From the North Sea (NT): The recent arrival of Allseas’ massive Pieter Schelte single-lift vessel in Rotterdam has been met by a furore over its name.
Pieter Schelte Heerema, the father of Allseas’ president Edward Heerema, was a Dutch member of the Waffen-SS who served time in prison after the war.
Criticism of the naming of the vessel has been led by the International Transport Workers Federation, whose president Paddy Crumlin has commented, ‘For Allseas to name its vessel after a convicted Nazi war criminal is utterly shameful.’
The union started an online petition calling on Shell, which has contracted Pieter Schelte for Brent (SEN, 31/16) platform removals, to have the vessel renamed or repudiate the contract.
Justify
Shell, in fact, has partly responded to this moral appeal.
‘Shell believes the name of the vessel is inappropriate,’ it said in a statement. ‘We have raised our concerns with Allseas and asked them to consider changing the name. However, the name of the vessel is a matter for Allseas alone and one... to justify.’
Edward Heerema has given no indication that he intends to change the name, justifying the choice in terms of his father’s ‘creativity and entrepreneurship’ as a ‘pioneer of the offshore construction industry,’ but adding that he had ‘…expressly disassociated himself from his father’s sympathies in the Second World War.’
Pieter Schelte‘s first job will be for Talisman, removing the deck of the ill-fated Yme (31/12) platform in the Norwegian sector this summer. The company appears not to have been the target of appeals to cancel this contract.
A spokeswoman told SEN that ‘Talisman and the Yme co-venturers chose to award the removal contract for the Yme topsides to Allseas based on commercial and technical criteria’ and referred questions over the name to Allseas.
During the war Schelte fought on the east front and worked for the Nazis in the occupied lands. When things started to go badly, he changed sides and collaborated with the resistance. After the war he was sentenced to three years in jail for war crimes, but released early on the grounds of his work with the resistance. He later became active in the North Sea offshore industry, building innovative crane-vessels and being responsible for the installation of the majority of large platforms, according to his son.
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