As a specialist in offshore SPM / MBM terminals and related infrastructure, MARSOL offers various services aimed at the optimization of offshore terminals, including Terminal Inspection Repair and Maintenance. While both asset repair and maintenance require dedicated OpEx, there is a definite difference in the way they are approached and the risk that they pose.
Marine asset repair implies failure of components or assets. This type of breakdown can cause downtime, pose safety risks and threat reputational damage in case of negative environmental impact or the like.
On the other hand, to us at MARSOL, Offshore maintenance means to maintain our clients’ marine assets in a good working order to avoid breakage and prevent worst-case scenarios. As such, regular maintenance not only mitigates risk, but it also ensures efficiency and reliability.
In most cases, it is highly plausible that there will be a risk of downtime if the marine asset does not undergo adequate offshore maintenance. These concerns are unnoticeable in the first few years, but later the component experiences an accelerated rate of deterioration, due to incorrect and inadequate preservation practices before the system is fully operational.
MARSOL’s preservation practices ensure that the performance of the whole system is consistent throughout its working life.
Choosing an offshore maintenance partner
When taking a holistic approach, it is important to choose a partner that understands your terminal as a whole. This knowledge and understanding will allow your offshore terminal maintenance partner to address root causes and not simply treat symptoms in isolation.
As a commercial and technical marine service solutions provider, MARSOL covers Engineering, Project Management, Operations & Maintenance, Inspection Repair & Maintenance (IRM) and Integrity management among other subsea and maritime services. This means that all influencing factors are taken into account when offshore maintenance is done.
Terminal maintenance and design
In order to maintain an offshore terminal or to repair assets, it is important to understand its environment and its design. Our Engineering Services Division offers a comprehensive package for all Mooring and Hose Analysis for SPM terminals, including validation of third-party analysis from terminal designers. We use our operational and practical onsite experience for model validation to ensure the model output is aligned with the specific requirements of the terminal.
Through applying integrity-based Inspection Repair and Maintenance (IRM) and creating a marine asset history, MARSOL can modify operations and maintenance philosophies and associated work programmes periodically to reflect changes brought about by any influencing factors and unusual events. By finding the perfect balance between efficiency, risk and operational expenditure, we greatly reduce risk to the system and encourage sustainability and longevity.
These changes create the opportunity for us to review the current programme, identify areas of improvement and design changes on the system components to safely and economically optimise future activities and schedules and related OPEX costs all the while ensuring all updated IRM philosophies are agreed by the OEM/ CLASS as needed.
Whether greenfield or brownfield, every optimization starts with the perfect plan.
Terminal Maintenance and marine asset lifespan extension
Increasing an asset’s lifespan through offshore maintenance instead of periodic asset repair means saving money in the long run, limiting downtime and reducing risk, but only if it is done properly. Our highly qualified team manages local partners to deliver these ongoing programmes, always focusing on international safety and quality standards to ensure that the client and its stakeholders’ reputations are protected.
We draw on our experience to validate and modify the requirements as outlined by the OEM for an operational facility. Through data capture, we create a strategy to perform the offshore maintenance on the most suitable techno-commercial manner and get the necessary approvals for the same before execution from the Contractor, CLASS and OEM as needed.
This strategy lets us achieve the following objectives:
- Protection of the facility
- Retention of the intrinsic value of the marine assets
- Continuity of service
- Maintenance of warranty
- Maintenance of Class
- Avoidance of incidents and resultant pollution
- Compliance with statutory / permit requirements and international operating OCIMF, ISGOT, IMCA, and IMO guidelines
- Protection of 3rd party customers/transporters
- Protection of the buoy and constantly maintaining it in an “as new” condition
- Ensuring Company Reputation is upheld and built upon
Conclusion
In every scenario, prevention is better than cure. Finding the right terminal maintenance partner can save you time, money, risk and reputational damage. Consult with MARSOL to find the right long-term offshore maintenance plan for your terminal.