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A basic introduction
My afternoon induction has been postponed unto next week and thus I am a man without employment for now. Hence I am able to let you know a bit more about the job.
John Holland are a tiny cog in the GLNG project and the jetty part is only a small part of their total works. Shortly they will have in the region of 7 projects on the go, all on the different sites here. To give you a rough idea of cost, the jetty contract is worth $100M and the overall GLNG is worth $5 billion (ish). So a meagre 2% of the project value! There are several main subcontractors working concurrently on the GLNG dealing with different aspects and JHG are focused primarily on the marine engineering.
The 2 existing JHG sites are fisherman’s landing (rich’s old hunting ground) and the MOF (marine off load facility). The MOF is running late due to QA issues from what I gather but I don’t want to pry too much! It matters not anyhow as the staff are all set to transfer to the jetty once the MOF is finished and seeing as the jetty is delayed starting due to the real estate not being available as yet it’s not a big concern. That said the PM is keen to get the jetty moving forward ASAP so JHG may mobilise more manpower in due course to run concurrently.
My initial involvement will be in the temporary works for the traveller system being used to construct the trestle element of the jetty. Also I will be involved in the site set up of offices, welfare, etc. this will challenge my logistical skills as well as allow me to dabble in the commercial world by setting up some contracts with subbies. The biggest Challenge is overcoming the material transport issues as the site is on an island! There is a huge investment into temporary infra to support this (fisherman’s landing) and there are roro, lolo, and passenger facilities to accommodate the 100 plus daily return passages from the Mainland. Once on the island though there is still a 7km drive to the jetty site using haul roads (being constructed by others).
The PM and I have had a decent chat and he’s a chartered member of the ICE so is happy to do the mentoring piece and sign off DOs as required. He understands the army officer shortfalls and will push us to gain commercial experience where possible. He has also offered to assist where possible in getting me to CPD opportunities where possible.
Finally, pictures. Due to the sensitive nature of the LNG mechanical infra, Bechtel and the client have a blanket ban on photography. The HR team are going to submit a request for me to gain a photography permit but it may take some time. This shouldn’t be an issue as the jetty won’t be starting for a while and JHG are happy for me to use their images, drawings, etc. I’ll keep you posted.
Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll have been issued with my company laptop and with a bit of luck, an accompanying mobile broadband dongle! They are looking after me very well and are happy for us to have a hire car instead of the usual ute due to the growing family. I’m also getting a fuel card (to enjoy our time here) and a phone at some point soon. It’s all finally coming together!
I’ve been promised some work to get stuck into tomorrow so I’ll be looking forward to that and more so than the ride home tonight in the rain on the red rocket. Location report will be sorted tonight hopefully and definitely by tomorrow.
Until then, have a good day and I’ll keep you posted on my experience.
Roy
Afterthought – One thing that has been playing on my mind is the town of Gladstone. At the moment there is an influx of 10000 workers here (plus families in some cases) and there is a mass growth in the town and many new housing estates being built. Come 2015/16 when all this work is meant to have finished and just a small Operating/ maintenance team remain, what will happen to the towns economy? I posed his question at the Bechtel orientation/induction this morning and it hasn’t been thought about nor did there seem to be any corporate interest in it. Surely this is an environmental impact that needs to be considered? Is there value in this as a TMR?
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Roy,
1) If there’s been a delay on the MOF and you’re inheriting the staff I’d be interested if I were you so that a) you don’t inherit working practice problems and b) you don’t repeat mistakes that others might recognise and think you a fool for lacking awareness.
2) A Local ICE CEng is excellent for mentoring and planning exposure for experience aquisition but he cannot sign off DO’s on a training scheme for which he is not the SCE or a DE.
3) Post operational impacts are defintely either a TMR area or a potential thesis topic depending upon the degree of personal interest. One would restrict itself to looking into corporate publicity staements versus reality of planning and expectaion. The other might look a little deeper. Which tickles your fancy the most?
Thanks for the updates Roy. I agree with Richards comments ref your proposed TMR vs Thesis. The topic is ripe for military context – do we stay expeditionary or move to campaign footing straight away (and therefore build Tier 2 or 3). How does this change with anticipated campaign duration? What is the impact of military infra on a local community (think of S**t Creek outside BSN or the development of LKG)? Can accommodation be built in such a way that it is easily converted to civilian use (a cookhouse and welfare facility becomes a community centre or school) even though we don’t have a gifting policy? Lots of scope here.
Roy
Another angle that you may wish to consider is that with so many projects on the go, JHG must (should?) have some form of programme managment scheme in place. You could analyse how effectively this is working and consider the reduction in the population and how it is being considered within an analysis of the outcomes intended for the programme.
It may also be possible that the people that you are talking to about this issue are a little too far down the COC to be able to comment sensibly upon your question. That having been said, if the programme is being managed properly, this is the kind of information that should be being articulated clearly to the stakeholders by the programme board (if such a thing exists). This could be a nice opportunity to flex your new found APM skills.
Jim