Scaldis Salvage and Marine Contractors

Raising the bar

Based in Antwerp, Belgium, Scaldis Salvage and Marine Contractors is an autonomous working company revered for its reputation as a solid and reliable partner to both contractors and clients undertaking projects involving marine-based heavy lifts.

In the process of having performed countless specialised and complex marine projects, the company has also proved to be an expert in developing specific techniques that ultimately benefit the interests of the client in question.

“Scaldis Salvage and Marine Contractors is a company that operates in five different market sectors, those being defined as civil construction, oil and gas, renewables, decommissioning/deconstruction and heavy lifting in salvage related works,” explains general manager, Marc Voorhuis. “When it comes to its work in the oil and gas sector, the company is able to carry out all manner of tasks from the placing of jackets, piles, topsides and vent booms to the transport and installation of gravity based structures. In addition it can undertake the decommissioning of those aforementioned topsides and jackets, and offers module lift services for the construction of FPSO vessels.”

Over the years Scaldis Salvage and Marine Contractors has strived to build up a vast degree of expertise, during which time it has evolved steadily from being a contractor purely focused on lift operations to one that today is able to execute the full scope of related work: “The company is constantly examining the changing demands of the markets in which it operates,” Marc continues. “This degree of awareness means it can methodically plan its next move, in turn giving it extra confidence that it is never offering services or solutions that it in fact cannot deliver. As the markets have changed, so too has the approach of Scaldis’ customers. More and more today they are determined to give a larger degree of their projects’ scope to one contractor, ensuring work is carried out by a single, professional source, and this is something that Scaldis can most definitely provide.”

One of the company’s biggest strengths is its ability to work in close co-operation with its clients from an early stage in order to develop the most efficient and effective methodology required for the task at hand. What this also allows it to do is continuously look to optimise not only the installation process, but also the logistics behind the work it undertakes. Scaldis has never been a company that shies away from the fact that technical problems do exist, however it also believes that they exist to be solved, and as such it regards the development of alternative, inventive and unique solutions to suit particular requirements as an exciting challenge to take on.

At the heart of the company’s activities are its two vessels, the NORMA and the Rambiz. The former is a self-propelled, multipurpose sheer legs vessel with a lifting capacity of 440 tonnes. Over the course of the last decade the NORMA has repeatedly displayed its versatility, having performed more than 100 successfully executed salvages and offshore and onshore heavy lift projects. With a substantially greater lifting capacity of 3300 tonnes, the Rambiz is perfectly suited to conduct platform installations and removals, wreckage removals and other special heavy lifting tasks. With its two cranes, which are able to reach a lift height of 90 metres, the Rambiz is fully certified for ocean passage with said cranes able to be loaded independently or simultaneously. The vessel can operate in shallow and deep waters.

Another reason for the company to be excited about its long-term prospects is the expected arrival in 2014 of its third vessel: “This new vessel, with an increased capacity of 4000 tonnes, really represents a step forward for Scaldis,” Marc states.“Once again the company has been closely monitoring market trends and in turn has designed and adapted this new vessel accordingly. In simple terms, there are five key differences between it and the Rambiz. Larger in size and depth, it has a lifting capacity that improves the company’s previous capabilities by approximately 15 per cent. The cranes onboard have been positioned in a way that allows the deck space onboard to be increased to accommodate more equipment and by being DP2 certified and fully self-propelled, the vessel meets all the necessary offshore requirements.

“Each one of these new design features has been put in place to meet the demands that customers will have over the course of the next decade. At present the NORMA and the Rambiz are continuing to perform extremely well in what is really a niche market. However the market itself will most definitely be evolving over the next five-to-ten years to incorporate greater DP2 capabilities as the amount of seabed cabling increases dramatically.”

“Each of the company’s markets and the techniques associated with these are clearly undergoing ongoing changes and as a company Scaldis has to be able to anticipate and react to these,” adds Dave Bakx, operational manager. “By taking a forward thinking approach when it comes to its third vessel, for example the personnel who will make up its crew are already undergoing training, Scaldis is ensuring it will be best placed to service this changing industry when the time comes.”

Although it is a self-confessed smaller-sized company, Scaldis continues to invest heavily, not only financially, but in the relationships it has forged with its clients throughout the oil and gas market: “This relationship-based structure is one the company purposely chooses to follow and this has paid off no end in the way it has produced countless, mutually-beneficial partnerships,” Marc says. “The ability of the company to diversify into different fields of industry has helped it avoid feeling any lasting effects from the economic crisis, something that has spurred it on to target worldwide growth in the future. With its new vessel set to target business activities in Europe, it means Scaldis will soon be in a position to send its other vessels further afield, with the ultimate goal being to establish the company’s presence in Australia, the US and anywhere else it can be of service.”

Scaldis Salvage and Marine Contractors
Services: Heavy lift services