My ESVAGT: “ESVAGT wants to set the standard”

Captain Peter Bay likes to trust and be trusted. That is one of the shipping company’s real strengths, he feels.

“One of the things that characterises ESVAGT is that people do their best at everything they work with. Everyone wants to be the best in the field: If we sail vessels, we want to be the best at it. If we want to enter the offshore wind turbine market, we want to be the best at that too. Being in a position where we set the standard and define how work should be done when it is done properly is where I like to work.”

These are the words of Peter Bay, 38 year old captain on board the SOV ’Esvagt Faraday’ and employee of ESVAGT for just over eight years.

He and the crew of the ’Esvagt Faraday’ and the ’Esvagt Froude’ are the spearheads of the largest strategic gamble in the recent history of the shipping company; the development of the servicing concept for offshore wind turbine parks and the vessel type that makes it possible.

And that suits Peter Bay just fine:

“It is a privilege that we can develop this area as specialist field. We had several procedures in place when we started working on the park but they have been gradually adjusted as the reality of our work there has turned out to be slightly different. Good arguments are always appreciated at ESVAGT, which makes it possible to review our work based on experience gained,” he says.

Being in charge

The opportunity to influence a development or something in our daily work is an important part of the culture of the shipping company and Peter Bay is pleased to play his part.

“Every single person at ESVAGT is responsible for making us good and we all play a part in making us better. We can all have an influence on a vessel, a procedure, a way of doing something – our job description does not decide whether we can make a difference. Initiatives are rewarded and that is a real strength. People enjoy being part of developing competences,” Peter Bay clarifies.

When he became captain of the ’Esvagt Faraday’, not only was the vessel new but so was the concept that he was spearheading – and all of this with the customer sitting on the first row as passenger.

“It was an unusual situation but the message from onshore was clear: You are the one who decides what the right thing to do is. That support and trust means a great deal,” says Peter Bay.

He sees the placement of decision making competences on board the vessel a real strength of the new SOV concept; something that he passes on to the rest of the crew:

“I am probably the one on board who knows the least about sailing. That is why it is the crew that has a say at sea – not me. The trust that I am given from onshore, I pass on to the crew,” he says.

Trust works. It is partly thanks to the crew that the ’Esvagt Faraday’ has used boats STB12 and STB7 as much as it has:

“The assistants that have the customer’s technicians on board are responsible for proving that working with this form of transfer is safe. It only takes one bad experience for a technician to become insecure in the boat. This is a responsibility that the crew is very aware of,” says Peter Bay.

Seeing potential

Working on an SOV like the ’Esvagt Faraday’ differs from many of the shipping company’s tasks for the oil industry in one important way: Time is a critical factor.

“The fact that time is of such importance in offshore wind is a clear differentiator between the two offshore branches. The advantage of that is that the customer is good at seeing new opportunities, for example the potential in using STB12 and STB7 to achieve more and to achieve it safely. The starting point of the contract is that we need to be able to service five turbines in 2½ hours. Our record is 52 transfers in 13½ hours because both we and our customer could see an advantage in including the STB12 and STB7 in the operation,” says Peter Bay.

Close customer contact

“There is a great deal of customer contact in our daily work when the customer is on board – but it is easier than I had imagined thanks to the excellent cooperation and mutual trust. The two-way learning ensures that we get along well, perform well and feel good doing it. Some of the technicians have even started buying books on meteorology to help them understand what we mean by heave and swell,” says Peter Bay, captain of the ’Esvagt Faraday’.

Facts:

Peter Bay, 38 years old, born and raised on the island of Fanø, now lives in Vildbjerg near Herning. Married to Louise and father to Zilas, 11, and Tristan, 5.

Started at ESVAGT in 2006, where – apart from around two years with Maersk Supply – he has been ever since.