eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 2 6 / 2 0 1 6

EM AGA ZINE FROM M A ERSK TR A INING

26The Musical Link To Safety >First freefall lifeboat simulator... > Lifting Cranes to New Heights > Man vs computer, round 11 > All hands on desk >

The Boom Box Boys > Five ladies with one aim >True grit turns tragedy into triumph >Switching to Manual > What is MPD? >

The dawn of an era

Five ladies with one aimGive five busy women the same task and see how they accomplish it. >

The Boom Box Boys‘Have toolbox, will travel,’ was a thought Bjørn Gudmundsen had way back in 1995. A phone call request for some of his specialist loadbearing knowledge was the trigger. >

Man vs computerOne very calculable aspect of the man vs computer boxing match has been seen in the container industry over the opening quarters of the year. >

All hands on deskCommunication, or lack of it, is more often than not a contributory factor in the root cause of a large proportion of incidents and certainly of most inefficient work practices. >

Lifting Cranes to New HeightsThe route to the classroom starts by checking the current safety level and the amount of activity planned for the next few hours. >

First freefall lifeboat simulator...One of the saddest indictments of progress is that all too often it is paid for, in advance, by the mistakes and pain of others. >

The Musical Link To SafetyThe history of training using simulators is dotted with knee-jerk responses to accidents. >

content

Switching to ManualAhmed Salah is another of the flying instructors who don’t teach flying. >

What is MPD?We asked someone who knows, Martin Brand an instructor at Maersk Training in Houston, the five classic questions, what, why, how, where and when. >

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True grit turns tragedy into triumphBack injury is the biggest single factor for people being off work. In any year it represents a quarter of the days lost at work. >

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Cover picture and historical images courtesy of L3 Link Simulation & Training

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There was a programme on television the

other evening about tomorrow’s food. One

part featured a huge operation which, using

bar codes, automatically sourced and packed

people’s groceries. It was an operation where

the human element was minimal – except

when it came to the end and something had to

be lifted from one box to another. The system

couldn’t cope with hidden codes.

Then there was a robot chef who cooked an

entire meal at a hob, adding ingredients,

stirring and mixing, turning the food in pan.

In the end a lobster bisque untouched by hand,

except that the robot couldn’t with something

as complicated as peeling an onion. The

onion, as we all know, is a three dimensional

minefield.

In the past in eSea we have often written

about the virtues of computers in

transforming training. Here we, like the guy

who moved the beans from one box to another

and the woman who peeled the onions, we

examine human interaction in the world of

training.

Simulators are not there to replace ‘real’

training, but as we see with a new crane

programme, they are a valuable side-by-side

tool to enhance the learning process. Even

more so, the freefall lifeboat simulator they

have ‘launched’ at Maersk Training in Esbjerg.

It quite literally is a life saver.

We briefly salute the ‘father of simulator’

training, Edwin Link who turned a hobby into

a global industry and in the process helped

win a war or two. We hear from some unsung

heroes of the oil and gas industry, the guys

who fly out to the rigs with a toolbox and

without whom the drilling process would

grind to a halt.

What is MPD? It is a question which is often

asked and more and more a method used in

drilling every more difficult wells. We answer

it and introduce another trio of letters, TMS.

We won’t explain it here. What we will say

that it is within the issue and if you have

the time, the energy and the systematic

knowledge of where to find it, then you

probably don’t need it. If you do then there is a

150 second video to explain it.

Richard Lightbodyrli039@maersktraining.com

editorial

Hamburgefintsiv 4

The Musical Link To SafetyThe hobby that became an industry

4

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The history of training using

simulators is dotted with

knee-jerk responses to accidents.

The first flight simulator looks

today like a rather crude

oversized kid’s toy, like those in

supermarket hallways where you

slip in a coin to amuse a four-year

old before getting back in the car.

It was built by an Edwin Link to

satisfy his love of flying; a love

that he could not afford to pursue

in reality. At nineteen Edwin spent

the first 18 months after he left

school in making his ‘plane’ in

1927. His family ran a factory to

make pianos and church organs in

upstate New York, and he saw the

bellows as an ideal way to cause a

static cockpit to bob and weave.

It would have remained Edwin’s

plaything but for a scandal built

on multiple tragedies. His timing

was sadly perfect. At the end of the

1920’s planes were still fairly basic

and unsophisticated, but when

the US Air Force won a contract

to deliver the US Mail the demand

on new pilots greatly increased.

Many weren’t up to it and after

twelve pilots were killed in 78

days, the Air Force bought six of

Edwin’s ‘toys’ at $3,500 each.

A dramatic reduction in both

accidents and deaths firmly

established the value of controlled

simulation training and also

established the Link factory to

turn out the ‘planes’. The Second

World War saw a similar demand

for skills to be learnt as safely

and economically as possible.

Link’s Blue Box, the ANT-18 Basic

Instrument Trainer, rolled of the

production line at a rate of one

every 45 minutes. There is no way

of calculating exactly how many

young airmen became old airmen

because of it. It was a huge life

saver.

THE NAME LIVES ONThere is a linguistic irony in that

Edwin’s legacy is in his name

and Link is still a byword in the

industry for progressive quality.

It is almost the generic name for

a flight simulator. He was to flight

safety what Hoover was to dust.

From hobby through numerous

tragedies, a relationship between

simulated training and real flying

hours was born and today the

two schools of taught have come

together more frequently and

on ever broadening platforms of

skills and jobs.

Edwin Link died in the 1980’s just

before the computer revolution

kicked off into overdrive and

would be amazed today to visit

the specialist centres who use

simulation as a valuable tool.

Maersk Training was one of these

and responding to the needs of

customers they have pushed

developers to make ever more

realistic simulators.

NOT THE WHOLEThe role of the simulator has

developed beyond training the

individual for the job. Like in

drilling where it can take the job

itself and dissect it so that when

crews come to actually do it they

already feel comfortable and

able to deal with just about any

scenario.

The simulator is a fantastic tool

in the learning process, but the

danger might be to make it the

only tool. You’ll perhaps read

elsewhere in this eSea the way

Maersk Training in Esbjerg has

used the lifeboat simulator as

part of a training programme, not

the whole. Mixed with classroom

and outdoor training they come

together to not quite make the

whole. Regulations require

that full drills are conducted

and freefall boats are now legal

requirements for tankers, bulk

carriers and oil rigs. ●

5

Hamburgefintsiv 6

Hamburgefintsiv 7

the simulator, the illusion created

is spectacularly real. One person

pumps a handle and the ‘vessel’

breaks free and drops into the sea.

When stabilized the second person

can assume control of the craft.

Outside the box operations lead

team instructor Kasper Träger

has a bank of screens and hard-

drives loaded with just about

every weather scenario and a

fleet of vessels and rigs. At the

press of a button he can turn a

normal day into a disaster zone.

Kasper sourced and picked up

the simulator from a Canadian

company Virtual Marine Techno-

logy which was set up in the wake

of the Ocean Ranger sinking. What

makes it so valuable is that at the

press of another button he can re-

set the entire operation.

THE JOY OF THE RESET BUTTONBy the time a real boat is launched

and recovered he can do dozens

of practice evacuations. The real

boat might contain thirty people,

but only two can actively take

part, the rest are just along for the

drop.

‘It is very intense, you have two

guys doing it without others just

standing looking on,’ says Kasper.

The simulator is part of a new

highly condensed ‘STCW A-VI/2-

1 Proficiency in Survival Craft

and Rescue Boats other than Fast

Rescue Boats’-course. Whilst

two participants are being

dropped time and time again in

the simulator, the others on the

three-day course are out doing

exercises in the open water just

metres from the new centre,

or taking part in classroom

activities. It is perhaps the most

instructor intensive course on

offer at Maersk Training with five

for just eight participants. ●

7

Click here to freefall

8

The route to the classroom

starts by checking the

current safety level and the

amount of activity planned for the

next few hours. Then it is along

a corridor to an external door,

a change of footwear, donning

protective gear and finding your

way to a ladder.

It is a route that Lasse Dam

Rømhild has navigated several

hundred times in the past, but

now the reason for doing it is

totally different. He used to do it

as a crane driver on many rigs,

now he does it to help ensure a

new standard in operation. He’s

the flying instructor.

The job of crane operator has for

too long suffered by being in the

‘you do it’ bracket of qualification,

particularly in the Danish sector

of the North Sea. The result has

been many fantastic operators

doing excellent work and many

not so. Speak to the navigator

on a supply vessel and they will

undoubtedly have a tale or two of

how difficult it sometimes is when

the crane operator isn’t quite up

to the job.

APPROVED MOVEIt is an unsatisfactory situation

that has been tolerated too long.

The costs in terms of time and

damage through poor operations

are somehow lost in the company

balance sheets, the rewards of a

slick transfer too often unseen.

Maersk Training’s Lasse

and fellow Senior Instructor

Andy Monie are lifting crane

Lifting Cranes to New HeightsThe way forward for the people who lift up and down

Lasse on board and with Andy in the simulator (below)

9

operations to new heights with

the valued approval of Det Norske

Veritas, the Norwegian based

international certification body

who merged with Germanischer

Lloyd in 2013. Today any

recognition by DNV GL’s

assessments is seen as industry

standard bearers.

The Maersk Training duo put their

heads together to improve on the

existing methods of certification

and came up with a revised three-

stage programme which ensures

that participants are immersed in

the theory of crane construction

and operation offshore. As well as

ensuring that sufficient practical

training is validated using

censored examination for each

training stage.

Andy and Lasse are effusive

about the on and off shore side

of things, seeing the virtues and

values alongside the occasional

downsides. At the MOSAIC

(Maersk Offshore Simulation

And Innovation Centre) complex

in the Svendborg centre they

have total control of the training

scenarios and can change from

crane to crane, from rain to sun,

from gusty to calm at the click of

a mouse. Sitting in the simulator

the driver knows that it is his

personal pride that is at stake,

any errors can be replayed and

then reset at the press of a button.

On the rig, damage is damage.

COUNTERBALANCEIt is seeing the operators in their

own seats that brings Lasse and

colleagues from other Maersk

Training centres to the landing

platforms on rig s across the

world. On site training is seen

as being so valuable that the

disadvantages of the programme

being dictated by working needs

and conditions is successfully

counter-balanced.

‘You personally don’t know when

you will leave for, or from, the

rig, so the training period can be

delayed or extended. But when it

works it is extremely valuable,’

says Lasse.

The two instructors have together

made a huge step forward in

terms of developing the universal

skills of operators, but they stop

short of thinking that it will

become a mandatory certificate.

It is a classic example of the

training finance conundrum. It is

hard to quantify the thousands

of dollars squandered through

time lost by poor workmanship

or the odd bit of damage, but easy

to see the budget needed to train

properly.

Crane operators were a part of

the Maersk Drilling Performance

Enhancement Training that

brought entire new-build rig

crews together for five intense

days of team and skill building.

Perhaps more than anywhere

else it was a noticeable aspect

of the training just how the

respect grew from mariners and

drillers for the operational skills

of the crane department. With

certification and improved skills

it is a process that is destined to

continue. ●

OFFSHORE CRANE OPERATOR PROGRAMMEThe Offshore Crane Operator

Programme is a complete and

ambitious solution designed

to develop crane operators

on all levels. Through three

training and assessment

stages, the programme

combines both technical and

practical elements ensuring

that candidates become

equipped to assume the roles

and responsibilities needed

to operate offshore cranes

anywhere in the world.

The Offshore Crane Operator

Programme is approved by

DNV GL. It complies with

LOLER, BS7121 and BS7121-

1 and can include API

certification on customer

request, hereby ensuring high

quality training and a globally

recognizable certification.

Hamburgefintsiv 1010

Hamburgefintsiv 11

One very calculable aspect

of the man vs computer

boxing match has been seen in

the container industry over the

opening quarters of the year. In

the blue corner representing the

computer age is the vast London

Gateway super-port in Essex, in

the red, Britain’s biggest container

port, the traditional Felixstowe.

Winter weather forced 25 vessels

away from Felixstowe in eastern

England to the very automated

London Gateway. Even when

the weather wasn’t too windy

some of the giants of the sea like

the Triple-E class vessel Matz

Maersk, opted to avoid any risk

of cargo delay and re-scheduled

away from the Suffolk port.

It’s an interesting contest. ●

It’s an ill wind

Man vs computer,round 11.

Hamburgefintsiv 12

‘Excuse me sir, what’s in the suitcase?’‘A rig floor’‘Next’

Communication, or lack of

it, is more often than not a

contributory factor in the root

cause of a large proportion of

incidents and certainly of most

inefficient work practices. So, and

particularly in an environment

where there are many other

distractions, like on a rig. Here

with mechanical noise, weather,

obscured vision, understanding

and being understood is vital. In

fact vital is too small a word to

describe it.

The military know this; they have

to operate under other additional

elements which are aimed at

causing more than an incident.

For years, perhaps going back into

the ancient world, a commander

would physically draw out the

proposed battlefield in front of

him and talk people through the

planned outcome.

MODEL PLANNINGToday teams on rigs can get the

same preview of the future when

in planning mode. A team of

volun teers from Maersk Training

took a specially commissioned set

of models and carried out several

complicated rig operations – any-

one passing the door might have

thought it was a game but, no.

All hands on desk

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Hamburgefintsiv 13

Out of a suitcase from Marketec,

an English based company

specialising in this form of

communication, comes the

integral parts of a rig. You

build your own work area with

relevant features, pumps, cranes,

valves, indeed whatever is needed

to best set up the situation. You

then get ‘the players’ in to talk

and move their way through the

upcoming situation.

It is a pre-op briefing with

a difference. The physical

movement and visualisation

provokes a greater degree of

understanding and the briefing

moves from the normal two

dimensions without input, to

pretty well continuous dialogue in

a 3D environment.

‘The players’ were drawn from

the oil and gas department and

sales at Maersk Training. They

im mediately saw the potential

and put everything back in the

suitcase. It’s now part of the bag-

gage allowance for instructors

vi siting rigs for on board learning

which in itself is a growing

trend. ●

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Hamburgefintsiv 14

The Boom Box BoysThe teams who keep the vital crane supply link working

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Peder from broken boom...

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‘Have toolbox, will travel,’ was a

thought Bjørn Gudmundsen had

way back in 1995. A phone call

request for some of his specialist

loadbearing knowledge was

the trigger. If you live on the

small Danish island of Fanø, any

big ambitions to work almost

certainly involves travel, but

what Bjørn saw was a global need

for his knowledge and his toolbox.

After twenty-one years he doesn’t

carry the toolbox anymore but

his staff of over a hundred, the

technicians, are ready to carry

theirs to anywhere in the world.

What they do with their toolboxes

is to service or do immediate

repairs in case of emergencies

on the silent workhorse of the oil

rigs and platforms, the cranes.

Fanø Kran-Service A/S has grown

from a one-man band to a globally

recognized company.

One of the first to join Bjørn

was Peder Flodgaard Madsen

who came on board as a young

technician in the second year of

the company. He’s spent the last

twenty flying out to rigs assessing

and repairing. Today he is Fanø

Kran’s Technical Supervisor.

‘We go anywhere in the world but

in our day-to-day business we

cover the whole of the North Sea,’

he says. ‘the British, Norwegian

and Danish sectors have different

rules, standards, but similar

challenges.’

‘We go any­where in the world but in our day­to­day business we cover the whole of the North Sea’

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...to new cog

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Rust is enemy #1, but today’s

cranes present many challenges.

‘The basic general offshore crane

looks the same as the cranes of

the nineties, but there is a new

generation of subsea cranes and

inside they are technically qui te

something. It used to be mecha-

nics, electrics and hydraulics, but

now there is software and IT to

bring into the list of things that

can malfunction.’

Back in their expansive

headquarters, which have moved

a half dozen seagull kilometers

from the island to the mainland

oil hub Esbjerg on Denmark’s

west coast, teams try to work out

what the problem might be when

responding to a request. There

is no point sending hydraulics

specialist out when the cause is in

the IT system, or vice versa.

Calling out the repairman for

something on a rig 500kms

off the coast is a little more or

a commitment than getting

the washing machine sorted.

For a start there is the safety

certification they have to have

and then needing the right spare

parts involves more than nipping

out to the van in the driveway.

There are the little big things

like shoulder measurements –

the rules for helicopters in some

sectors differ from others.

OPERATORS’ EDUCATIONPeder raised an interesting point

regarding the operators. He would

not be drawn on the question of

bad driving causing more repair

work, but did point out that

the education level varies from

country to country. For example

Denmark does not have a specific

offshore crane operator education.

Specific offshore education and

simulator training give crane

operators from other countries

more knowledge about the ad-

vanced crane aid and security

sys tems. Those systems represent

a big difference from conventional

onshore cranes and older offshore

cranes, so leveraging knowledge

about them actively can be a big

benefit in order to optimise per-

formance and avoiding downtime.

16

Fanø Kran also supply rather large accessories – this is a four-man

transportation and rescue bell

Hamburgefintsiv 17

Another aspect is in teaching old

dogs new tricks. Peder said that

the normal system of experience

training youth sometimes hits

the issue of avoiding developing

technology.

”That button there, never use

it,” the older guy will say, “heard

somebody pressed it once and oh

my goodness” so they avoid the

new technology and encourage

the new operators to do the same.

The company has two main

roles. One is clearly evident

at the modern Esbjerg works

where huge gearwheels and bent

booms are waiting to be assessed

and repaired. The other is the

on board maintenance teams,

who either carry out routine

repairs and checks or are flown

out like an emergency service.

Any downtime caused by an

out of order crane is minute-by-

minute expensive for the drilling

company, so the pressure is on

for the flying technicians. They

are a very precious part of the

entire set up and they usually

have a maritime engineering

background.

A mechanic in a garage can move

from one car make to another

with relative ease. But here the

backroom team has to make sure

that those who go out to the rig

are the right people and that

they have current and relevant

training. Some of that specialist

training for HUET and BOSIET

is carried out in the pool a few

minutes away at Maersk Training

in Esbjerg.

The North Sea is an important

area for Fanø Kran but the name

is known across the world and

a map shows just how often and

how far they are called to action.

The oil industry is as we know

from the petrol pumps, is in a

state of crisis. It is not something

which Fanø Kran is unduly

worried. They have offshore wind

turbine vessels and other ships to

look after – a case of not putting

all your tools in the one box. ●

Hamburgefintsiv 18

The Meal SituationFive ladies with one aim in Training Management Services

18

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Give five busy women the

same task and see how

they accomplish it. So that they

would give a representative

response, one not influenced

any competitive instincts,

the question was of an action

immediately set in the past. What

did you cook for dinner last night?

• One bought fresh fish and new

potatoes from local shops and

cooked

• One bought nothing and

emptied the fridge

• One bought a Danish meatball

takeaway

• One ate out, tapas

• and one got her husband to

cook pasta.

Five very different solutions to

the same problem – a problem

that comes up every day of life

and every day, in different ways,

is solved.

The five women were not selected

at random; they are a single

team who take the needs faced

by numerous other companies

and answer them as cost-

effectively as possible. They are

to training management what the

hypermarket is to shopping.

Called Training Management

Services (TMS) they take over

the responsibility for training-

related administration tasks

such as identifying providers,

securing seats, issuing joining

instructions, certificates, invoice

processes, spend reporting and

other allied needs. It is a long list,

but because they know where

to go, a customised training

administration solution can be

designed and delivered based on

the precise business needs of the

customer. The one-stop-shop they

call it.

COOL PRESENTERThe team themselves were set a

task which needed one solution

– how do you get your message

across? Team leader Helle Olsen

Reher explained ‘we have such a

broad base of knowledge that it is

hard to sometimes explain how

best to employ it. So we came up

with the idea of a video to say hi

and why.’ Team leader Helle, now

producer and the one who ate

out, found in Line, who had the

meatball takeaway, a budding

cameraperson and in fridge

emptier Gitte, a natural presenter.

They may all have tackled the

evening meal in a different way,

but like the way they approach

training management they had a

strong single focus when it came

to the movie. They built it around

something we also do every day,

that morning cup of coffee.

Join them here. ●

The Meal SituationWe have such a broad base of knowledge that it is hard to sometimes explain how best to employ it

Play video to learn more about TMS and what benefits it can give youPlay video to learn more about TMS and what benefits it can give you

Hamburgefintsiv 20

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Back injury is the biggest

single factor for people being

off work. In any year it represents

a quarter of the days lost at work.

One person in four will, at some

point, find it too sore or difficult to

make it in.

Gillian Fowler is not one of those

four. A horse riding accident in

2008 broke her spine and golf,

skiing, tennis, horse-riding,

and hillwalking. Well certainly

not hillwalking, after nearly

seven years of surgery and

rehabilitation and the delight of

one full year of no surgery, the

road to recovery at the top of

the world highest freestanding*

mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro.

At 5,895 metres the dormant

volcano in Tanzania is a bit more

than a hill walk. The temperature

varies 45 degrees from the bottom

to the top, the -15C at the summit

being a major cause of deaths – on

average just under four people

a year have died in attempting

to reach the top. Gillian, the

marketing and industrial

relations consultant at Maersk

Training in Aberdeen, got the idea

to get a party together to climb

the mountain 18 months ago

when further major surgery led to

an important positive change in

her spinal movement.

She set up a charity, BackStrong

Trust, and got a party together

that included her surgeon Niall

Craig and physiotherapist Emma

Paterson. They were joined by

Marie-Ann McLeod and Kay

Morgan and once in Tanzania the

party with guides and helpers

reached fourteen.

‘The climb was just absolutely

incredible and I have built

incredible bonds with those who

took on the challenge with me,’

said the successful Gillian. ‘I was

overcome by emotion on reaching

the summit. The day before was

the eighth anniversary of my

accident and that’s what we were

there for – to mark a fresh start

moving on from the accident and

remembering how far I have come

from suffering with paralysis

Bit of Mountain to Climb

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Kilimanjaro summit with Emma Paterson,

Gillian Fowler and Marie-Ann McLeod

Hamburgefintsiv

to climbing the highest free-

standing peak in the world.’

Gillian said her main goal was

to give people a belief that they

should never give up when the

going gets tough. ‘It’s important to

keep hope burning inside you and

although it may be a long process

and it has been many years for

myself, have belief and confidence

in the people around you and keep

setting goals because it’s amazing

what you can achieve no matter

what’s happened.’

HARD TRAINING SCHEDULEGillian set a training schedule

of lowland walks, mountain

trekking, and varied this with

cycling, running and using light

weights. ‘It was essential to

build up my core strength for

this challenge. I have physical

limitations but I just had this

unwavering belief that I would

succeed if I could build strength

and stamina. The training most

certainly paid off, and it was the

most amazing adventure with

incredible people.’

Surgeon Niall who was part of the

party and a huge part of the story

said: “Gillian is truly remarkable

and inspiring as she has fractured

her spine and had several major

spinal operations. She battled

on through the pain and her

determination and grit inspired

all five of us from Aberdeen to

reach the 5895 metre summit.

Gillian reached another summit.

She’d originally hoped to raise

£1,500 for two spinal charities.

To date she’s reached £9,500, and

with everyone’s help she’s still

climbing. ●

Water cooler fact #1 – Freestanding Mount Everest is the world’s

highest mountain, but its summit

comes from the range it is part

of. It is higher but is a shorter

climb than Mount Kilimanjaro.

From the base of the range to

the summit Everest is 3840

metres, 160 metres less than

from the savannah to the top of

Kilimanjaro.

Water cooler fact #2 The man who measured Everest

never got to near it and did his

calculations from theodolites

based 230 kms away – Nepal

was then a closed country. He

worked it out at exactly 19,000

feet, but thought that people

would think that a guess, so he

listed it at 19,002 feet. When

modern satellites were able to

first measure it they found it

to be 19,002! Today it is 19,029,

the extra feet coming from the

pressure plates of the world

forcing it up and some confusion

over the depth of ice at the top.

However K2 is growing faster and

by year 182,266 it will be taller.

Book your ticket now.

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Gillian at the summit with climbing guide Raphael

Hamburgefintsiv 2323

Ahmed Salah is another of

the flying instructors who

don’t teach flying. His role is

very different from the crane

instructors who take helicopters

out to rigs and then go one-to-

one with operators. He takes the

chopper, but when he gets there

he might have fifteen people

sitting in front of him.

His target is to introduce the

drilling team to a training

program that is computer-based,

that is not a test and will last

longer than his two or three

day visit. In fact it is a starting

point for an educational process

that sees the whole world as

a classroom. Unlike vessels,

rigs have pretty high quality

Internet connections, so once the

contact is established between

participant and instructor, the

miles between them are no longer

a barrier.

‘One of the biggest hurdles to

overcome was the conception

that we head out to assess and

make career judgments. That

is not the case. The program is

purely for their own development,

there are no marks,’ says Ahmed.

TIDE OF KNOWLEDGEWhat he shows them is basically

a video manual which takes

them stage by stage through a

well control situation using the

graphics and simulation from the

programs taught in Aberdeen,

Chennai, Dubai, Houston, Rio

de Janeiro, Svendborg and

Stavanger. The familiar interface

is backed up by three test

scenarios, which the ‘student’

can do in their own time when on

board, but again there is no pass

mark. If stuck by the paperwork

they can refer to the video manual

and if still stuck, there is an open

line to Ahmed and his colleagues

back in Svendborg. It is all about

raising the level of knowledge on

board.

The feedback from the first

sessions on Maersk Resolve,

out in the Danish sector of the

North Sea, was very positive. The

feeling was that they liked the

strong focus on a specific task and

thought that the principle could

be applied to other topics like

underbalanced drilling.

It is difficult to categorize what

this type of training is. The term

e-learning has often been tainted

by too many ill-conceived cheap

programs and in a technical

way it is hard to come up with

a different term of what Ahmed

has created. It is friendlier than

e-learning, more flexible, freer to

use in terms of allocation time

and very fundamental. Perhaps

it is f-learning, or OBL, on board

learning. ●

Beyond e-learning, the on board training session that leaves no marks

Switching to Manual24

Hamburgefintsiv 25

Switching to Manual25

Hamburgefintsiv 26

What is MPD?

26

27

Music Player Daemon – a music-player server

Miami Police Department – of course

Multiple Purpose Document – used by airlines to pay for services not airfares

Mesoscale precipitation discussion – a short-term meteorological forecast issued by US weather forecasters concerning heavy precipitation and flash flooding

Managed Pressure Drilling – general term for controlling the mud circulation to optimize the bottom-hole pressure

It’s the bottom one that makes

most sense to anyone in the

oil industry. Yet although the

process has been around for quite

some time, it is older than any of

the rigs that use it, the term still

manages to confuse, or at the very

least cloud the mind of those in

the industry who don’t use it in

their daily work.

So we asked someone who knows,

Martin Brand an instructor at

Maersk Training in Houston, the

five classic questions, what, why,

how, where and when.

WHAT IS MPD?MPD, or Managed Pressure

Drilling, is the use of specialized

equipment (which can include

such items as a Rotating Control

Device, additional choke manifold,

drill string check valves and fluid/

solids control equipment among

others) to control the pressure

in a well being drilled. Some is

positioned beneath the rig floor

in the drill string and fluid return

system, whilst other pieces can be

located on deck. As a result it can

help prevent catastrophic well

control incidents.

WHY IS IT USED?MPD is used for various reasons. It

has the proven ability to make the

drilling operation (an inherently

dangerous process) safer, more

efficient and cost effective. It

allows for closer monitoring of the

well and more accurate detection

of any anomalies encountered

and therefore enhanced response

capabilities.

HOW IS IT USED?Managed Pressure Drilling relies

heavily on the use of a Rotating

Control Device (RCD), which is a

major component in providing a

closed, pressurised system. This

allows for a constant bottom-hole

pressure to be applied and also

ensures much greater control

over fluids flowing in and out

of the well. Volume control is a

major component of well control

alongside keeping the bottom-

hole pressure constant (equal to,

or slightly greater than formation

pressure).

WHERE IS IT USED?MPD is available on all rig types,

from Land Rigs, Jack Up Rigs,

Tender Rigs, Semi-Submersibles

(DP / Moored) and Dynamically

Positioned Drill Ships.

WHEN IS IT USED?MPD is becoming more common

place, and in some examples, a

necessity, to meet the increasing

demands and challenges of the

drilling industry, both onshore

and offshore.

It can be extremely useful if

the well has very tight margins

between letting in an influx (kick)

or breaking down the formation,

has a high risk of flowing due to

the well conditions, or we are

likely to experience problems

such as differential sticking.

So now you know. ●

What is MPD?

Hamburgefintsiv 28

Snap Happy

28 · Poopdeck 26

29

They’d been in boxes in the

roof-space for thirty odd hot

summers and thirty odd shivering

winters. In fact they’d been in

several lofts, but in none of them

had they seen the light of day,

they just baked and froze. It was

remarkable they still existed.

Old 35mm negatives, black and

white and in colour and more

remarkably, the camera on which

many of them had been taken.

It was like the scene from

Christmas Vacation with Chevy

locked in the loft with only his old

family films for company. Except

that these didn’t flicker and talk,

they just silently unpeeled the

past.

A few years back I’d bought a

converter to lift the images from

obscurity and put them into

a digital folder. At the time it

seemed a very difficult operation

and after several attempts I gave

up. Christmas after lunch is not

the best time to toy with new

technology. Two years on I tried

the snaps without the snaps and

it proved to be just plug and play.

So basic, so simple. For three days

I was on a trip back in time.

I’ll take you there, but there is

a serious side to this. That’s the

conclusion, but first the journey.

There was a snap of a Japanese

tourist I shared a bus ride round

London with in the early Nineties.

It was an unremarkable photo

but the memory was sharp. He’d

been merrily clicking away at

the sights with his own camera,

but I know he’s not sitting at

home in Tokyo looking at them

and reminiscing. That’s because

moments earlier we’d caught him

on film jamming his Canon and

then opening the back, pulling

out the film, stretching it up to

the light to check the sprockets

and then winding it back into the

spool, reinserting into camera and

carrying on. I’m sure he’s much

more comfortable in the digital

age.

Then there was Bo Gritz, the guy

William Shafner gave $10,000

Poopdeck 26 · 29

Bo on board viewing a potential ‘gunboat’

for the screen rights to his life as

America’s most decorated soldier;

the guy who disappeared with the

$50,000 kitty designed to fund a

treasure hunt I was involved in.

He re-appeared, the money didn’t.

A guy so devious he makes Walter

Mitty seem like Gandi. The picture

of him was in Florida trying to

source a boat to search for the

treasure. His number one priority

was for a boat with enough space

to mount a Howitzer – he was

big into guns. He’s the guy they

modelled the ‘A Team’ commander

on and a movie in himself. Check

him out on Google where someone

calls him ‘A Legend in His Own

Mind.’ The film’s already got a

title.

The funny thing about the

pictures was not their content,

but their ability to reopen long

shut doors from the past. The

Japanese tourist and Bo pictures

were fairly average images that

said little, but they each revealed

a full catalogue of memories not

caught on camera. Like trigger-

happy Bo deciding because of

piracy, that we all needed gun

practice and wangled our way

into Palm Beach PD’s shooting

range with a couple of magnums

– not the ice cream, the I scream,

version.

Then there were numerous

pictures of my three children

when young – thankfully since

one was a boy, I didn’t guess

them all wrong. This is where the

lessons learnt slowly started to

creep in. I found my first digital

camera, it took a whooping 1.2

megapixel sensor of a photo,

but there was no memory card,

no pics. They are probably on

a discarded hard-drive for

which the transformer has

long since gone, the format long

since changed and the means

of transfer long since lost. The

negatives kicked around because

they were clearly what they

were, you could see what they

held. They survived many junk

culls because, although fairly

useless in the state they were in,

they were hard to throw away.

The hardware with the first

digital pics in is in all likelihood

somewhere in a re-cycle bin,

disk corrupted and memories

forgotten.

The camera stored images on a

long redundant card, actually

it was more like a flimsy bit of

brittle plastic about the size of a

stamp and only a little thicker.

It had the annoying habit of

splitting and in the process losing

all that was on it. That’s the point,

they are not memory cards, they

are very temporary storage units.

How many pictures have you

taken on your phone, marvelled

at the quality, and then placed

them somewhere you will never

find them. How many pictures

have you taken on you camera,

reviewed on the small screen and

then never looked at again? What

happens when, in thirty years,

you are up in the loft and you

stumble upon an old phone or old

camera? Of course there is iCloud,

but I’m not sure I would want

to put all my eggs into a basket

which I can in no way work out

where it is or how it works, who

controls it, let alone be confident

that it will still be up there in

2050.

Within a century we went from

sepia on glass to wonderful

depth in colour on 35mm.

Within a decade we went from

1.2 megapixels to 4K. All very

impressive. I’ll just mention

one word for those who think

memories are not fragile, Kodak.

●

His number one priority was for a boat with enough space to mount a Howitzer – he was big into guns

30 · Poopdeck 26

Hamburgefintsiv 31Poopdeck 26 · 31Magnum time for treasure hunter Moira Lister, the lady who had the map

Hamburgefintsiv 32

ContactEditorial issues and suggestions:Richard Lightbody - esea@maersktraining.com

Names and emails of those able and eager to help with specific enquiries arising out of this issue

Sales enquiries Aberdeen (UK): aberdeen@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Brazil:riodejaneiro@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Esbjerg (DK): esbjerg@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries India:chennai@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Middle East:dubai@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Newcastle (UK):newcastle@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Nigeriaportharcourt@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Norway: stavanger@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries Svendborg (DK):svendborg@maersktraining.com

Sales enquiries United Stateshouston@maersktraining.com

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