Dangerous areas to transit through, or work in

[James McLauchlan]

This thread has been started purely to generate a list of countries deemed as dangerous/dodgy as far as ROV personnel are concerned.

Note: This is not a discussion on how rate uplifts should be applied or indeed how companies might be approached to agree to such up-lifts.
Any such suggestions will be treated as ‘thread hijacking’ and will be edited out. If you wish to discuss how uplifts might be applied start another thread on the subject.

We all know that some areas of the world have a lot of offshore activity but are deemed (by ROV operatives, but not necessarily by companies) as dangerous when transiting through (robberies/shootings/muggings etc.) as could be working in such areas due to the risk of (say) offshore Piracy.

Please suggest dodgy countries with reasons based on personal experience.
As countries and reasons come in they will be added to the list below.

• Angola

Onshore:
Luanda, 1998
Attempted murder 5 minutes from the cities only 5 star hotel (Presidental Meridian), on the major boulevard. Murder for murders sake (race based I bet), not robbery. Police did NOTHING.
Oceaneering failed to warn personnel of the dangers of walking on the beach in the tourist area ( I spent 2 weeks there waiting for my hitch to begin. The beach is known to contain medical waste (HIV contaminated needles) since the hospitals routinely disposed in that fashion.

Offshore:

• Cameroon

Onshore:

Offshore:

• Gabon

Onshore:

Offshore:

• Indonesia

Onshore:

Offshore:
Global industries still use security for there barges while working offshore Indonesia. There is a serious risk while working close to Sumatra. All though it’s a few years ago I have been on board with 10 armed guards in the same area. The area is well known for its piracy. The barges are mainly the ones at risk.

• Iran

Onshore:

Offshore:

• Iraq

Onshore:

Offshore:

• Libya

Onshore:

Offshore:

• Nigeria

Onshore:

Offshore:

Purely to get the list started I’ve added some countries and added a reason for one of them.
Please help out by suggesting reasons for the above countries.

No further countries will be added to the list unless that country carries a valid reason for being added. Why? It’s very easy to suggest a country but not as easy to accompany it with a valid reason.

Note: This is not a discussion on how rate uplifts should be applied or indeed how companies might be approached to agree to such up-lifts.
Any such suggestions will be treated as ‘thread hijacking’ and will be edited out. If you wish to discuss how uplifts might be applied start another thread on the subject.

[deepseacon]

For now i just put some countries in a list down

Indonesia

Russia

Ghana

Angola

Kuwait

[James McLauchlan]

I’ve just added the paragraph below to the OP.

No further countries will be added to the list unless that country carries a valid reason for being added. Why? It’s very easy to suggest a country but not as easy to accompany it with a valid reason.

[James McLauchlan]

For now i just put some countries in a list down

Indonesia

Russia

Ghana

Angola

Kuwait

Thanks… now please add some reasons for your suggestions.

Indonesia – I wouldn’t describe Indonesia as Dangerous or Dodgy to work in.
Russia – Not been there
Ghana – maybe
Angola – maybe
Kuwait – I would suggest that Kuwait is one of the safest countries around… worked there for 18 months and the place is almost asleep!! Has something changed??

[deepseacon]

I added the list above as start with the intention of submitting details later.

here is one for now

Indonesia
Onshore Need to be care full whilst in some areas of Jakarta there still is risk of Terrorist problems.

On 17 July 2009, terrorists detonated bombs at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. Australians were among those killed and injured
There is a high threat from terrorism throughout Indonesia. Terrorist groups continue to plan attacks and have the capacity and intent to carry out these attacks at any time and any where in the country. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers.
http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/Indonesia
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/asia-oceania/indonesia1#terrorism

Offshore

Global industries for example still use security for there barges while working offshore Indonesia there is a serious risk while working close to Sumatra. All though it’s a few years ago I have been on board with 10 armed guards in the same area. The area is well known for its piracy. The barges are mainly the ones at risk.
.

[James McLauchlan]

Thanks, update added.

[liddelljohn]

I am working out of Ghana and so far we have had no problems with locals most of our problems are caused by our own crews perchant for getting shitfaced with local girls and getting lost

[timebandit]

I live in Indonesia never had a problem there.

More likely to get into trouble in London or Glasgow than Jakarta.

If you believe all the bullshit travel advice posted on the web you might as well give up on life.
If you have no personal experience from the place then I believe you are not qualified to comment no matter what the web says….

[thomas]

Guys,
Perhaps I asked the question in the wrong way.
My line of thought was if rov guys go into a danger area then they should be rewarded for that danger.How to classify an area on the danger is going to be difficult therefore I think maybe we can only classify an area by the number of rov guys who have actually experienced danger there.
When we have the facts to hand then maybe we can formulate some sort of risk assessment for that particular place and then classify it.

[Savante]

I use this as our definition.

Any vessel which has ISPS security level higher than a 2 (and we exersize caution on a level 2).

Level 3: Threat is both imminent AND expected (and a formal response planned).

There are accomodations under british maritime law (therefore applicable under UK-flagged vessels) for mandatory day-rate multipliers to ships crew wages transiting via, into, through an internationally-recognised "war zone"; accepted minimum multiplier was 2 for "war-zone".

Whilst I would "associate" war-zones with ISPS-3 and a mandatory requirement for vessel master to notify insurance company, I don’t know if level 3 necessarily implies "war-zone wage treatment" in reverse as it can also refer to imminent terrorist attacks or piracy.

[James McLauchlan]

I live in Indonesia never had a problem there.

More likely to get into trouble in London or Glasgow than Jakarta.

When living in Asia I worked out of Indonesia a good few times and also transited though or stayed in Jakarta many times as well, and have equally not experienced problems which is why earlier I suggested Indonesia is not such an issue.

You could get into trouble anywhere in the world but it might be better to compare cities that we often mobilise or transit through. Using London or Glasgow as a bench mark are hardly representative of that, although Aberdeen might be.

To make the list more representative I think it’ll need to be edited to direct experience only. It had to be started somehow so as it’s work in progress it can be adapted.

So to suit the reference above to

‘bullshit travel advice posted on the web’

I’ll remove references from official government sources and edit the OP accordingly.

[Mark DuPriest]

Luanda, Angola, 1998
Attempted murder 5 minutes from the cities only 5 star hotel (Presidental Meridian), on the major boulevard. Murder for murders sake (race based I bet), not robbery. Police did NOTHING.

Oceaneering failed to warn personnel of the dangers of walking on the beach in the tourist area ( I spent 2 weeks there waiting for my hitch to begin. The beach is known to contain medical waste (HIV contaminated needles) since the hospitals routinely disposed in that fashion.

[Donnie Cameron]

My take on this thread is….the world is a dangerous place! Some people attract problems no matter where they go. Others travel the world and never see the dark side of life.
In reality I think the thread should be "What companies put you in danger?"
Some take care of you very well or ensure their agents are doing that properly on their behalf. Others will drop you on a quayside in West Africa and if you don’t have the savvy to get yourself sorted then your stuffed!
Sorry James if you consider this "hijacking the thread". 😉

[James McLauchlan]

………
Sorry James if you consider this "hijacking the thread". 😉

Nope…. It’s on topic… just wanted to avoid this turning into a bun fight over pay which is a whole other subject/topic in it’s own right. So far so good :tup:

[Topdawg]

My take on this thread is….the world is a dangerous place! Some people attract problems no matter where they go. Others travel the world and never see the dark side of life.
In reality I think the thread should be "What companies put you in danger?"

I agree with you, but would say ‘the world can be a dangerous place’ as two different people in the same place have two different experiences.
Even in the most dodgy places in the world it comes down to being in the right place, at the wrong time.

I’ve had very bad experiences in Paris and very good ones in Port Harcourt. But when I went back to Port Harcourt later that year, it was a bad experience and Paris surprisingly turned out to be quite a nice place.

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