“As the largest region in ABL, these meetings are integral to strengthening collaboration between countries and technical teams, exchanging best practices and knowledge, and in identifying key areas for growth, to ensure that we are best placed to support our clients and markets.

“In 2024 we saw significant growth in the region in several areas. We expanded our Black Sea operations with a new office in Constanta, Romania. We diversified our service portfolio with the introduction of the water management and numerical modelling consultants, Hidromod – which also substantially reinforced ABL’s operations in the strategic market of Portugal. Lastly, we continued to develop our presence and activities to support African marine and energy markets, with gains made in Nigeria, Senegal and Mauritania, and the Republic of Congo.”

Hugues Delanoue, Regional Managing Director for ABL in Europe and West Africa

The meeting was the first in which Hidromod was able to participate since its acquisition by ABL’s parent company, ABL Group, in October 2024. It, therefore, was a chance to deepen understanding across the regional operations, of Hidromod’s unique expertise and software solutions to support hydrological forecasting in different marine, energy and agricultural scenarios.

Other topics for discussion covered ABL’s European and West African offering in the following areas: marine warranty survey (MWS), dynamic positioning (DP) and critical systems, rig inspections operations, maritime services including ports and harbours consulting and engineering, electrification and the expansion of ABL’s expertise in both technical due diligence and owner’s engineering for energy and maritime sectors.

ABL Europe and West Africa includes offices in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Holland, Nigeria, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Congo, Romania, Senegal and Turkey.

ABL Europe and West Africa in the news in 2024

ABL won a wide range of contracts across energy and oceans in 2024, including several significant energy infrastructure projects for European and African countries, as well as to support high-profile renewable energy construction projects, and the development of emerging energy transition technologies.

Here is a small selection:

ABL to assess navigational risk for Finland’s 1st open-sea offshore wind farm. Read more.

TenneT appoints consultancy ABL for Dutch 2GW export cables. Read more.

ABL part of North Sea green hydrogen initiative. Read more.

ABL to support offshore installation of French-Spanish interconnector. Read more.

ENI drafts ABL for Congo floating LNG transportation and installation verification. Read more.

ABL electrifying zero-emission offshore charging station. Read more.

ABL to provide marine warranty survey for Neptun Deep in the Black Sea. Read more.

The post ABL Europe & West Africa Power Up for 2025 appeared first on ABL.

Until now, the industry has had to rely on international guidelines on training in the port sector, supported by an internationally recognised ports training course that covers the fundamentals of occupational safety and health specific to the port sector. While such offerings provide basic frameworks relating to shoreside working generally, they do not meet the requirements of senior positions who manage marine safety at terminals and high-risk berths and jetties.

“This is the gap we are aiming to fill with our specific job competency profiling framework for port marine personnel,”

says Daniel Wood, ABL’s head of ports & harbours governance.

11 competency profiles

ABL’s newly developed port marine competency framework consists of 11 job competency profiles that are designed to enhance the knowledge and skills of port marine staff, including terminal management teams. The framework includes verification, definition, measurement, analysis, and design of competency requirements across four focus areas: ship management, maritime assurance, terminal management, and marine logistics.

The framework aims to address skills dilution and misaligned job competency profiles, ensuring alignment with international maritime standards such as STCW (Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping), IMHA (International Maritime Health Association), SOLAS (International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea), MARPOL (the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships), and OCIMF (the Oil Companies International Marine Forum).

The framework has been developed in partnership between ABL’s maritime and asset integrity management teams.

“This innovative approach has significant potential for global application. By combining our expertise and resources, we have developed a scalable model that addresses industry challenges, supports continuous improvement, and sets new benchmarks for competency management,”

adds Daniel Wood.

Nigerian first mover  

The terminal management team of, NLNG Shipping and Marine Services Limited, based in Port Harcourt, is the first to adopt the framework.

Supported by ABL’s teams in Aberdeen and London, NSML has created job competency profiles for more than 40 roles. Each profile is aligned with recognised international standards and integrated with current job descriptions. A structured roadmap for personnel development has also been identified.

“The delivery of these 11 new Job Competency Profiles has elevated our team’s skillset to exceed the constantly evolving international maritime standards. This collaboration has set a benchmark for excellence and ensures we strive towards our vision of being a leading international maritime services company.”

Dr Effiong Ekanem Attah, NLNG Shipping and Marine Services Limited (NSML).

In 2025, NSML will implement the job competency profiles and thereafter assess and verify resources to ensure ongoing alignment and capability development.

“Investing into making port and terminal operations safer and more efficient is also an investment in its competitiveness. We are impressed with NSML’s desire to further enhance its operations and competitive edge in the market,”

says Daniel Wood.

ABL offers a wide range of capabilities to ports, harbours and terminals globally. Its ports and harbour specialists, ex-pilots, master mariners, naval architects, maritime civil engineers and risk analysts have many years’ experience associated with providing consultancy services, reviews, evaluations, audits, assessment and studies for ports.

The post Nigerian company becomes first to embrace port marine competency initiative appeared first on ABL.

“Winning the DEMASK scope of work reflects the successful collaboration between ABL Germany and BSH in driving sustainable solutions in bothy Germany’s energy and marine landscapes. This is in line with our company’s purpose of driving sustainability in energy and oceans. We will support BSH in performing technical analyses to help reduce noise pollution in the German North Sea and beyond.”

Christoph Grams, Marine Consultant, ABL Germany

The aim of the project is to engage marine stakeholders in defining and understanding the environmental impacts of underwater noise resulting from the expansion of offshore wind energy and shipping. The initiative, in support of maritime spatial planning and policy development, includes stakeholders from port authorities, offshore energy, shipping and the policy level.  

ABL’s scope of work covers the scenario design for the assessment of various noise mitigation strategies, as well as producing AIS-derived and (where necessary) synthetic vessel data inputs to support subsequent sound propagation modelling. As part of the initial project implementation, focus groups have been held, where stakeholders have helped define and select the most relevant scenarios.

The DEMASK project has been awarded to ABL’s operations in Germany, based in Hamburg, and follows on from ABL’s collaboration with BSH to assess the navigational risk around identified sites of interest for offshore wind development in the German, Danish and Dutch North Sea. It is supported by technical expertise from the Ports and Harbours team in London.

“With our maritime legacy, covering shipping, ports and harbours, defence, yachts and small craft industries, we are uniquely placed to support this project and to provide the required recommendations to reduce noise pollution for a friendlier and healthier North Sea.”

Tilo Klappenbach, Country Manager to ABL Germany

ABL is part of Oslo-listed consultancy group ABL Group ASA.

Discuss ABL’s work in marine navigational analysis and ports and harbours infrastructure feasibility, to support offshore wind construction and operations, with Tom Chitseko, Marine Risk Principal Consultant, at this year’s Wind Energy Hamburg:

Where: Stand 422, Hall B2, Ground Floor

When: 24 -27 September 2024

Book a meeting in advance with Tom:

The post ABL appointed to offshore wind noise pollution brief appeared first on ABL.

Energy and marine consultancy ABL Group has entered into an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares of Hidromod – Portugal’s leading consultancy in water management solutions and numerical modelling.

Through this acquisition, ABL Group expands its service offering to water management consultancy to support offshore, coastal and inland assets and projects, including with Hidromod’s proprietary subscription-based software AquaSafe. The deal will also enhance existing offerings in ports and harbours consultancy and in climate change risk assessment and adaptation.

“We are excited to welcome Hidromod as part of ABL Group. Water is fundamental to our planet’s sustainability, both in terms of its essential properties to life and in the risks it poses to infrastructure and communities as climate change effects take hold. Hidromod provides vital and innovative solutions that will bring considerable value to the clients and markets we serve, whilst opening the door to drive sustainability in new sectors.”

Reuben Segal, ABL Group CEO

About Hidromod

Established in 1992, Hidromod specialises in numerical modelling and digital twin solutions to simulate and predict the behaviour of coastal systems, estuaries, catchments and other water bodies. By leveraging its data-science skills, the company provides real-time insights and advanced forecasting, enabling a comprehensive understanding of past, present and future conditions. The company is based in Lisbon and has 16 employees, including five PhDs, and delivered a revenue of approximately EUR 1 million in 2023.

Its solutions are applied to provide accurate evaluations of specific scenarios and improve efficiency in ports and harbours, offshore aquaculture and renewable energy, inland water management covering river engineering and agricultural projects.

Hidromod’s software solution, AquaSafe, is a digital decision support system, designed to process mass datasets and output clear and easy-to-use analyses regarding water behaviours in a particular location or relevant to a project.

Expansion strategy

The acquisition represents an opportunity to globalise and expand Hidromod’s unique expertise and services, leveraging ABL Group’s expansive global footprint and multi-disciplined teams.

Further, Hidromod’s AquaSafe, has significant potential for application across a wider cross-section of industries and to more markets, which ABL Group can provide the entry point for.

The acquisition of Hidromod also represents an opportunity to expand ABL Group’s operations in Portugal, including provision of its marine and renewable energy consultancy to support the local market, leveraging Hidromod’s established market presence and reputation.

The parties have not disclosed the financial details of the transaction, which is expected to be completed in October 2024.

ABL Group ASA is listed on Oslo stock exchange.

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