Reflex Marine
Safety on the Seas, Guaranteed
Reflex Marine is the leading designer, manufacturer, and marketer of crane-based crew transfer solutions in the offshore environment. COO Sandra Antonovic tells Energy Focus that the unending focus on safety will continue as the latest product updates are launched while the business looks to continue growing globally.
The perils of offshore work are well-documented. Waves, heat, cold, noise, hazardous materials, industrial equipment etc – the job is fraught with risk. But getting offshore to a vessel or rig should not be a threat. In few other careers is transport to work such a concern. But in the harsh offshore environment, safety is always the priority as a commute is far from ordinary.
Typically, to get offshore for work on various energy installations or other sea-based infrastructure, helicopters of specially-designed crew transfer vessels are utilised. In deep water, far from shore this is often the only option. But when offshore, at an oil field in the North Sea or at a windfarm in the Baltic Sea or at a gas well in the Persian Gulf, multiple installations make up the larger project and transfer or crew between platforms and vessels is essential. Helicopters are too expensive, and boats not logistically possible.
Reflex Marine, the Aberdeen-headquartered provider of crew transfer solutions, has designed and refined units for safe movement of people without the need for choppers or boats, and with human-wellbeing at the core. By utilising cranes to quickly and cost-effectively move people, clients can make significant savings while ensuring safety at all times.
“Most crew transfers are still done by crane,” explains Reflex Marine COO Sandra Antonovic. “Until fairly recently, crew would grab a rope hanging from a crane while the crane moves them across to another platform, hoping that they don’t let go and drop. The other option was a collapsible basket which is a rope frame that hangs from a rope on a crane, again hoping that no one let’s go or slips.”
She highlights the scary scenes across offshore operations around the world where crew transfer was literally putting lives at risk. Employees would sometimes jump from the back of a vessel to a jetty at the base of a rig, with the waves pushing the vessel back and forward, bumping into the side of the structure. Scenes like this are not illegal but they are certainly not encouraged. This was the reason for the establishment of Reflex Marine in 1992.
“Statistically, helicopters are safe and there are very few accidents each year,” says Antonovic. “But it doesn’t seem like ‘very few’ if someone you know is in one of those accidents. We have not had a lost time incident, let alone a fatality, in 12 years. We are the only crew transfer option in the world that has this safety track record.”
She adds that safety is the ultimate priority and everything else comes a distant second. For this reason, Reflex Marine has grown to become a global partner across multiple industry sectors, supporting more than 300 companies in 85 countries.
The product range is made up of the FROG, WAVE, STORM WORK, and other models. Each is a purpose-built solution to move people and cargo offshore using a crane.
ADIPEC UPDATE
In Abu Dhabi, at ADIPEC, Reflex Marine will launch the latest iteration of one of its core products, especially popular in the Middle East. “We are promoting a new product which is an enhancement of one of our existing products. We are setting up an evening event for our clients and partners and we are excited to showcase this product,” explains Antonovic.
The FROG, the first product in the company’s portfolio has been updated numerous times over the years. In 2013, a new model was released, capable of carrying four, six, or 10 people. Now, a fresh launch will see better materials and technologies that ensure safety and sustainability, while improving cost efficiency for clients who own.
“Internally, the focus is always innovation, research and development,” reminds Antonovic. “We are a for-profit company and we sell products, but we operate as a research and development department. We use revenue generated from sales to keep working on different new products and different solutions. We are constantly testing materials and theories, and we don’t have a large product portfolio because we spend around 20,000 hours designing and testing anything that goes into production. We particularly test the impact on the human body and the spine. We are always looking to make sure there are no injuries – not even bruises.”
Antonovic has used a Reflex Marine transfer system and likens it to a regular flight. You strap into a harness, you feel little motion, just a bump when the unit hits the deck, just like a plane landing. “It is very stable; you really don’t feel much.”
As well as being incredibly safe and removing significant risk for operators, Reflex Marine saves cost where it is often unnecessarily be expended. “Helicopters are extremely expensive,” highlights Antonovic. “They make sense in deepwater, far from shore, where you want to take a medium-sized crew in the quickest possible time. Companies can pay tens of millions of dollars per year for helicopter transfer and there are a lot of circumstances where you don’t need helicopters and you can use a vessel and a crane.”
Safety seats, with hydraulic suspension arms and heavy-duty harness belts, are surrounded by a high-strength buoyancy, supported by a stainless-steel structure. All components are standardised, and put together with ISO 9001:2015 certification.
“Inter-field transfer is difficult and there are often multiple installations where you need to move people. To use a helicopter here is extremely inefficient. Companies want a safe and cost-effective solution and helicopters cannot compete – especially considering weather limitations,” says Antonovic.
EXPANSION & DEVELOPMENT
In the future, Reflex Marine will remain focussed on its innovative nature by constantly adapting and improving products as demands offshore change, always making the range stronger, safer, and more efficient. But Antonovic is keen on constantly increasing the global footprint of the company. The former FMCG executive, with leadership experience in the finance and media worlds, has travelled extensively, understanding more about market potential and how Reflex Marine can support. Splitting the market into geographical segments, different products are in demand in different areas and diversifying risk by opening new sectors has been a key success for Antonovic.
“We have several markets that are equally important, generating equal levels of income – Europe, West Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and then slightly behind is the Americas,” she says.
“When the company was founded, the focus was only on offshore oil and gas as that was the general focus in the world. That has changed significantly, especially in the last 10 years, and we now have a very segmented market. We are still focussed on oil and gas, but we are now equally focussed on LNG and offshore wind.”
She adds that to mitigate against oil price crashes or energy industry turmoil, Reflex Marine has differentiated itself to be a partner in industries away from energy. Navy, offshore civil engineering, fishing, marine research, and many more are key markets for the company. “It has created sustainability for us as a company as it means we don’t depend on factors that we cannot control,” she explains. “Since 2015, we have added 30 more countries to our portfolio and we hope to continue building on this success.”
When Reflex Marine was founded three decades ago, there was an understanding that crew transfer is essential and that it would continue by crane. But the company could never accept that safety was neglected, and that nature has helped it grow to become a globally recognised organisation.
“There is now no need to move people with them hanging from a rope. We designed a product that transfers people by crane in the safest possible way, where they are as protected as possible,” states Antonovic.
The result? “From all the crew transfers that happen in the market every year 50% is helicopters. We have around 10% of the global market. In offshore crew transfer by crane, you could say we are market leaders.”
Just one piece of the wider crew transfer universe, Reflex Marine’s products are expertly designed, manufactured, and marketed to overcome the challenges of clients. The brand has stood the test of time. The ongoing invention and development makes for a strong pipeline in the future. And the company’s people remain passionate about engineering safety.
To learn more about the newest enhancements in the product range, join Reflex Marine at ADIPEC where Antonovic and colleagues invite the industry to a product explainer, detailing how a partnership can make your operations safer.
Visit Reflex Marine at ADIPEC 2023, stand 8415.