VSMC

Dutch VSMC (Visser & Smit Marine Contracting BV) was set up in 2007 as part of Visser & Smit Hanab to provide subsea cable installation services to the offshore wind industry. As of the start of 2012 the company has officially established itself as an independent company, operating in 3 European entities, VSMC BV in the Netherlands, VSMC Ltd in the UK, and VSMC GmbH in Germany.

Over the years the company has built up an impressive track record of European offshore wind farms and is proud to have become one of the leading companies in its field of expertise. Only recently it signed 3 new contracts, for the Westermost Rough and Humber Gateway offshore wind farms in the UK and for Nordsee Ost wind farm in Germany. Offshore WIND spoke to Anja de Bruin, HR Manager at VSMC. “VSMC started of with 3 ftp in 2007 and is now employing over 200 personnel, not taking in consideration flex workers. All of them are in their own way involved with VSMC’s daily activities, either at the (project) offices or on the vessels and have different international and different educational backgrounds. For the installation work we charter cable laying vessels from our sister company Stemat but we have our own installation crew to do the job.”

VSMC’ core business is ensuring the generated energy by the individual turbines is transported to the transformer station and from there to the onshore grid. This include the activities related to the installation, and maintenance and repair of the array cables between the turbines, and the export cables from the transformer station to the land fall.

By working together with sister companies Visser & Smit Hanab, Stemat, Volker Stevin Offshore and VolkerWessels UK and other strong partners such as Boskalis, the company is able to offer a full solution service, including the connection onshore. In June, Boskalis signed a letter of intent with VolkerWessels to join forces in the field of offshore cable installation. Boskalis, who will soon see delivery of their new cable laying vessel Ndurance, has the intention to take a 50% stake in VSMC, which will continue its activities under the name VSMC. Currently VSMC is a 100% subsidiary of VolkerWessels. So VSMC has grown significantly, was it difficult to find personnel? Mrs de Bruin; “We use media such as our own website and exhibitions, and in the case of temporary workers we use frequently recruitment agencies. Our biggest focus of course is to find our new employees through our own networks. We provide our employees incentives for bringing in a new colleague on board and that has worked out fine.” The company is also looking to make more use of social media such as Linkedln and Twitter.

Mrs de Bruin does acknowledge that it is not always easy. Good personnel is needed at all levels but for some positions it is harder to find the right people. Tower riggers, deck engineers and equipment technicians are also difficult but more easy to find while it is especially difficult to find qualified engineers and project managers such as offshore superintendents. “There are not many of them out in the market and we are certainly not the only one looking for them!” VSMC tries to reach future employees at an early stage by offering apprenticeships and by visiting career days at universities, such as the University of Delft in the Netherlands, or have students come and visit the company.

“VSMC is an attractive company to work for. Being part of the VolkerWessels group and having strong partners as Boskalis, offers many career opportunities and certain stability and a long history of know-how. At the same time, as we are still a young and developing company ourselves, in the process of making our HR-policy ‘offshore-proof’ together with our new Workscouncil, we do offer employees the opportunity to develop themselves and at the same time take part in the future development of the company”, she explains. For people with ambitions VSMC is a good place to be. Already temporary hired personnel decide to join and work for the company full time, which is a good compliment.

Future outlook

Where oil and gas companies are transferring their knowledge to the offshore wind industry, VSMC started off in the offshore wind industry and the company expects to be growing. Mrs de Bruin; “VSMC still sees future possibilities in the offshore wind industry and therefore we are continuously looking to expand our opportunities and expertise”.

Sabine Lankhorst