What's New In W. Africa (Nigeria)

[graculus]

Foamy,

I am never chopping Lebanese men nor am I a member of the British Rabbit Council, though a nice portion of rabbit and prune pie does go down very well from time-to-time . I've not been able to get hold of any mushrooms other than those tinned Chinese ones with the limited suppamakket facilities where I live. They seem to have run out of those now too! Luckily I can still get plenty of oatmeal and salt

Caverscam were round at the Smell bases in Port Harcourt and Warri over the weekend, interviewing Bristow staff as they don't seem to have quite enough of their own to actually start the contract and I hear all the Bristow pilots have been offered continued employment with Bristow. It'll be interesting to see who believes that they'll be paid all this extra money Caverscam are offering on time every month and who stays on for the certainty of pay going in on time before the end of the month. Is the pension scheme that really good one where Cavinvest put all the money in a Part 419 scheme for the members in the Cayman Isles? The offer is to continue on 6/6, but it may be worth getting in writing beforehand that it's 6 weeks on, 6 weeks off, not 6 weeks on 6 days off . I'm sure that with the tight oversight from Smell and everything they've already obviously put in place for their Management of Change for this contract all these issues have been sorted out months before the contract bid ever went in. It all sounds very reassuring when Slave Vicars talks to them in just the sort of language they're used to. He's the only expat who's lasted more than about 10 minutes with Caverscam . Certainly several Bristow staff will remember their old work mate Graham Walker who now seems to be the Quality and Safety Director of Caverscam and I'm sure this will give them a sense of reassurance . I wonder who'll be the first to resign on the promise of extra milk and honey, plus a managerial job . Caverscam managers historically seem to be high fliers who soon settle into the routine of working for Nigeria's premier helicopter and fixed wing operator and world centre of excellence. Anyone who doubts this has only to talk to John Goulash or Barry Maul and see how well they've done in their short time there so far. And just remember, on being awarded the contract Caverscam and Smell trumpeted loud and clear that this is the start of a new era with an indigenous company with indigenous staff getting a major contract for the first time . It's a funny old thing then that they seem to have more expats flying helicopters for them than ever now (unless Mexicans are classed as indigenes ).

On the issue of aircraft types the Shell strategy was clearly stated:


Quote:
Stevens says Shell will soon tender to upgrade to new-generation helicopters in Nigeria. “We want to get rid of AS332s and replace them with EC225s, [and] S76s with AW139s. And we’ll be doing this in cooperation with the NOC of Nigeria.
You will recall that the 9 aircraft Bristow have been flying will be replaced by first 8 EC155s and then finally just 7 AW139s. That is even better than was originally expected:


Quote:
It’s not just a question of safety. If you have your demand management—I mean your control of passenger movement—really sharp, with really good load factors and so on, and you replace old types with new ones, you can sometimes do the same job with one less airframe.
as Gulf and Sky Shuttle are having to do. So your initial start-up costs and operating costs are both lower.”

On the AW139 and the EC155:


Quote:
AgustaWestland has carved a niche in Hong Kong harbour with its new-generation AW139—Bristow ordered three of them at Helitech in October (two were delivered in December) and [Shell] anticipates requiring scores more over the next year or so. Eurocopter’s EC155 is also well-regarded.

I'm surprised that Caverscvam Marine hasn't taken over the contract for the LNG deliveries yet, but I'm sure the tankers are already under construction. It's certainlly reassuring that once out of the safe hands of Smell, the Nigerian Navy and Mopol those tankers with the harrowing potential for disaster similar to a nuclear explosion are docking in Sheep country, not in England or Liverpool .

212 Man,

The one and only BHNL S92 TRE seems to have had some excellent luck, but his replacement should be in place before he leaves. They really do need to get at least one spare though as quite a few pilots seem to be quitting Bristow lately.