The fact that Nortek’s services unconditionally meet the needs of the market was confirmed with a first contract soon after its foundation. A hydraulic gangway for a ferry must be constructed on behalf of an undisclosed Norwegian customer.
According to Wijnand van Aalst, CEO of the Van Aalst Group and Safeway, the initiative to launch Nortek stems mainly from the rapid growth currently taking place at a number of Van Aalst companies. Safeway from the Netherlands has achieved remarkable global success with its motion-compensated gangways and Techano in Norway, market leader in the development and supply of load handling and lifting equipment in the aquaculture industry. “Now is the time to support this growth with excellent services and to also become the market leader in the field of global services. We intertwine the service for Safeway with the highly competent Safeway operator as first tier of the maintenance, 24/7 the support from Nortek fits perfect to provide remote access and if needed direct availability of service engineers to the location of the Safeway. We complete the service strategy with recently arranged global agreement with component supplier company to provide parts in any port worldwide, the team of Safeway operator, Nortek Services in conjunction with the global instant parts delivery agreement completes the strategy out roll and will provide unprecedented service level anywhere in the world,” he explained enthusiastically.
Nortek’s range of services draws together the technical knowledge, passion and expertise of all the engineering, mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, maintenance and training departments that make up the Van Aalst Group, that specialises in selling and renting out motion-compensated gangways, world class pneumatic load and discharge systems, and the products from Techano products, including load handling and lifting equipment. Backed up by a comprehensive asset management system, Nortek Services is capable of efficiently maintaining the complete range of Van Aalst products, thereby maximising operational performance, minimising unscheduled operational downtime, saving costs and improving safety. Nortek’s stated mission is to extend this integrated maintenance and support methodology to the wider offshore community by providing long-term care for cranes, gangways and other equipment, from all manufacturers. All in close corporation via crane manufacturing company Techano. As both Nortek and Techano are housed in the same office building, known as The Offshore House in Kristiansand, the lines of communication are both short and efficient, as well as combining the relevant resources and know-how.
Headed by newly appointed Managing Director and co-founder Kjetil Vatne, Nortek Services based at offices in Kristiansand, officially started on 1 June 2020. Since that date, teams of skilled professionals operating globally according to a lean and agile mindset and what we refer to as the ‘full responsibility approach’ are on call to provide advice, regular maintenance and service support prior to, during and following installation and delivery.
“It is fantastic to work for a company that is willing to invest in excellence. It is also a source of pride that I am able to manage these experienced, multidisciplinary teams, committed fully to delivering Quality Assurance and Quality Control for the activities of each of the group companies. Our team thinks, eats and breaths in 24/7 service dedication, providing remote access service to back up all on-board maintenance tasks. We have split our ‘crew’ into field service teams and engineering teams. The first are involved in the installation, testing and commissioning of electrical drives, hydraulic power units and AHC lifting equipment, while the latter are responsible for the design work, programming and troubleshooting for our electric and hydraulic systems and the development and optimisation of our remote access, monitoring and control programs for retrofitting, upgrading and maintaining our Safeway gangways and AHC lifting equipment. With the multi-disciplined team we are able to provide services and (midlife) upgrades for offshore cranes including complex AHC cranes, gangways from any make or model anywhere around the globe.”
The Van Aalst Group consists of the following companies:
– Safeway: operating fleet of high performance motion compensated gangways for both renewable and oil & gas markets globally. Motion compensated gangways further can be purchased for purpose built vessels such as Service Offshore Vessels (SOV) and Windfarm installation vessels.
– Van Aalst Marine & Offshore: delivering pneumatic load and discharge systems for cement carriers as well as dry bulk systems for Offshore Support Vessels.
– Cargomaxx: delivering multipurpose cargo systems for offshore supply vessels.
– CargoSafe: converting existing shipboard and offshore cranes for 3D operation.
– Mulder Europe: producers of environmentally friendly concrete mixers.
– Techano: innovative engineering company specialised in advanced load handling and lifting equipment for the offshore, marine, fishery, aquaculture and renewable industries.
– Nortek Services: full service company providing services to Van Aalst Group company products as well as any third party maker. Midlife upgrade on any offshore cranes of any make including heave compensating cranes.
End of press release