On oil rigs, there are usually kitchens that are built with it. This is where offshore catering services send their groceries and catering crew to help prepare the food. The catering service is a big deal because people live and work on oil rigs. So, food is pretty important to these people for very good reasons.

On oil rigs, there are usually kitchens that are built with it. This is where offshore catering services send their groceries and catering crew to help prepare the food. The catering service is a big deal because people live and work on oil rigs. So, food is pretty important to these people for very good reasons.

The food prepared for offshore workers depends on where the offshore workers are from. If the oilrig workers are from Asia, the food prepared will largely be Asian cuisine. The same can be said if the oilrig workers are from Europe or North American countries where they will be fed their cuisine. It boils down to where the oil rig workers are from and the catering service crew will prepare accordingly.

Getting the groceries to the oilrig is just as important as the food tasting good. Delay in groceries can cause quite an upturn in oilrig events. Because of that, many groceries are ordered ahead for obvious reasons.

The Number of Chefs Matter

The number of chefs catering service companies sent to oil rig matters. This, on the whole, depends on the operational setup and rig size. The number of people stationed at the rig at any given time can be anywhere from 20 people and beyond. The more people stationed at an oilrig, the more chefs you will need to send over. What matters most for the majority of offshore catering services is knowing the rotation cycle. Offshore catering services will also want to know how many weeks each crew is expected to be stationed at the oilrig. At the same time, they will want to know whether an organization needs to have a chef replaced or have multiple chefs to be stationed at a rig. Either way, offshore catering services want to be well-prepared to cater to the volume of movement.

Complexities Faced by Offshore Catering Crews

Having to send catering crew offshore for offshore catering services is an intricate business. Think of the geographical distance between their home and workplace. It can get pretty immense and intense.

The usual catering crew trip begins with a commercial flight that can follow by a charter flight. The crew will arrive at a remote location, stay overnight at a hotel or camp, then transfer by helicopter the next day to a rig offshore that is so far away. These steps have to be taken in a perfect timeframe to ensure maximum use of resources and assets. They will also have to be safely executed.

There are also country-specific factors that you have to deal with. Like arrival visa coordination with some countries can be notoriously difficult. Some visas expire in 48hours, so if you don’t get there then the visa is withdrawn. That means you will have to go through the entire process again, which can easily cause delays.

Another common complication comes from national laws that a lot of catering services need to consider. Especially when it includes staffing and staff rotation. Some laws say that the mix of nationalities can work together on national installations. Catering service crews are part of that.

Offshore catering service crews will have to provide their nationalities, visa situation, and location. These catering service companies will then marshal the available resources and get the crew to the correct embarkation point on point. Then disperse them when they are rotating back.

This kind of travel itinerary is usually of critical nature as it spans the globe. It needs operative precision in planning and execution. Any delay or accident, even in the most minor scale, can have a domino effect.

Contingency Plans for Offshore Catering Service Crews

The rules differ between each oil rig platforms. However, in a lot of cases if a chef does not make it to the rotation, then the current chef has to stay on until a replacement comes around. Oil productions at oil rigs can be compromised and ceased operations if replacements don’t come on-board on time.

This includes not just offshore catering service crews, but also other missing key crew members, and other hygiene and safety-related issues. Oil rigs produce a huge load of oil barrels a day depending on its size. Those numbers often translate into millions of dollars depending on the oil price rates. So, there’s a warrant for offshore crews (including offshore catering service crew) to provide the best services possible.

Service crews including catering service have to be able to respond to any delays and redeploy personnel. This can happen on a daily basis. Whether if it is a rig or vessel, the smallest delays can have a huge impact on the bottom lines. The delays can cause crews to stop oil production, and the total sum can become huge.

Conclusion

Offshore catering services are as important as your next engineer working in oil rigs. There is no contest where one missing person can cause quite a huge disruption. Which, in turn, can compromise on the rig’s oil production. Nobody wants that to happen in a high-stress work and a high-stress environment offshore.

Food and nutrition matters for people working at offshore rigs. Get your offshore catering services and crew with us today!

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