Wireline - Summer 2017

F rom the days of fielding numerous phone calls andmanaging amultitude of spreadsheets in the late 90s, to a fully automated digital workflow in recent years, the AberdeenMarine Logistics Alliance (AMLA) has come a long way. But its purpose remains fundamentally the same – to support andmanage the sharing of offshore vessels for ad hoc shipments, in pursuit of greater efficiency and cost savings. The latest figures fromPeterson – the energy logistics business behind the initiative – underline its value. The combined financial gain for companies taking part in the alliance during 2015 and 2016 was £2million. It also yielded significant environmental benefits in the same period. Carbon dioxide emissions from such vessel movements reduced by around 950 tonnes in 2016 – the equivalent of removing almost 300 cars from the road in a year, says Peterson.

“As was recently highlighted by Oil &Gas UK and others, there’s an urgent need for widespread collaboration in the North Sea to improve the efficiency and long-termcompetitiveness of the basin,” notes Peterson’s regional director Chris Coull. “We believe significant opportunities exist within the supply chain to do just that through vessel sharing. AMLA is based on one of our core principles – taking waste out of the supply chain by promoting the concept of sharing and underpinning it with advanced technology.”

triumphed in the collaboration category at the 2016 Offshore Achievement Awards.

Chris flags that the arrangement means “participating operators pose themselves the question, do we really need a whole vessel to ourselves or can we get access to available capacity on vessels in the vicinity?”

“

The schememeans operators can use spare capacity on a vessel operated by another company to transport materials to their offshore assets. Thirty operators are now signed up to AMLA and demand for increased collaboration in the sector is reflected in a record rise in vessel shares last year. 2016 saw 50 vessel shares, up from21 in 2015. There have been 18 up to April this year so far.

Participating operators pose themselves the question, do we really need a whole vessel to ourselves?

”

The role Peterson plays, which

includes all back-room legal and administrative support for the alliance, was recognised when it

Sharing is caring For Maersk Oil, AMLA has become fundamental to its logistics management since it joined the alliance in 2005. “Where we have a requirement for suitable ad hoc

cargo shipments, our first port of call is AMLA,” says head of logistics ElaineMcEwan.

“The large number of industry participants means there is

scope for a wide range of shares. Reducing the number of vessel voyages has many advantages – it minimises safety risk as fewer vessels are beingmoved; environmentally, fewer journeys means less emissions; and reduced costs for the vessel charterer and share partner.

3 6

| W I R E L I N E | SUMMER 2017