comment David Foxwell
Industry-leading event goes from strength to strength
More than 400 people attended the Annual Offshore Support Journal Conference T
he 2012 Annual Offshore Support Journal Conference saw a greater-than-ever number of delegates attend the event. A total of 414 professionals from every
segment of the OSV industry participated, and one of the most pleasing aspects of the event was that the number of shipowners attending continues to grow. This year, 90 individuals from 49 shipowners and operators participated. The 2012 Annual Offshore Support Journal Conference
Awards was also a special event, made more so by the presence at the conference of Gary Chouest, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award, sponsored by DVB Bank, for his outstanding contribution to the global oil and gas industry. Delegates gave Mr Chouest, the chief executive and president of Edison Chouest Offshore, a standing ovation as he accepted the award for decades of long service in the worldwide support vessel sector. He has grown the Galliano, Louisiana- based company from small beginnings in the 1950s to become one of the world’s largest owners of offshore support vessels. It operates more than 200 ships and has a diverse range of technology and shipbuilding companies. The awards presentation followed an ABB-sponsored gala dinner and drinks reception, sponsored by Damen. The awards were the highpoint of the two-day conference, which was held in association with Caterpillar.
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exas-based vessel operator Hornbeck Offshore won the Shipowner of the Year Award for its excellence in ship operations and for expanding its fleet during
uncertain times in the US market. Hornbeck has kept its faith in the US Gulf market by recently ordering 16 new
vessels from two US shipyards. The award for Support Vessel of the Year went to North
Sea Shipping’s high-spec construction vessel North Sea Giant. The vessel has extremely high levels of redundancy, and a number of innovative features. The 160m-long vessel will be working for Technip Norge in the Barents Sea this year performing subsea construction duties on the Goliat project. Ship designer Sawicon and shipbuilder Metalships & Docks were honoured for the innovative vessel. The award for Innovation of the Year went to Cargotec for the MacGregor chain wheel manipulator, a remotely- controlled system designed to perform continuous successive cycles of chain wheel installation and replacement on an anchor-handling winch, while the vessel is on site, even in adverse sea conditions. Two new awards were introduced this year in recognition of the rising prominence of both the offshore renewable industry and environmental considerations. The inaugural winner of the Offshore Renewables Award was MPI Offshore for its new generation of wind turbine installation vessels.
S
olstad Offshore won the Environmental Award for its Green Operations initiative, which has seen the company work with the Rainforest Foundation Norway to reduce emissions and provide funds towards protecting the rainforest. More information about the awards and award winners can be found in this special supplement. Further information on future events can be found at
www.rivieramm.com/events. OSJ
Annual Offshore Support Journal Conference and Awards 2012 I 3
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