WORDS MARK FRARY


SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS


any given time. The challenging nature of the sector means many suppliers have come up with ways to make life more tolerable. People working in the marine sector change their plans – or have them changed – frequently. Almost three out of five tickets in this sector are created or modified within three days before departure, says Amadeus. If you were paying a change fee of tens or hundreds of pounds each time, this would quickly become uneconomic. As a result, airlines have created what are known as “marine fares” – typically only available to people with a valid seaman’s logbook or who have been added to a ship’s manifest.


HOTELS AND THE OIL AND GAS SECTOR


The oil price collapse in 2014 had a substantial impact on hotel rates in at least one city that is closely linked to the oil and gas sector – Aberdeen. But it is not the only city where rates have declined. “The average cost of a hotel room in


Aberdeen, Doha and Lagos is still 70 per cent less than it was in January 2012, but Aberdeen is the only city where this was obviously the result of the oil price collapse in 2014,” according to American Express Global Business Travel’s Hotel Monitor 2019. It continues: “Steadier average daily rate


decline in Lagos and Doha may reflect other factors, including oversupply in Qatar – plus its ongoing embargo crisis – and an easing of US export restrictions on liquefied natural gas (LNG) affecting market share for both Nigeria and Qatar. Houston has stayed robust, benefiting from the shale revolution that caused the oil price collapse in the first place. Generally, global energy market changes mean buyers should be prepared to see oil and gas city rates eventually start to rise.” However, the Amex GBT’s 2019 Cities


Forecast predicts that rates will decline further in both Aberdeen – down 9 per cent on 2018 – and Doha – down by 13 per cent. The oil price fall has prompted other


changes. “We see greater usage of independent properties by the oil and gas sector,” reports Hotel Monitor. “Energy companies have had to operate agile travel policies that can quickly adapt to volatile trading conditions. Drastic oil price falls bring demands for severe cost-saving targets – but always coupled with stringent duty-of-care requirements.”


In association with BBT ENERGY, MARINE & MINING SUPPLEMENT 2019 13


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