Supervises lay-up vessels

- If something should happen and the alarm goes off, we have a response time of half an hour, says Petter Ludvigsen, head of the management lay-up business in the company.

With him on the team that goes on inspection rounds on the vessels, he has three men. The same employees plus an electrician take turns manning the hotline.

The daily inspection on board takes about one hour with inspection of ropes, machines and hull.

- IT IS FIRST and above all a visual check to detect fire danger and water intrusion, says Petter, who is always equipped with a knife and flashlight.

- We can not do without. The flashlight is used to light in all nooks and crannies, under the floor and when we check the bilge wells. The knife is good to have for most things, he says.

One day a week, the emergency generators are started on board and a so-called turning of the machines is done - either manually or by means of electric machines. A monthly inspection is carried out on each ship, which is even more extensive, where, among other things, water samples are taken from the machines.

- Our job is to keep the boats ready, in case they go on assignment again, says Petter.

FFS MARINE has as of December 2020 management agreements with 19 seismic vessels, which are in storage in Lundevågen and Rosfjorden. Many of the boats like to take turns being on assignments. This means that they are regularly mobilized to sail for a few months, and then return to the port of storage.

- When a boat comes in, it is usually fully manned. The crew spends about one week shutting down and connecting the ship to shore power. Then we take over. And then we have full responsibility for the boat. We make sure that it is securely moored, that it always has electricity, that there are no leaks or machine faults and that no unauthorized persons sneak on board. Even representatives from the shipping company must go through us to be able to get on board, says Ludvigsen.

THE PORT AREA in Farsund is fenced and monitored with video cameras. When it blows up into a storm, FFS puts all available tugboats on standby. Each individual ship is also equipped with its own alarm system. If the alarm should go off, FFS has an alarm case that alerts the hotline by text message.

- We have people at work down here on the quay around the clock. The fact that we always have someone on duty means that we can respond quickly to alarms. In addition, the scheme contributes to better night's sleep for those who are not on duty, Petter smiles.

What he and his team fear most is a so-called "bilge alarm", which indicates a possible leak.

- Fortunately, we have never experienced this. But of course we are always prepared for the worst to happen, says Petter.