Ocean King Dubai warning !

Member Joined: Aug 28, 2004

I have just spoken to the 2 guys who just walked off this job due to poor working and living conditions and who had to make there own way home . So please think twice before you accept this work via Maris

I am urgently looking for the below -One ROV Pilot Technician & One ROV Supervisor to operate ROV Falcon as per details given below Duration : 4 weeks Project Location : Iraq Crew Change - Via Kuwait

Please be very careful if you accept this work .

Cheers

Subman

Member Joined: Nov 05, 2004 Location: Philippines

well i was wondering why this contract keeps popping up.

was offered 800 USD as Pilot Tech back in September never really did try to compare offered rates but several agents have this client.

Interested did Maris support them with the on goings?

Member Joined: Dec 19, 2003

Thanks Subman

You consistantly come up with some of the best and benifitial information available on these boards.

Kudos.

Member Joined: Nov 04, 2007 Location: Scotland

Hi,

I was looking at this job :

I am urgently looking for the below -One ROV Pilot Technician & One ROV Supervisor to operate ROV Falcon as per details given below Duration : 4 weeks Project Location : Iraq Crew Change - Via Kuwait.
I was informed the job would be on the Leighton Eclipse, carrying To operate Sea Eye Falcon / Tiger for construction support of pipelines and plems.

Have any of you guys heard any different!, is the job on the Ocean king, or is it on the Leighton Eclipse?

What are your experiences of the living quarters, food, gym , ect on the Leighton Barge?.

Cheers

Member Joined: Mar 04, 2007 Location: South Pacific

The Eclipse is a good barge, about 3 years old now I think, worked on it for a few trip in India about 18 months ago. accom for ROV then was 4 man cabins, food pretty good, everything is clean.

No idea about the Ocean King, but I would take the Eclipse over most anything else out in that area.

Good Luck,
Dog

Member Joined: Aug 28, 2004

I understand the first to go was one of the Sups then soon after the PT as far as Maris goes they did not want to know and it was them who told the guys they had to pay there own way home .

As soon as I get more information I will let you know but Ocean King is a Indian Survey company based in Dubai they do not own any systems they hire them in.

Cheers for now

Subman

Member Joined: Nov 04, 2007 Location: Scotland

Hi Guys,

I spoke to the Super out on the job and the agency involved,...... I got different views of what went on, and about the travel, and the hotel rooms.

It dosent sound that bad, so of I go..........( I might be daft, but hey ho)

Regards

Member Joined: Nov 05, 2004 Location: Philippines

what day rate you get offered?

Ok so to set the record straight here goes - Maris Subsea have put out 12 different contractors on various jobs that Ocean king have. Out of the 12, 2 have gone out a second time and there are a total of 7 out at the moment. Not one of the contractors have complained about the working conditions, in the way Maris Subsea or Ocean King have treated them. Those that have returned have expressed that they would be happy to go out again. Had there been any complaints about working conditions then we would have and would investigate.
Subman not sure where you have got your facts but no one has walked off the job certainly not through Maris Subsea. We have only had one issue with a contractor and I'm guessing Subman its close friend! So what's the truth, well the contractor made it to Dubai there was an issue with the flight to kuwait, the other 3 contractors got onto the flight and this one contrator in question didn't get on the flight. He spat the dummy out, informed Ocean king and maris subsea that he did not want to carry on with the job and wanted home. Maris Subsea gave the contractor 2 options - get the next flight out to do the job as it was still up for grabs or please yourself and go home but we were not paying for flights home as we nor the client had cancelled the job or the services of the contractor. The contractor decided they wanted to go home. This was the contractors decision so why should Maris Subsea pay for the flight home when flights had been paid for him to mob and the contractor hadn't yet worked one single day!!!! This evening we have been in touch with all our contractors that are on the job investigating these allegations from this forum and have not come across one complaint.

Please see a testimonial from one of the ROV Sup

"I have recently come back from working with Ocean king in Iraq. The company themselves are new to the ROV industry so things are a bit slow. The food on board the ship was not caviar but was adequate except for a few times but this is nothing unusual for that part of the world. As for Maris Subsea this is a very professional company helping ROV professionals get work. I asked to be paid weekly and was, without any delay, my flights were paid for both too and from the job and I was paid from door-to-door. In my professional opinion Maris Subsea is a good operator and does not deserve the slating it received in ROV world."

I can post the rest tomorrow if you wish! Before you start posting comments about companies please ensure you have your facts right. In this industry there's just too much chinese whisper.

Subman you've obviously got too much time on your hands listening to all this coffee morning gossip and are in need of a job so give us a shout!!!

oh and I should have added Deepseacon the reason the work keeps coming up is that there is so much work and we need more and more guys to do different projects not because we can't get the people so if you're interested you can give us a shout too!

And as for this comment "You consistantly come up with some of the best and benifitial information available on these boards" Centurion get a grip..."best and beneficial" more like inaccurate, irrelevant stories!!

Well! It's refreshing to see a representative from an agency set the record straight.

The detailed explanation, offerred by Maris-Subsea-Jobs, seems to be plausible to me. Don't jump down my throat and start saying I instantly believe it. I'm simply saying the response makes sense and is a likely scenario.

So, in fairness to all reading this thread I'd be interested to see if subman still has a different version to that of Maris-Subsea-Jobs.

Two guys walked off a job?
The two guys had to make their own way home?

.......or is it as Maris-Subsea-Jobs says it is?

In my experience even guys that ask for off at short notice are always repatriated by the agency. In over 25 years I've not known one agency tell someone to make their own way home from a foreign country. I have known (rare) an agency fly someone back (who walked off a job at no notice) and take their out of pocket costs out of the contractors pay, but not simply disown them.

Member Joined: Oct 02, 2006

Hmm would love to know where some people get their information but I will set the record straight here and now. I am one of the ROV Supv on the Oranda 1 as we speak and am going into my 4th week of probably an 8 week trip. I was seconded to the Leighton Eclipse for 11 days returning here 2 days ago and since I have been here there have been NO walk offs and NO rumors of any either. The living conditions are pretty good, food is pretty good also and I was in a 2 man room on the Eclipse although yes they do have 4 man rooms. They have internet access and TV on the Eclipse, internet access but no TV on the Oranda 1. On both vessels the crews are good guys, always willing to lend a hand if necessary and the supervisory personnel are friendly and approachable. The Oceanking guys on both vessels are also very approachable and helpful although there is a bit of a language barrier sometimes, the company being, as was stated elsewhere, based in Dubai. I would, and WILL have no problem coming back if I am invited, let me assure you guys, this is no worse than any other job in my experience (16 yrs in the game) and there are other, well known, BIG companies out there who do not give a monkey's about their personnel, you know who you are. Happy ROVing people and Maris, keep up the good work!!! Smile

Member Joined: Aug 28, 2004

Update on Ocean King !

I would like to state that every thing is 100 % the truth and I have all the emails as proof

Ok I have just had a second email from the remaining Sup who is on the Eclipse .We are talking now about the Sea Eye Falcon system !

Yes the vessel bed and food are good one of the tecs did not walk off he was moved to one of the other vessels as a replacement .

That still leaves why did the other Supervisor did not get on the Kuwait flight from Dubai . From reading the emails all 4 of the crew made it to the airport however when they went to check in the sup was told that only a booking and the ticket had not been paid for .

I understand the flight to Kuwait via Bahrain was at 11.30 pm and the guys went to check in at 06.30 Pm so there was a fair amount of time to sort the problem out .

So 3 of the guys did check in and board the flight ,From reading the emails from Ocean King the other rov sup was told to go to the Terminal 3 and there was a flight in the morning at 07:45 .

The Sup asked many times when was the driver coming to take him back to the hotel !!

Nothing !!

Until 02:00 am telling him to go to Terminal 3 were he had been waiting for 5 hours

Then at 04:00 he received a sms from the Ocean King Manager telling him that he should have gone to the hotel last night but now it was to late since the check in time was 04:45 .

Since the guy had been up most of the previous night with no sleep and now a second night it was very clear that Ocean King expected the guy to sleep at the airport .

From reading the emails its very clear all the guy wanted was a few hours sleep in the end he just requested that they send him home .

I understand he missed the flight at 07:45 and was then told by Maris that this was unacceptable it was very clear that they did not want to know ! All they knew was that Ocean King was no longer paying them . In the end I understand the guy paid his own fare back .

From reading all the emails + sms messages its very clear that Ocean King had no intention of putting the guy into a hotel and expected him to sleep at the airport and catch the flight the following day .

Its very clear that Ocean King is running a very tight budget but I find it unacceptable that people should be expected to sleep at the airport .

One thing I did find funny from the current sup on the barge was they did order some light bulbs for the vehicle . Do you know how many they sent " ONE " I think most companys would have sent up a dozen .

So if your reading this please give it some thought before you sign up !

Or If your all ready working for Ocean King via Maris then the best of luck working for a " ONE LIGHT BULB " Company .

Good Luck

Subman

Member Joined: Dec 17, 2003 Location: Thailand

Sub,

It was probably a dim light as well!!!! Laughing

I'd say, give it a miss guys. The ME is not a "people-friendly" place. Plenty of horror stories have come from there...

Member Joined: Nov 05, 2004 Location: Philippines

Run by I----s so what do you expect.

anyway he took the extra day rate bound to be problems i would of not been at the airport at 2am i would of dealt with it long time before that actually even Maris could of been called no problem late as they are 4 hours ahead.

Maris could of confirmed go to a hotel and maris will refund the monies.