BEWARE NORSEMEN HERE COMES JIMBO RED – YEAR 2000

After a brief foray, in my mind, to Mexico, I am back to my memories of our time in Scotland. As you are aware, I had broken my (more or less chronological) stream of writing, about adventures in and around Scotland. I did that, in order, to fill in memories, that flit past, from time to time. As elusive as fireflies, I must grab them as they appear, and smash them down onto paper, before they are gone forever. My ability, to instantly, recall visions from the past, is no longer dependable. I find more and more, a confusion over dates, places and happenings, in my memories. It could be that the “clutch IS finally slipping”, however I’ll forge on, as if it isn’t

This next piece is a collection of ramblings around Norway, while we were still based in Scotland. I must say, that when they asked me to go there, I was pumped. Visions of big ol’ Vikings, plundering and pillaging, danced thru my mind. I could not wait to see what this land was all about. My client’s had a facility there, in a place called Farsund. It was down on the southwest coast of Norway. They needed some help, and figured that I was just the guy too sacrifice, to the Norsemen. I will not try to put these ramblings in any order, but just write them as they appear in my mind. Over the years, I made many trips to Norway. A few things stick in my mind. Perhaps, not so interesting; but here goes.

The first and most vivid image is of reopening the coating plant. It had been dormant for a period of time (3-5 years I believe). However, with a new contract from Statoil (the Norwegian government oil and gas company), we were, once again, ready to rock and roll. The task was to restart the facility, secure labor, equipment and materials, and get ready for production. The largest problem we were now faced with, seemed to be a labour force. Farsund was not a large town and after a few years, we worried that the labour pool had dispersed, for “greener” pastures. What we experienced, was a thing of legend.

Before I go on, the politics of Norway must be understood. There were vast oil and gas resources in the North Sea, along the coast of Norway. It was all owned by the State. No foreign ownership of these reserves was allowed. The usual players, such as Shell, Chevron, Exxon, etc., had no ownership of natural resources. Therefore, their usual plundering of this country’s resources did not take place. Much like they would have, in any other “capitalist” society. The Norwegian government was 100% Socialist. They owned everything! And very much, controlled the will of the people. Unlike almost every other socialist state, they were very successful.

Everyone, that knows me, knows well of my “conservative”, “capitalist” leanings. The very thought of a socialist state, had the hackles on my neck standing up. It was my belief, that socialism of a society, was one small step away, from the dreaded communist hoard, taking over. I must also say that 99% of the time, I was 100% correct. Many places, such as Cuba, Venezuela, Laos, North Korea, North Vietnam, Russia and others, had tried socialism, and had failed miserably, just prior to the communist party, taking over. I believe that the socialist ideals, faded once all the government resources were used and the particular country fell into poverty. Norway was a grand exception, due to the large petro based economy.

The point is that, when we returned to Farsund, those many years later, almost all of our workforce was still available to come back to work. They were all still in the area. Out of 175 people, 170 were sitting around waiting for us, or someone else, to re-open the plant. During this period of unemployment, they were being paid, about 75% of their previous wages, by the Norwegian Government. If I remember correctly, they were given 75% for the first 5 years, then 60% for a few years, then 50% forever. It did not foster the need, to go find work, once you were laid off. Rather, it encouraged you to just go fishing, while you waited for someone to bring you a job. In any event, finding labour was the least of our problems.

I must say, their system of government was very successful, and remains so, to this day. My nature, is to criticize any form of government that does fit with my vision democracy. I would add, that the Norsemen, I encountered, no longer had an adventurous nature. They were not loading up their boats, to go plunder the world. Rather, it seemed, like their spirit was gone. Myself, I was always more of a “plunderer”, than a “sitter”. However, I cannot argue with the success of this system. As long as you have one of the major oil and gas reserves in the world, then maybe it is right, too spent it on the people. Hmmmm, perhaps, I am, a closet Liberal, after all.

So with the basis for restarting our business, intact. We set about gathering the equipment and major materials, required for our operations. It was then that I experienced the magnitude of my client’s operations. It seems, that they were to take 30″ diameter, 40′ long pieces of steel pipe, wrap cement and iron ore around them, and then send them offshore, to be welded together, then sunk in the ocean, to create an oil or gas transmission pipeline. My immediate reaction was, “bullshit”. These were huge, heavy pieces of pipe and, “you are going to wrap cement around them and then move them around”? “Yeah right, sure you are!”

Not only that, the cement/iron ore mix, they were going to apply, was 4 inches thick! The principle being, to add enough “weight” to the pipeline to keep it in place at the bottom of the ocean. If I remember, a single 40 foot long piece of pipe, once coated, weighed almost 30 tonnes. Geezus. The secret was, that they would mix iron ore “fines” (or ground up grains of ore), with the cement, into a very dry mixture (by adding only a small amount of water) and wrap it, over a rebar cage, and around the pipe. This mix, seemed to stick, to the pipe, like “gum in your hair”. All the while, that we were getting ready, my mouth was saying, “OK, I buy that”, but my brain was saying, “there is NO way!” I thought they were just pranking me, because I was new to the business.

One day, while deeply involved in some form of major panic. I look out the office window. And there before me, is the largest ship, I had ever seen in my life. It made, those that we had used in Japan, those many before, appear as toy ships. It was huge. Along it’s length, every 30 feet, it had overhead cranes, mounted on the deck. There must have been, at least, a dozen of them. I asked, one of the guys, working nearby, “what the hell is that ship carrying?” His reply was “iron ore”. I could not believe it, and still thought, it was some elaborate joke, that they were playing on me.

Soon enough, the ship’s crew, used their deck cranes, to lift the covers off a couple of the holds. It was then that trouble started. The iron ore, had to be unloaded, by use of the deck cranes, from the ship’s holds, and over the side, onto trucks. The point was, that our Norwegian Labour Union decided that, they, and only they, could operate the cranes on Norwegian soil. The ship’s captain is not having, anyone, other than his own people, operate anything, on his ship. So we are now at a “standoff”. Neither side is budging. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking. We are given, about 72 hours of “free unloading” by the ship’s owner. After that, “demurrage” (or penalties) set in, for each hour of delay.

Demurrage, is a huge number and escalates, on a sliding scale, as unloading time passes. This sets our management into a frenzy. The, problem must be solved, the penalties were huge. This panic then flows down to me in the form of abuse. Once again, I was personally responsible for hiring this ship and putting the future success of our business, in jeopardy. Geezus! The Norsemen, were really not bothered, by our problem. For them, right was right, no matter the cost. They felt no sense of urgency. On the other side, the ship’s captain, is exercising his authority, and is planted, firmly, in the path of progress.

Finally, after some frenzied, negotiations, with the ship’s owner, it was agreed, that a “joint” team of our guys and the ship’s crew, be formed to unload. Basically it meant, one person, from each team sitting together, operating the same crane. It seemed kind of childish, however it was not the first time I had run into labour-union problems in my career. Like new found lovers, the little dears, sat together and shared the controls for the cranes. All I could come up with was, ”why me lord”?

Unloading starts, one small bucket load at a time. It was lifted over the side of the vessel and piled into a heap on the dock side. From there it was picked up and loaded into dump trucks to be moved to the storage area. This operation, once started, ran for 24 hours per day, until every last ounce of ore was unloaded from the ship. it was an intense time. One breakdown of equipment, labour or transport, meant potential disaster to the process. Little by little, this huge “bulk carrier” was unloaded and the ore moved to the storage area. Up too this point, I had no idea, of just how much cargo, one of these bulk carriers could handle. It was, to say the least, impressive. Little, by little a mountain of ore was piled up in the storage area.

My last memory of this iron ore unloading process was of the effort made to empty every last grain of ore from the ship. It must be remembered that these bulk carriers, hauled many different types of cargo. From, wood pulp, to grain, to iron ore, gravel, or coconuts. This meant that every last grain of ore had to be unloaded from the ships holds. Once the crews had unloaded as much as possible, with the crane buckets, they lifted a “bobcat” frontend loader into the hold. Along with a crew and their shovels, they cleaned each hold until, you could eat out of it. Well maybe NOT, but they were very clean and ready for the next cargo.

Once unloading was complete, they close all of the hatches. And with an “adios amigo”, this big ass ship, disappeared into the ocean. They wasted no time, they were enroute to their next cargo. My last thought of this time, was the huge iron ore mountain, that came from the bowels of this ship. To this day, I am amazed with the thought, that, it was possible to stick four inches of cement, mixed with iron ore, a bit of sand and a “tablespoon” of water, onto a huge piece of pipe. Then lift it up, move it around and sink it into the ocean. Somehow, it just doesn’t seem right.

So ends this post, of my first memories of Norway and the Norsemen. I will follow this with some more reflections, of my time there, in the next few days.