Sonsub Singapore, again again

[me]

Guys listen to this, was talking to one of the Sonsub Singapore guys again, don’t know if this is for real. He told me that around 40% is now local people, are they trying to get rid of expats?? Then that they have a 21 year old supervisor, somebody’s son?? Or from kindergarten to ROV. And then he told me they have people coming from nowhere and within 2-3 years make it supervisor, talk about a step up the ladder, is this really true?. Wonder what day rate they pay??
I was thinking about applying for a Sonsub job, but not sure I would like a 21 year old or a 2-3 years experience guy to tell me about the good ol’ days. Think I still might be agency guy for a while.

[Ray Shields]

Back in 2000 I seen people made Supervisors after 2 years of offshore experience and Superintendents after 4!

It may be true, others have tried it – in the short term they get cheap labour. In the long run they lose ROVs and have lots of downtime.

Short sightedness.

[elad1986]

I am actually quite good friends with this "kindergarten to rov" guy….he is a son of someone who ‘was in management’ a few years ago but decided to go work in k’stan.
this guy put in the hard yards in the workshop for 10 months before going offshore… has worked his way to supervisor through long hitches over 4 years, averaging about 320 days offshore a year on "crap ships".

You already ‘know’ their wages and a few of the guys there, so you would fit in nice and well. Hope you get this 21 y.o on your shift as supervisor – maybe then you will findout if he is good or not – that is if you stop thinking about getting away from agency work and actually do it!
Look forward to you reply 🙂

[rovnumpty]

Think 2 years to supervisor is standard operating procedure for Oceaneering.

Was told in ’98, by some of their folk in the gulf (of mexico) that if you didn’t make supervisor in 2 years ‘you weren’t going places in the company’.

Guess I wasn’t going places with them, as I’d been offshore 3 years then and was still a humble pilot/tech. or ET/MT as they call them.

[me]

Elad
I just wanted to know if it was true, I was just stunned, 21 years old, what background to come into ROV?, I don’t think I will be working with him anyway, that would be to many supv.

[deepseacon]

Well i suppose then he is fit for the Operations Managers Position.

[elad1986]

Elad
I just wanted to know if it was true, I was just stunned, 21 years old, what background to come into ROV?, I don’t think I will be working with him anyway, that would be to many supv.

Yeah it is true, he was made supv. last month on a vehicle he has worked on for the last 2 years. He has electronics training with tafe whilst still in school. Basically started his traineeship a few months after finishing High School.

deepseacon,
I don’t think he would even think about management in this lifetime, it’s not his thing.

Yeah there are a few guys out there who fast track to supervisor…I know of a guy who went from trainee to Super Nintendo in the space of 2 and a half years…thats pretty crazy. The thing with Sonsub, Singapore is a lot of people come and go…it is quite difficult to get steady work there.
They are bringing in more and more locals and this is partially because of the Singaporean Ministry of Manpower.

[me]

They are bringing in more and more locals and this is partially because of the Singaporean Ministry of Manpower.

But I was told the “locals” is from Philippines

[deepseacon]

The Filipino there which i have spoken too are on OFW Contracts 6
months with 2 months at Home approx not sure length but some i understand get 2 year contract salary i dont know that.

[Northseahero]

They are bringing in more and more locals and this is partially because of the Singaporean Ministry of Manpower.

Oh come on!

Singaporeans are the biggest bunch of hypocrites in the Asian region. You are trying to tell me that the Ministry of Manpower limits the amount of foreigners working in Singapore – bullshit!

It does not seem to be a problem when they want cheap Indonesian or Fillipino maids (that get treated like shit by the way), and the whole of Singapore Building, Shipping, manufacturing industries etc. is built on cheap slave labour from India and Bangladesh. That they are quite happy to cart around in the back of those open trucks everywhere.

When I was at Sonsub Singapore, the Indian workers in the workshop used to live in A/C Sea Containers at the back of the workshop, and the one Indian guy that looked after the Staff House used to live in the closet on a single bed with just a fan out in the laundry!

The bottom line here is that the Italians are limiting the budget of Sonsub Singapore, and therefore as always they have a few experienced Supervisors being paid at near market rates who are on shift with cheap "make up the rest of the team guys".

This is the main reason they have a high turnover of experienced guys.

[chubby]

Agree, Saipem don’t want to dive into there piggy bank to keep Sonsub ‘as-was’, they want to see the ROV division self sufficient… Management probably have been given a budget to work with as a support operation for the barges…

As with Saipem’s barge work you find only the senior personnel o/b will be expats, the rest of the crew will be locals…

[Anonymous]

Hi
I know a few things about Sonsub, some of this is true some is not, up to you to what’s true and what’s not 🙄 🙄 🙄

[Scott Beveridge]

Agree, Saipem don’t want to dive into there piggy bank to keep Sonsub ‘as-was’, they want to see the ROV division self sufficient… Management probably have been given a budget to work with as a support operation for the barges…

As with Saipem’s barge work you find only the senior personnel o/b will be expats, the rest of the crew will be locals…

It was like that in the mid-90’s when they (Saipem) took over in both SEA and Houston.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations elad86 on your recent promotion. As you have pointed out others have been promoted even quicker at Sonsub Sing……
If I believe what i hear round the traps some of your office guys have about the same time in ROV, so why not take a supervisor position

[Author]

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