WORDS MARK FRARY
WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT
ALL ABOARD
S
HE SPENT OCTOBER LAST YEAR CRISS- crossing between Barcelona, Marseille and Rome followed by a transatlantic stint in November. She then spent a few weeks in Nassau and Miami.
A look at the itinerary is enough to make the hardest-working road warrior feel tired. Yet she is not a person; “she” is the largest cruise ship in the world, Royal Caribbean’s 230,000 tonne Symphony of the Seas. Every few days, the vessel disgorges almost
7,000 people and then takes on the same number. Making sure that happens is a mili- tary-scale exercise in logistics. And beyond the passengers, there’s another logistical challenge – the 2,390 crew. The crew have contracts lasting between three and eight months and work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week. They then take a two- to four- month break before returning. Different grades of crew have different contracts.
Managing a workforce in a specialised industry is achieved using integrated technologies operating in real-time
Managing the workforce to make sure they are in the right port on the right day to meet Symphony of the Seas is, therefore, crucial. The cruise sector is one of several industries that need expert workforce management. The UK offshore oil and gas industry employed 302,000 people in 2017 and around 50,000 of these travel offshore for their work, most of them contractors. Around half that number spend more than 100 days offshore every year. They generally work according to a rotational shift plan. Typically workers spend two weeks on and then two to four weeks off, depending on where they are working. While on the rig, they typically work 12-hour shifts, seven days a week.
EXTREME CHALLENGES The travel challenges of the offshore sector are even more extreme than those of the cruise sector. Rigs and other drilling platforms are often located in difficult-to-reach and inhos- pitable locations, while some of them move around the world. As a result, the chances of travel disruption are high, which is why working with a travel management company with specialisms in those sectors is important. Jason Geall, vice-president and regional
general manager for Northern Europe, Ameri- can Express Global Business Travel, says: “If an oil rig cannot operate for some reason because there has been some issue with getting crew to a commercial airport which stops the rig from working, it would be devastating for the contrac- tor – some of these rigs cost up to US$400,000 a day to run. For the marine sector, it is equally devastating if the captain or chief engineer cannot get on board.” The value of the TMC here goes way beyond a
low transaction fee. “When there is disruption due to the weather or some technical issue and there are 25 going offshore and 25 coming
In association with BBT ENERGY, MARINE & MINING SUPPLEMENT 2019 7
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