Wilco van Tiggelen

EP 3: testing, certifying and on to the next one

Earlier, we introduced you to technical superintendent Wilco van Tiggelen and he told you about his trip to the United Arab Emirates. Today he looks back on the successful docking of the Multicat BKM 104 from Boskalis’ office in Abu-Dhabi.

“Overall, the maintenance job went according to plan. But once again, this docking proved that you have to be able to handle unexpected situations as a technical superintendent”, Wilco says. “You wouldn’t expect it in this desert state, but we lost one full work day due to heavy rainfall. It hardly ever rains here, but when it does you’ll know. The entire shipyard flooded and all we could do was wait for it to stop.” Combined with some unscheduled additional work on the mast and some other technical challenges, Wilco had plenty of planning to do these past weeks.

Testing and certification 

After the BKM 104 was let back into the water, it took another five long work days to commission the entire Multicat. From the mast lamp to the onboard alarm systems: everything has to work flawlessly. “In addition, we don’t just check the ship itself, but all the equipment too, such as the two big onboard cranes. We even test them fully loaded every five years, because safety is our highest priority.” After the intensive commissioning period, the class-inspector came by and all the documentation was updated.

With the necessary new certificates in the pocket, the work boat went back into service near Abu-Dhabi. Equipped with the latest gadgets – and a brand new toilet for the crew – she’s now supporting cutter dredger Krios on a major dredging project. “It’s always good to see a ship going back into service, doing what she was made to do.”

Final steps 

Job done, you would think. Time to go back to the Netherlands? “Almost”, Wilco explains. “I’ll stick around at the office for one more day to write a final report and hand everything over. Besides, the settlement with the shipyard has to be done, the crew has to be checked out of their hotels and everyone has to be custom cleared to head back out. It just goes to show, a technical superintendent’s job never stops.”

Wilco flies back to the Netherlands tomorrow. “Ready for the next assignment”, he laughs. “I’ll be using my 2,5 weeks off to renovate our bathroom at home.” And once he gets back to the office in Papendrecht, preparations for the next international job will start all over again. “If everything goes according to plan, I’ll be heading for the Philippines later this spring for major maintenance on another vessel. That’s the life of a technical superintendent!” 

Are you up for the job?

You have to be a certain kind of person to be a technical superintendent at Boskalis. Wilco says this could be your dream job, as long as you:

• Enjoy travelling;
• Are able to improvise and work with what you get;
• Are quick to adapt to surprises;
• See cultural differences as opportunities, not as obstacles. 

→ Sign up and read more about the development track here.