A bad start to a job

[Sand-dancing]

Hugh,

I will appologise that you were subjected to this type of situation and as it has been suggested those who know me will testify that i will not accept any guys even if as in your case you werent working direct for us being treated like this.

I have been here for approx 3 weeks now and we are changing things hopefully for the better for everyone however this doesnt happen over night.

The team we are trying to assemble here will hopefully help reduce these cases to a once in a blue moon type level.

As i have posted elsewhere on this site we are on the look out for both onshore and offshore staff and i think everyone will agree this in itself speaks volumes of the level we are aiming for.

Once again sorry you had a bad experince

Please feel free to call me if you want to talk further on this or indeed you would like further information on what we are trying to put in place to avoid this in the future.

Best Regards

Reece

[Anonymous]

HI
Good one Reece

[Scott Beveridge]

Kick some derrier Reece!! Good luck and make sure you have plenty of Maalox on hand (or Pepto-Bismol) – you’re gonna’ need it.

[Che]

In my experience the problem is always with the agent,Qatar is particularily bad,exacerbated both at Doha port/Ras Laffan by shortage of berths/inefficiency of Port authority. I have spent 24hrs on a crew boat with no bunk, poor food on several occasions, sharing the boat with lots of guys from lots of different companies…and different agents.
It’s Qatar, get used to it! It’s unfair to blame FSME for logistical problems outwith their control.

[westy]

It’s Qatar, get used to it! It’s unfair to blame FSME for logistical problems outwith their control.

who are you then, an office waller for FSME ? Who else are you going to blame ? And of course it is totally WITHIN their control. Its people with sentiments like this that keep our industry down. Maybe becuase its Qatar we should still be working off Dhows then ?

I worked out of Qatar for a year in the early 90’s for QSS (now Halul offshore), and there were no problems getting picked up and taken to the vessel.

Westy

[James McLauchlan]

It’s Qatar, get used to it! It’s unfair to blame FSME for logistical problems outwith their control.

What a terrible response, plus I totally disagree.

There is no reason on earth why people should ‘get used to it‘ because it happens to be Qatar. It is also not outwith FSME’s control. The problem needs fixing not getting used to.

[Che]

Sorry if i seemed flipant, of course no one has to get used to it, you can choose to work elsewhere, but in my experience, recently in Qatar, even after getting picked up promptly from the airport,delivered to the boat by the agent,you can still expect to spend anything between 12 and 36hrs on a boat waiting to get to the field.
Similarly on the way in, getting on the boat and getting back to Doha is easy enough, only to spend 12 to 36hrs waiting at anchor because the port authority wont let it in cos the port is backed up with Car Carriers disgorging Beemers, Mercs & Humvees!
I fail to see how FSME can be blamed for this,as it is the same for personnel from lots of different companies utilising several different agents. All are subject to the whims of the Doha port Authorities.
My personal beef with the agents is the quality of the hotels they stick us in whilst waiting to go to the ship – now that is something FSME could do something about! The are after all paying the bill.

[rover22]

Hi all,

I must agree with Che, FSME does have its issues, but a lot of the problems I have experienced in Qatar/Saudi/UAE have been down to the agents themselves.

Last trip during Ramadan I spent 9.5 hours by myslf on the quayside, no vessel, no agent waiting for flight details, an agent to clear me and transport to the airport. If the agent was half-decent, he would have been there to meet the boat or a short while thereafter to collect and clear me through customs and either drop me a tthe airport with ticket or in a hotel. This is how it was last year, but the agents seem to be cutting corners and as a result, things are the way they are now.

I passed an email to FSME about this and they apologised and said they would follow up with the agent (although from the first posting above, this either did not happen or the agent didnt care).

Moral of the story, beware crew changes in Qatar/Saudi etc, you could wait a long time and be without food or water until ypou reach your destination. Get the contact names and numbers, take a bottle of water and some snacks and charge the IPOD before travelling.

[deputydawg]

In the original post on this thread the complaint had nothing to do with waiting on a boat at anchor, or the actions of Qatar port control. It was about not being picked up and then being taken straight to the port to meet a boat that wasn’t there.

This is not a one off with this agent and Che is wrong to say that Fugro are not responsible for how guys are traeted. (All companies no matter where they operate should ensure that agents look after personnel properly). Fugro have promised to address this on several occations over a long period of time.

Part of the probelem also lies with people like Che who are willing to put up with and accept this type of treatment.

In response to ‘westy’ no Che is not an office waller but he was one of the ‘make me a supervisor and you can pay me as tech’ guys which probably explains his comments.

[Che]

Hey Dawg,WTF,who are you? Your first post since becoming a member and you can find nothing to do except have a dig at me! Quality.
You make several accusations in your post directed at me personally, which is pretty lame for a public forum. PM me if you want to have a go!

Part of the probelem also lies with people like Che who are willing to put up with and accept this type of treatment.

Believe me I neither put up with nor accept this sort of treatment, neither should anyone else, but I maintain , In my expierience ,in Qatar specifically, the service from the agents is poor. You could say that Fugro should use another agent, they did, for a while,and they were worse.
I’m not going to get into a debate about vessel movements in and out of Doha port as they are what they are and there is nothing FSME can do about them.

In response to ‘westy’ no Che is not an office waller but he was one of the ‘make me a supervisor and you can pay me as tech’ guys which probably explains his comments.

I really don’t know where you get your info Dawg, you obviously think you know me. I am a supervisor and get paid as one. You seem to want to give the impression that I somehow let myself be shafted,or somehow claimed a position that i was unqualified for. I will say that early on I worked as a supervisor and was payed as a senior pilot/tech on a couple of jobs,though I certainly didn’t ask for it as you infer.
No biggy, it was good expierience, and I’m sure plenty of guys out there have done the same, I’m a great believer in learning to walk before you can run. We all have met guys who have rocked up claiming to be this ,that and the next thing and we all know that they don’t (can’t)always do what it says on the tin!

Anyhoo, Day 6 with no eggs , fresh fruit or Veg onboard, if they run out of T-Bags……..I’ll probs roll over and say F**K all about it..Eh Dawg!

Peace.
Che!

[Cowboy]

While I can sympathise with pea-dof I can’t see how he can justify going into a rant and emailing people with the accusations he is levelling at FSME.
From reading your post very carefully, all I can see is that the agents are shit, as are most in this part of the world. From what I have been led to believe, they have already changed agents and guess what . . . they are shit too.
You can’t make the omlette if the eggs are all rotten.
I’m in agreement with Ray in the fact that as soon as you set foot on that crew change boat, FSME had no part in what happened after that.

I am in no way condoning what happened, there are obviously big holes in the net when it comes to this kinda stuff over there but to spit the dummy and cry to everyone about how shit a company is due to an arse up from a 3rd party is pretty out of order. This of course is just my humble opinion.
Personally I think it went wrong for you when . . .

We were eventually greeted at Doha airport at 0730 local time after arriving at 0530 local time via London Heathrow from Aberdeen.
(I expressly told them not to do this, as my luggage would never make it, which it has not).

I’m presuming you are an agency worker? I’m sorry I don’t understand this one so maybe someone can explain it to me . . . . since when did the employee dictate to the company the route of their travel? Obviously I’m pretty old fashioned when it comes to this but I always thought that travel was an obvious part of this job and if you want the job, you get on with it, not bitch about which airports are involved.

We all have had shitty hitches generally we get on with it as they are they exception, not the norm. We work in a global industry and so have to accept global differences in standards. Those who find this is too much of a hardship, generally stick to their chosen areas.

[JB2]

So we need more good advice on the forum instead of bitchin.

OK as an offshore traveller for nearly 20 years my advice would be for new and old alike.

1. DONT ever check your bags through if you have an internal connection in the UK or anywhere I suppose. Try and get your bags to the last leg carrier where possible. Its a hassle but worth it, please yourself on the way back as to when your bag turns up at home or never!!

2. Just have your gash clothes & PPE and cheap crap in HOLD luggauge (Make out your claim for lots more though). Make sure your flight cabin bag is the correct size and keep small size < 100mm toiletteries in clear bag and fresh set of smalls along with ALL your expensive electronics. If you can fit them in, a set of light weight day covies for when your hold bag gets lost you can cycle your washing around until it arrives.

3. I also find them cargo pants with loads of pockets in good for the hot countries as you can keep passport/phone/wallet etc in and just have a T shirt on to sweat in instead of carrying your minus 2 deg coat from Aberdeen on your arm to then leave it in the lounge bar with your gear in and ticket coz you had a few scoops and were late!

Experiences brought to you by old and weary wiser traveller.

REMEBER:- What ever you take with you be pepared to never see it again then you might just leave it at home instead!

STAY SAFE and try to enjoy it even if I don’t any more.

[turtle]

With many years in most corners of the oil patch this old hand can provide horror "mob" stories to keep you entertained for many jars. Some of the most blood tingling relate experiences of gettting to/from Fugro Middle East work. My advice — Add appropriate percentage to day rate negotiation for inevitable Pain and Suffering. Good luck finding any involved authority who’ll provide a modicum of post trauma give-a-sh’t.

[Superscorchio]

Ah the Maridive

Shambolic to say the least!

Chinese built & Egyptian crew! Need I say more?

The ship is about a year old, but looks like its about 30! Its also the noisiest ship I’ve been on, due to all thrusters running at max, which I think is down to them working against each other!

The food is diabolical & everything is saturated in oil.
Just look at the teletubby crew & you can assume that’s not going to change. They refuse to take on any other cereal than cornflakes, something to do with FSME stores being written in stone I believe.
Also no gym at all, & 1 toilet outside the cabins for the entire crew!
Again as you can imagine it looks like the one from Trainspotting!
Egyptian bridge crew as useless as a chocolate fire guard & as stubborn as mules!
Every move requested is more or less refused or they lie to you about everything, ignorant to the fact that we have a nav screen too…
You do eventually tire of the endless battle to try & get the simplest moves done!

This brings me to the frequent run-offs, or “tactical withdrawal’s” as they are put.
This usually results in a curt “RECOVER THE ROV” From the bridge, followed 10 seconds later by the ship steaming off at random usually around 5kts, only brought to a halt once we’ve cleared the 500m zone! The record I hear was around 1k away from the platform. Very professional.

As for crew changes, it seems you are more likely to over run your 6 weeks by a minimum of 1 week, maximum 1 month.
One name which keeps on cropping up regarding this is someone called Naroosh.
It’s usually followed by W**ker/Ar**hole/D**khead Etc.
Not sure if those are first or last names.
It seems that doing his job is a serious inconvenience & interferes with his social life or something.
I think it’s time FSME organized some new agent’s & ship’s in the Mid East as they are rapidly gaining the reputation as one of the worst organized ROV companies in the world to work for…

Here’s hoping Reece can turn the place around eh?

[JL Schnabel]

I have never had it this bad – boat or crew-change wise…

The scary part though is, that FSME have recently contacted me concerning my availability ❗ ❗ 😕

[Author]

Posts