between Q1 and Q2 of 2024 and we will demonstrate that we can charge offshore with Rem Power,” said Mr Kvalsvik.
Looking after its people
Another of the significant elements of Rem Offshore is its strong track record for safety. This is down to care of its employees and excellent training schemes.
“We put a strong focus on internal training, for both the office and offshore team,” said Mr Kvalsvik. “This is an important factor for our clients. Our job is to improve over time
and keep our safety record strong by continuously doing what we can to keep the work culture at the highest possible level.”
The same strong partnerships the company maintains with its customers, it also seeks to uphold with its suppliers. As most of its fleet is second hand, there is a lot of different equipment on board.
“We are in close dialogue with the majority of suppliers available in the marine industry,” Mr Kvalsvik said. “We also focus on new builds, so we have a strong technical department working to find optimised solutions. And it is important that we audit our suppliers. Plus, we visit them, and they visit us. So, we have a very good supplier base we regularly interact with.”
For Mr Kvalsvik, it is this innovative and evolving environment that keeps the job interesting. “I’m really into new technologies,” he concluded. “Thinking outside of the box, finding better solutions, discussions with suppliers. These kinds of things give me energy each day: I find it all quite exciting.”
