Minister of Finance Siv Jensen named Havyard's newbuild 115 'African Inspiration' at the quay in front of the head office. Before the naming ceremony, pupils from the schools in Herøy and the general public were given an opportunity to inspect the ship, and Fosnavåg Shippingklubb held a conference on board.

Many spectators
Havyard was eager to show off its latest impressive newbuild, and it had invited schools and the local inhabitants to a tour of the ship.
In the morning, it was the turn of pupils from the lower secondary and upper secondary schools. They showed great interest in visiting 'African Inspiration'. More than 300 pupils were on board, where they were given a guided tour and presentation of the vessel and of Havyard's operations.
'The fact that the invitation was so well received by the schools and that so many pupils seized the opportunity shows how important the maritime industry is in the local area,' says Julianne Gjelseth, who is a trainee at Havyard group where she is currently working in the HR department. 'It was a challenge to welcome so many young people in a short space of time, but they were so enthusiastic that it was worth it. Of course, we had an ulterior motive for inviting the pupils and hope that they will have gained an even better understanding of what Havyard does and will want to work for us in future,' says Julianne with a knowing smile.
Later on, everyone else who was interested had an opportunity to inspect the ship. Even though the inhabitants of Herøy are a bit spoiled as regards impressive new ships, many of them still took the opportunity, and many commented on what a fine vessel it was.
Gunnar Larsen, Senior Vice President Market & Business Development of Havyard Group, says it is important for Havyard to also show off its impressive products in Herøy. 'While Havyard's total workforce numbers around 900 and more than 130 of them work in Herøy, there is not much physical evidence of their work to be seen up here, except for the production at Havyard MMC,' Larsen says. 'We have a lot of activity in design, project management and purchasing here, and many of our people have also contributed to the building of this ship. The employees at the shipyard in Leirvik in Sogn had an opportunity to show off their product at an open ship event at the yard last weekend, and now it was the turn of our employees up here. Havyard's big strength is that we control large parts of the value chain in the design and building of ships, and that our locations in Leirvik, in Herøy and other places in Norway and abroad cooperate really well. We are proud of what we deliver and like to show it off,' concludes a satisfied SVP Market & Business Development.

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Aspiring Captains: Students from middle school and high school in Herøy also got the opportunity to visit the Havyard newbuild

Conference on board
Fosnavåg Shippingklubb also took the opportunity when Havyard held open ship and the Minister of Finance was here to hold a conference on board for its members. The participants had a chance to inspect the ship before the conference started. At the conference, they heard several interesting talks, by Norway's ambassador to Nigeria, Rolf Red and the Nigerian Ambassador to Norway, Benedict Amobi who shared experiences in Nigerian / Norwegian cooperation from their perspectives and the owner and CEO of Marine Platforms Limited, who spoke about the company and the Nigerian oil industry. Minister of Finance Siv Jensen informed about the governments measures providing the industry good, predictable conditions and that they are going to prioritize measures to facilitate more trade with the emerging economies of Asia and Africa. The wealth tax was of course a hot topic in the subsequent question and answer session.
Olav Remøy, chair of Fosnavåg Shippingklubb, was pleased with the conference and with the fact that they were allowed to hold it on board. 'The members of Fosnavåg Shippingklubb represent most parts of the maritime industry in Herøy, both ship-owning companies and industry,' Remøy says. 'That is why it was especially interesting to be able to hold the conference on board the Havyard newbuild. There were also interesting talks about topics and markets we don't usually hear much about, so it was an excellent conference for Fosnavåg Shippingklubb,' concludes the shipping club's chair Olav Remøy.

Minister of Finance and godmother
Minister of Finance Siv Jensen had a busy schedule during her visit to the Sunnmøre area. Before she arrived in Herøy, she had already visited the hospital in Volda. In Herøy, she came straight to Fosnavåg Shippingklubb's conference before acting as godmother for 'African Inspiration'. Siv Jensen was clearly proud to have been awarded the assignment to name the new building from Havyard. In her speech the Finance Minister again highlighted Africa as one of the emerging markets Norwegian businesses should invest in and the cooperation between Havyard and Marine Platforms as a good example of what is possible to achieve.
After the naming ceremony Jensen managed to fit in a visit to the offshore ship simulator in Fosnavåg before hurrying back to the airport to fly to her next appointment.

Exotic market with potential
Both Geir Johan Bakke, CEO of Havyard group, and Erling Hatleberg, project manager at Havyard Ship Technology in Leirvik, are pleased with the successful completion of the project and are optimistic about doing more business with MPL.
'Many people were sceptical when we announced the contract for building an advanced subsea ship for a Nigerian ship-owning company,' says CEO Bakke. 'This has been an exciting time for us as well, and this project has given us a chance to demonstrate Havyard's greatest strengths. Our ability to tailor technical and commercial solutions to the customer's requirements, and our flexibility to deal with any challenges that might arise during a project give Havyard a competitive edge. It enables us to carry out projects that others would perhaps be more reluctant to take on. The experience we have gained from such projects further increases our competitiveness and puts us in a position to continue to seize the opportunities in this type of market and contract. Our good products and great expertise in the completion of complex projects mean we have what it takes to do sound business also in new and emerging markets,' says the CEO.
Erling Hatleberg, who has been in charge of the project for build number 115, 'African Inspiration', has nothing but praise for the collaboration with the representatives of Marine Platforms. 'We have had good cooperation and a good dialogue at all times, both when everything has gone according to plan and when challenges have arisen that we have had to deal with. The result is that we have executed a good project and delivered a ship we are proud of. I hope that Marine Platforms orders more ships from our yard,' concludes the satisfied project manager.

Ship owner with visions for the future
Taofik Adegbite, founder and CEO of Marine Platforms, is enthusiastic and proud to name his first newbuild. The company already has one offshore vessel, which it purchased from a Norwegian ship-owning company. It also charters several vessels in order to carry out the assignments the company has taken on.
'This is a big day for me,' says Adegbite. 'When I think about the time from when we visited "African Inspiration's" sister ship at the shipyard in Leirvik until now, as we stand here ready to start using this fantastic ship, I feel it has been a great adventure. There have been many challenges along the way, but now the dream has become a reality. When I look at this impressive ship, I know that we have chosen the right shipbuilding partner, and we have proved that we can do great things together. This is just the beginning,' Adegbite says.

After having taking stores and equipment on board, 'African Inspiration' will head for Nigeria to perform a long-term contract for IMR (Inspection, Maintenance and Repair) work for one of the biggest subsea deepwater contractors in Nigeria.
'Choosing Havyard is one of the wisest decisions we have ever made,' Adegbite continues. 'The flexibility, ability to cooperate and shared understanding Havyard's people have demonstrated are unique. There have been challenges during the project, but we have taken delivery of a top quality ship on time and on budget. That is a good basis for future cooperation,' says Adegbite.
Adegbite also has a strong belief in the future, as regards both the development of MPL and Havyard's chances in the Nigerian market.
'MPL has been a pioneer for Nigerian companies that want to offer advanced subsea services to the oil industry in Nigeria. We see that more such companies are now emerging, which we welcome, since competition helps to keep us on our toes. We will work hard to maintain our leading position, and we believe that the experience Havyard has gained means that the company will have good opportunities in the Nigerian market, both for us and for other emerging companies. Havyard has shown that it can handle the challenges presented by a new and emerging market and, like MPL, it has a competitive advantage it can use to exploit the growth that is expected in this market,' concludes Taofik Adegbite, founder and CEO of MPL.

The shipping company
Marine Platforms Limited is a Nigerian company that offers a range of services to the Nigerian and international offshore oil industry. Their services include well services, deepwater subsea solutions and the leasing of ships for various offshore assignments.
Taofik Adegbite founded the company together with two other partners and is now head of the company. Marine Platforms' head office is in Lagos, and it has an operations base near Port Harcourt on the south coast of Nigeria and a technical operations office in Aberdeen in Scotland. The company was voted Nigerian enterprise of the year in 2013.

Havyard Ship Technology build 115 'African Inspiration'
A Havyard 857 Subsea IMR (Inspection Maintenance and Repair) ship that will be used for installation, maintenance and repair work on oil installations on the seabed. Designed by Havyard Design & Solutions in Fosnavåg and built at Havyard Ship Technology in Leirvik in Sogn.

Length: 113 m

Breadth: 22 m

Cabin capacity: 120 persons

Cargo deck: 1,200 sq. m

Offshore crane with active heave compensation: 250 tonnes