Projects in China.

[Paul Bond]

Chen,
Is it plausible / professional for a company to expect:-
1. Workers to pay for all hotels / visa’s and local travel abroad – yes, on an adhoc basis, but no, when the job has been ‘planned’ for some time
2. To not pass on experienced supervisors concerns re. the ability of the ROV to carry out the job, at a pre job conference with his boss.
3.To falsely accuse people of enjoying the oldest profession in the world, when that is blatantly not true – have you forgotten that a certain person in China asked for the agency supervisor to bring him some ‘things’ from UK – as they make them smaller in China lol.
4. To proudly show off autocad drawings of the ROV control van – very nice and obviously taken some time – but not have spent the same time preparing own company dive and video logs.
5. To ask for aforesaid paperwork to be designed on a Chinese OS computer. Employ Chinese pilots / supervisors or maybe do it yourself?!? Best i brush up on my Congolese, just in case my next job is off Africa!
6. To ask for a full system maintenance schedule / risk assessment to be carried out by agency workers who had not seen the system or the worksite. Doubt you had ever seen the worksite either as there were no deck plans available for the upcoming mobilisation.
7. To tell the agency supervisor that his Chinese boss’s brother, who has no ROV experience and speaks / reads no English, can override the supervisors operational decisions if needs be.

It is true that the two UKPS guys walked off the job before getting there. It was day 6 of total confusion / disorganisation, with the prospect of up to a week more due to delays in the barge arrival.The fact that things were said in front of the client that perhaps shouldn’t have been, might not have occurred if only the guys had been informed that the man was indeed the client and not just another agent.
It is untrue that they were unhappy at being on full rate in a hotel – they aren’t mad. As mentioned above, they were unhappy about paying for the hotel / ferry tickets and visas.
Can’t remember Bluewhale assurances of being looked after post job – there might well have been, but previous performance and comments from management suggested otherwise.

As for Prophets comments on a different post. This is an information exchange so i am allowed to exchange such info to assist others.
I think both parties learned a lot from this experience and hopefully both will benefit from it in the long run.

Walking off the job was, i admit, not very professional on our part and did not cast the company in a good light with its client, but with the barge delays there was ample time to arrange personnel replacements. If the job had been thought through a bit more then the whole sorry episode need not have occurred. I should point out that i believe that this was the first time that the company itself had brought in foreigners to work, and that maybe things are more organised now.

I wish all at Bluewhale well in the future. I don’t bear grudges but i am just presenting the full facts.

[Andy Shiers]

Now that is what I call Blatant Honesty , and that is what I wanted to hear.
Thankyou norfolknchance2 , I hope that was from your own experience as in you were one of the number ?
I completely and whole heartedly agree that………………………
1/ The rates should be Door to Door.
2/ Travel /accomadation / Food ( NOT Alcohol ) Should be paid for by client
3/ The ROV Manager should bring the supervisor out early to "bring up to date" the Workscope.
4/ Considering that Most of the oil industry is in English and that certain countries DO NOT HAVE the necessary qualified personnel to operate the "WESTERN" technology that the equipment should be in ENGLISH to assist.
Honesty by the "Management" makes the difference between the contract running smoothly with a happy bunch of folk offshore and a complete Cluster F@#K !
If the reason for walking off is genuine , I , for one , am for it 🙂

[Paul Bond]

The defence rests m’lud. I was one of those terrible people.

[Sarcy]

Chen, this does not put your lot in a good light does it? I know the guys involved and have never had any probs with either of them, if anything Norfolk was one of the most respected and trustworthy supervisors at his old employers.

It is quite a spin you put on your version of events and Ray, if you don’t know what or who you are talking about it really is better to say nothing.

[subman]

Well I dont think I have to add any thing . So if your lucky you might get paid maybe .

Subman

[misiuek]

as i know everybody involved, both sides of the story and was the guy sent to replace them its all in the past now.

the bluewhale of yesterday is a different company of today, the amount of up coming work is increasing and with the shortage of personnel is affecting us all, bluewhale (and maddog can testify) is paying uk rates to personnel that it uses.

they are also restucturing to be able to deal with this, employing an expat operations manager who is moving to china and will be responsible for the care and needs of personnel. there is always going to be some little problems especially fitting into the chinese work ‘mind’ but as has been mentioned here more translators have been hired and everything is being done to try please everyone, which as we all know God couldnt do but we are trying.

the list of possibilities in china is increasing almost daily and i for one am glad that i will be part of it.

did i mention tax free?

maddog is one way to try to get employment in china or another is me.

mrennie@boetc.com (this email is defunct now)

cbarclay@163.net or lg@boetc.com is the better option

regards

[Sarcy]

and guess who is going to be starting to work for BW soon? Getting the company sales patter flowing nice and smooth aren’t you?

😀

[Roo]

Hey Sarky/sarcy,
would you like me to say hi to anyone down in China for you? I could always go and pick up that christmas pressie you never received.

[Sarcy]

G’day stumpy, no thanks.

xx

[Roo]

You’re no fun. How’s our mate going??

[Sarcy]

Mate? which one? You be careful up there, they only want your money!!

Treat them like they’re …..

[blowhole]

Are you guys still looking for Workclass pilots?

Cheers

BH

[Scott Beveridge]

Ray,

We pay north sea rates in China, in stirling.
Of course the vessels are a little lower class, but i have
to say there are worse in the north sea.
And in the 10 months i have been working and living
in China Bluewhale has taken very good care of me and
the guys that work for me.

If anyone wants to find out what its like to work in China
send me your CV.

Best regards Mad-dog 😀
Shekou, PR China.

If you don’t have my CV already or (esp.) don’t know it then…….. (fill in the blank). Worked in China (w/ROV’s) since 1982……….. Pompous comes to mind esp. that avatar.

[joeboy]

WTF are you on 😯 . The guy is offering work in China, what is wrong with that? If its not your cup of tea leave it alone or sober up. Mad Dog, good luck in your venture.

[seadogg]

well i have one for the Bluewhale management, maddog, chen or who ever it is?

is it true or false that you condone your reps going around beating up ROV supervisors once they get ashore up there in China?

If it’s true and it’s like i heard, does the client rep in question still work for you? well you know just asking cause us plebians get run off wether it happens offshore or on the beach.

[Author]

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