Allseas

Allseas

200px
Type	Private
Industry	offshore pipelaying undersea construction
Founded	1985
Founder	Edward Heerema
Headquarters	Châtel-Saint-Denis, Switzerland
Number of employees	2,500
Website	www.allseas.com

Allseas Group SA is one of the largest offshore pipelay companies with 2500 employees. The company is privately owned by founder Edward Heerema.

File:Another view of the Eric Silbert Gardens in Perth, Western Australia, with the Allseas building in the background.JPG

Allseas sign on a building in Perth, Western Australia.

Overview

Founded in 1985, the Dutch firm Allseas is headquartered in Châtel-Saint-Denis, Switzerland, and has offices in The Netherlands, Belgium, USA, Australia, UK, Portugal and India.

Allseas operates three pipelay vessels (the Audacia, the Lorelay and the Solitaire), one support/trenching vessel (the Calamity Jane), one survey ship (the Manta), and one pontoon (the Tog Mor).

Controversy

Allseas in 2007 took the decision to build a new pipelay and offshore platform-removal ship Pieter Schelte, which is scheduled to enter service in 2014. At 382 metres (1,253 ft) in length and 117 metres (384 ft) in width, it will be the largest ship by area ever built. The ship is named after the late father of the founder of Allseas, Pieter Schelte Heerema, who was renowned as a maritime engineer. However, he was also a member of the Nazi SS and convicted of war crimes after the Second World War. He served one year and two months in prison. He was assistant director of a Dutch company that conscripted slave laborers for the Nazi war effort, according to the Dutch National Institute for War Documentation.

The choice to name the ship after a Nazi SS member provoked an outcry from some politicians and Jewish groups around the world. The Dutch government gave Allseas' Netherlands subsidiary a $1 million tax break for its part in designing the ship, which added to the controversy. The Netherlands Governmental Institute for War Documentation said that while Mr Heerema's father had been recognized by the courts as providing "very important" services to the resistance, he was earlier a "prominent" figure among Dutch collaborators with the Nazis. On February 9, 2015 Allseas stated that the name will be changed to "Pioneering Spirit".

Alleged victims of £73m fraud
In an ongoing criminal trial in the UK it is alleged that Allseas SA were victims of a £73m scam. In 2011 they invested £73m with investors claiming to have links to the Vatican and Spanish Nobility and that their investment vehicle would double their investment in 30 days and provide returns of 1.2 billion euros within three years. Unsurprisingly these returns did not materialise and it is alleged that the traders instead spent the money on themselves. As of December 2015 the ring leader is still on the run and other alleged participants are on trial.

References

• "Offshore-broers bevechten elkaar ter zee" (in Dutch), de Volkskrant (17 March 2008).