Offshore Race to: ONE FATHOM BANK

Source: Krishnan

One may wonder why in the world the early navigators called the area One Fathom Bank.

Well, a fathom is a unit of length equal to 6ft (1.83 meters) for measuring the depth of water. A bank is a raised ground in the sea. (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary)

Now, the name is no longer a mystery. Today, a majestic light house stands above the bank. One Fathom Bank is located in the straits of Malacca at 2˚53 34 North of the Equator and 100˚ 59 76 East of the Prime Meridian.

Clear skies and a bright sunny morning. A perfect day to be out in the ocean. The team was up tone. On arrival while skipper Jega went to register for the race, the crew consisting of Krishnan, Prakash and Soman began the set up tasks on board the Leopad Dream. Soon after, we pulled out of the berthing area and off we went in the direction of Buoy 25 located at the West port area which is the vicinity for the start of the race.

The Race Officer John Ferguson started the race at 1100 hours. It took quite a bit of tacks through the channel. We arrived at the mouth of the channel (Buoy 28-1240 hours) and pointed towards Tenteram Red Navigation Buoy. We did a starboard at this buoy at 1255 hours and then we headed 240˚ Northwest to OFB. It was smooth sailing between 5, 6 and sometimes 7 nautical miles.
After a while we spotted the two light house towers in the horizon jetting out of the open sea.

THE SPINNAKER MELANCHOLY
We tried to raise the spinnaker on two occasions hoping to gain speed. Unfortunately, both the attempts did not give us any advantage.
We probably lost minutes- more than that; the chaos drained the energy and spirit of the crew. Perhaps, this is one aspect of sailing that the team needs to drill and practice towards 100% proficiency.

THE LIGHT HOUSE TURN AROUND
At last, we arrived. (Time: 1620 hours)
It seems like the light house at the One Fathom Bank is a favorite spot for anglers. There were at least 3 speed boats and men with their fishing rods, a good spot to do overnight fishing expedition with friends. Within minutes, we turned around, it happened so fast and we were already leaving the light house behind us.

THE RETURN LEG
It was smooth and extremely relaxing sailing mostly at 6 and 7 nautical miles to finish between Tenteram Red Navigation Buoy to Port and Buas Buas Green Navigation to Starboard

We finished the race at 1850 hours and entered the West Port channel. The calm water, the brightly lit port and the starry night made the ‘home coming’ very eventful

THE END

The Northern Cili Padi

Leopad Kulim

Mr Logaa MJ said that in response to the challenges the company will be facing this year, it aims to maintain high levels of efficiency and effectiveness.

The branch has successfully completed work at Cima Plant Perlis for a lump sum contract value .The scaffolding work started in February 2009 and was successfully completed in April 2009

Kulim branch has secured scaffolding contracts from Steamline (M) and JM Power and another contract from Sri Takada for scaffolding and insulation works. The work commenced in March 2009 with completion by end July 2009 at Petronas Fertilizer Kedah, Gurun. Kulim branch is also undertaking scaffolding work at PSR-2 Revamp project Malacca under Steamline (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd with collaboration with Malacca Branch. The project team has already started the scaffolding work in February 2009 and expected to be completed end of this year.

Many companies consider business survival and cutting cost among their top priorities during the economic downturn, but equally important is the people factor – getting the right people in the right jobs to manage the business efficiently in bad and good times.

Mr Logaa MJ who has been entrusted to spearhead the Kulim Branch has invested in an industrial area in Kulim. Branch Manager Mr MJ Logaa S was scouting for suitable place that will offer ample store place for materials. Since there are plans for expansion, the branch was eyeing land with room for future expansion.

To strengthen its position, especially with other competitors , renovation was carried out. Done in stages last year, the renovations has given the office comforting colors, fittings and furniture and warm, elegant furnishing.

Review - Case Study Project: EPCIC OF BO-A CENTRAL PROCESSING PLATFORM (CPP) TOPSIDES AND EPC OF BO-A CPP JACKET SUBSTRUCTURE AND REMOTE FLARE SYSTEM

JOB SCOPE: SCAFFOLDING

DURATION : MARCH 2007 – DECEMBER 2008

Nomad Engineering has successfully completed the offshore work of EPCIC of BO-A Central Processing Platform (CPP) Topsides and EPC of BO-A CPP Jacket Substructure and Remote Flare System. It was an achievement for the branch for overcoming some challenges faced by Nomad’s scaffolding team.

One of the many challenges involved related to the team facing lack of competent scaffolders to execute work during its peak time. Immediately the branch organized a training course for competency and upgraded 20 scaffolders into competent scaffolders. Besides organizing the training course, a good rapport with the client’s and the main cons HSE personnel gave them an advantage to tackle the issue of lack of competent scaffolders smoothly without going through a stop work situation.

Another problem they encountered as the work load increased during the peak time, was the communication between the main con’s project management team (PMT) and nomad’s PMT were under strain and stress. To overcome and trouble shoot this issue of pin pointing at each other that request has been made and no action has been taken by our PMT, Nomad came up with a JOB REQUEST and FOLLOW –UP sheet, where by the main con’s PMT has to sign and note the date the job was requested and nomad’s PMT would commit for a duration when the job would be completed.

Men working at the module’s topside were exposed to danger in many forms. There were no proper barricades in the ‘opening’ of scaffolding floors. For every unsecured and unauthorized opening, nomad’s team was blamed and held responsible, and often, the opening was done by other sub-contractor to expedite their work. These openings are done without informing the nomad’s scaffolding team.

Nevertheless, to overcome this problem which involves safety for men working at the topside, a meeting was held between Nomad Engineering, the Main Con and Client’s HSE personals. It was agreed during the meeting that every opening should be authorized by the PTW coordinator by an opening permit. The opening permit should be applied by the sub-contractors who wants to do any activity at that stipulated area by creating an opening. The opening permit should be produced before nomad’s PMT and only then the nomad’s team will proceed to do an opening with proper barricade at the requested area. After the work been completed, the sub-contractor have to close the permit by requesting and informing Nomad PMT to close back the opened area by securing it as a safe place to work.

This was a great success in controlling unauthorized opening by men from other discipline, which eventually lead to a safe working area. The whole project’s safe man hour achieved was 6.9 million and with only 22 incidents. It was a great success from HSE’s perspective.

Commenting on the project, Nomad’s Jeyakumaaran said: “Our experience and expertise in scaffolding problem-solving enabled us to find a solution that could deliver the required results with minimum time requirements.”

Southern Giant Rising

After successfully completing scaffolding and insulation for EPCIC of BO-A Central processing Platform (CPP) topsides and EPC of BO-A CPP Jacket substructure and remote flare system, the satisfied client, Sime Darby Engineering Sdn Bhd has awarded Kumang Cluster Development (Phase 1) / Tangga Barat Cluster Development (Phase 1) to Nomad Engineering. The scaffolding erection commenced in August 2008 and is projected to complete in September 2009.

Nomad Engineering is focus on all fronts to satisfy the client’s requirement - delivery the projects efficiently and on scheduled. Titan Petchem (M) Sdn Bhd being convinced of Nomad Engineering’s capability has extended another term from January 2009 for scaffolding work .

Despite being affected by the global economic slowdown, Mr Jeyakumaaran, Project Director of Nomad Engineering said that Nomad will continue to invest in developing the skilled workers and HSE. “We want to be the first to take advantage when the economy recovers,” says Jeyakumaaran,

Nomad together with Leopad Dubai LLC has currently started a venture in Qatar by opting to be a one stop provider of choice to Sime Darby Engineering MOQ project team. More updates on this will be realese soon.