ESS Support Services Worldwide (ESS) Offshore recently secured three new contracts, which will see it delivering hotel and catering services on the newly constructed jack-up drilling rig Maersk Highlander, as well as two accommodation vessels.
The Maersk Highlander recently arrived to and is currently operating on the Maersk Oil-operated Culzean field, in the UK sector of the North Sea, under a five-year drilling contract.
Built this year in Singapore by Sembcorp Marine’s Jurong Shipyard, the jack-up unit has the capacity to hold 150 personnel which will include 18 ESS offshore staff. The contract will run for three years.
ESS Offshore will be responsible for catering for all personnel in the canteen, mess room and recreational areas as well as the maintenance of the cabins, on-site gymnasium, and recreational rooms.
The flotels – the Safe Boreas and COSL Rival vessels, are used predominantly in the industry to provide support related to the maintenance and modification of installations on fields already in production, or the hook-up and commissioning of new fields, while also operating gangway connections to the installation they support.
The Safe Boreas vessel, newly built in Singapore and named after the Greek god of the north wind, has a capacity to accommodate 450 persons in single man cabins while the COSL Rival flotel has a maximum capacity to accommodate 400 persons in the UK in addition to containing a cinema, gymnasium and internet café at both sites.
The combined £3.5 million ($4.54M) contract for the provision of hotel and catering services, operated from the North Sea, will see ESS Offshore station over 80 staff across both vessels.
Graham Singer , ESS Food Operation Manager, commented on the new contracts: “We are very excited to be taking care of both catering and hotel services on the Maersk Highlander drilling rig, as well as the accommodation vessels. There are always challenges to overcome on such large vessels, however, we relish the opportunity.”