I look back to 20012 when I outlined some possible maritime Christmas Wishes. And then to 2019 during COVID which could be said to apply today, although then there was wailing and gnashing of teeth due to our enforced isolation. I said "All mariners are going to wonder what the fuss is about, that the population of the western world is becoming hysterical at not being able to hug their families on the magical 25th December. Not being home for Christmas can be the normal state for many mariners, and their wish might be that at least they can be alongside somewhere, not having to do very much." Here are the wishes I outlined in 2012. Can we detect any changes since then?
This is the third time the Bourbon Petrel - apparently still called that - has featured on is site. I discovered that I had recovered a photo from the Bourbon publicity showing the ship preparing to carry out some sort of transfer from itself to what seemed to be a PGS ramformq vessel. I had wondered how this would be done since it is not possible to ly=ie alongside a triangle, point forward. So what we can see is a messenger about to be recovered to the seismic ship, which is attached to a larger messenger, which is attached to a mooring rope, and one assumes that once that has been passed the support vessel sort of tows the larger ship while the transfer is carried out. Look how tidy the bow of the bigger ship is!
This is the NKT Victoria a cable layer, directed probably at the offshore wind industry, since it is apparently able to lay two sorts of cable at the same time. It was awarded the Norwegian "Ship of the Year" prize in 2017. It can carry 9000 tons of cable and has accommodation for 100 people, and like nearly all current arrivals in the wind business is a DP3 vessel. It was photographed by Jan Plug as it was departing from Ijmuiden on its way to the Moray Firth. I had never heard of NKT but apparently they have been in the cable laying business since 1891.
Here is the UOS Explorer in Malta in 2015. This ship is apparently now the GH Explorer and it is still in service working in Trinidad. It was one of a fleet if identical Moss Maritime designed anchor-handlers built in Italy, and owned by Hartmann Offshore. The events in recent years have resulted in many offshore vessels going to the scrap, and many other to have changed ownership, possibly due to the fact that they can be picked up very cheaply. Indeed many years ago i attended a conference where ship wooers indicated that the only time they would make any money from owning a ship would be when it was sold. Now even that option seemed to have been removed.
The is the Xbow platform ship Blue Power which was to become Hermit Power and now after the sale off the Hermitage company ships may become something else. This ship was built in 2013 so it is pretty new. All the company vessels were sold off at bargain prices, but in the end no matter what sort of bargain was achieved people still have to get work for the ships. It has been said by a respected commentator on the offshore industry that investment will increase next year and be back at earlier levels in 2022. Of course this is bound to be likely. The requirement for hydrocarbons has not gone away, it has just been left in the ground for the time being.