A Complicated Industry
We probably need a new washing machine, but there again, we may not, we just don’t know. It was only earlier this week that we realised that the machine is nine years old. We can remember going into the store and ordering it and at the same time we bought our wonderful American style fridge freezer with its twin opening doors. Neither of them has given us a minute’s worry. I’m sure that you wouldn’t be able to say that if you were in the subsea services industry.
I’m not, in any way making derisory remarks about subsea services which is a highly complicated business. There are many more opportunities for something to go wrong, have a leak or any one of a hundred other reasons for there being a breach. When you think of the complicated remotely operated vehicles in the ocean some miles from shore which are dealing with a volatile situation, it is perhaps surprising that there aren’t more problems.
The washing machine appears to have slowed down, and it is sufficient for it to be noticed. The spin-cycle doesn’t appear to be spinning around quite as freely and clothes are therefore being taken out of the washing when they aren’t as dry. However in the scheme of things, these aren’t enormous problems and can be dealt with in one of three ways – ignore the problem, let the service engineers take a look at the machine or the last choice, replace the machine with a new one.
When dealing with problems on the sea bed they will be considerably more difficult to resolve. I understand that divers investigate the problems and this will take time. By the time it has been reported on and then the powers that be consult on the best and safest way forward, this can all take days. If there is oil leaking from a pipe it will need repairing, and at the same time there is the safety of the staff and workers actually on the rig above which is paramount. There are so many complex problems that there’s no wonder that for the first two or three days all hands are literally on deck, trying to resolve the major issues first, before moving onwards to the smaller problems.
Subsea services are part of the whole engineering industry which has its showrooms at the bottom of the sea. It’s not possible to say to potential clients – look through our online store and if you have any questions ring and our customer sales team will assist you!
This is a complicated service and all clients will know and understand the industry. Subsea services need to continue at the bottom of the sea!