Rising demand and environmental concerns are driving governments around the world to secure resilient and scalable energy supplies.
The transition to alternative, sustainable solutions is accelerating as the limitations of traditional energy sources become increasingly apparent.
At the same time, net-zero commitments, regulatory pressures, and growing public demand for climate-conscious policies are driving an unprecedented surge in offshore wind development.
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Director of Remote Operations Centres, Fugro.
This boom in demand is in turn driving a significant shift in what the offshore workforce looks like.
As companies strive to attract the next generation of talent, offshore roles are increasingly moving onshore, creating new opportunities and transforming industry expectations.
More flexible careers
Traditionally, marine engineering careers often meant tough, hands-on work out at sea, away from home and frequently in challenging weather conditions. Today, advances in technology and connectivity are transforming those roles.
Many professionals now divide their time between offshore assignments, remote operations centers (ROCs) and office-based work, creating more flexibility and opening up new career opportunities.
ROCs are locations from which uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), ocean-going ships which can operate without a human onboard, are controlled through a satellite connection.
They are increasingly deployed for complex offshore work including inspection and maintenance, remote mapping of the seafloor, or environmental monitoring of water quality, marine habitats or other ecological data.
USVs can be used for detailed subsea inspections, ensuring the integrity and safety of underwater infrastructure, or precisely map the seafloor of a proposed location for an offshore wind farm to determine suitability.
The flexibility provided by remote operations unlocks a wider talent pool, creating career opportunities for individuals who may have personal or medical constraints that prevent them from working offshore.
At the same time, automation is improving workforce safety by reducing exposure to offshore hazards and lowering accident risk, while allowing more work to be carried out from shore-based environments.
Rich datasets
More broadly, the infusion of new technologies into the sector means the boundaries between IT and engineering are blurring as client demand for near real-time data on ocean conditions, seabed characteristics and weather patterns continues to grow.
That data can range from bathymetry and water-column data to acoustic backscatter, to understand the characteristics of the seabed’s topography and geology across a given site.
These datasets are essential to optimizing the installation and operation of offshore assets, including offshore wind farm infrastructure. Providers are under pressure to speed up the acquisition, analysis and delivery of these datasets, which can often be huge in scale, making it essential to balance the task of data management and sharing with seeking efficiencies in data analysis wherever possible.
Cloud data talent
To that end, talent is needed to help build cloud data pipelines, data lakes and the associated workflows back at base, drawing on skills in everything from data science and software engineering to project management and user experience design.
The USVs themselves accelerate the delivery of Geo-data, enabling faster access to results and recommendations so client project teams can make informed decisions sooner, compressing project timelines, reducing overall campaign costs, and cutting the time to financial return.
For the data scientists themselves, the remote nature of their role means they may be working on projects taking place anywhere in the world during their working week. From analysing near real-time data from an offshore project in the Middle East in the morning to building visualizations and client reports for projects in the North Sea later in the day.
Because ROCs are networked across multiple time zones, work can be handed over seamlessly between teams around the clock, helping to deliver insights and outcomes more quickly.
Remote responsibilities
One useful way of seeing remote operations is as a spectrum. Over time, operators may eventually oversee multiple vessels and project outcomes simultaneously, gradually shifting from direct control towards more of a monitoring and intervention role.
Importantly, remote operations do not mean the removal of responsibility. International maritime guidance already requires that every remotely operated vessel have a designated operator responsible for it, and that the operator can intervene when required.
The success of the offshore wind and broader marine engineering industry depends on rethinking traditional workforce models – bringing on board new talent skilled in data science, software engineering, and AI – as well as ensuring long-term sustainability in recruitment and talent retention.
Strategically embracing these changes will allow the marine and Geo-data industry to position itself for long-term success.
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