By Mike Pettigrew - UK Managing Director
Logistics is increasingly important to ensure the professional and efficient management of our energy sector during its shift from oil, natural gas and coal to renewable energy sources – especially during the development of complex capital assets like offshore wind farms.
ASCO is a leading logistics and materials management company that has supported the global energy industry with integrated solutions to improve the efficiency of operations since 1967. Today, it helps clients to achieve their low-carbon ambitions and supports the development of new energy technologies.
Headquartered in Aberdeen, UK, and operating worldwide, ASCO provides a comprehensive portfolio of services that includes logistics, transport and freight management, including remote support. It also provides port operations, warehousing and storage including containerised goods, supply base management, fuel and bulk supply, marine services, training, lifting and assurance, industrial cleaning and environmental services.
From October, a new leader will guide ASCO through the energy transition as Mike Pettigrew advances from his role as UK managing director to group CEO.
“It’s a privilege,” said Mike. “I really see this as an opportunity.”
Former CEO Peter France said: “It has been an honour to lead ASCO during the last five years. I believe that with Mike at the helm, supported by the board and our colleagues across the world, ASCO has a very bright future.”
With extensive experience across the energy, marine, industrial power and ship building sectors, Mike spent 13 years with Babcock International and was also a non-executive director of Decom North Sea before joining ASCO in March 2022.
Trained as a chartered electrical engineer, Mike’s speciality is in the field of transmission and power generation. His “formative years” at Rolls Royce included working on high-voltage DC connections. His experience also includes creating the largest marine design company in Europe, Babcock Design and Technology, which ensures he understands the technical challenges involved in offshore construction.
“We believe there has to be a transition between old energy and new energy,” Mike said. “The good news is that new energy – whether it’s hydrogen, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, green methanol or offshore wind – needs the services that ASCO already provides.
“We need to do it in a controlled and measured way to get from where we are today to net-zero. I know we can do it, but there are going to be some tough choices.”
Mike’s new role will evolve from overseeing ASCO’s UK operations, to managing its global portfolio. ASCO operates from more than 60 locations worldwide and employs around 1,500 people, with a strong presence in the UK and Norway.
“The same energy transition agenda will affect all the territories we operate in,” Mike said. “But we will have to take a different focus on some of the services we offer.
“We will certainly have to operate from different ports because the ones that are suitable for oil and gas are not necessarily suitable for offshore wind.”
During developments to build offshore wind, ASCO will lead the logistics industry with its focus on providing a full package of integrated services from vendor to end user, and back again.
ASCOs expertise in providing end-to-end logistics solutions will become increasingly important in the forthcoming surge of offshore wind and new energy projects. To date, projects in this sector could achieve a “just-in-time” project approach where the turbines, cables, etc, were marshalled, assembled and installed as they arrived from the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
“Going forward, constraints on suitable ports, turbine and capital plant availability and lead times, the availability of increasingly large installation vessels, and the rate of manufacture of floating wind structures all mean that there will be a requirement for complex logistics management,” Mike said.
“Everything required in the bill of materials, from large-scale components to small consumables, will likely have to be delivered, marshalled and stored for longer periods before the transportation and installation phase. These items will need to be controlled, maintained and stored in accordance with the manufacturer’s guidance.”
ASCO ensures that everything is there when developers and OEMs need it, providing support through the entire lifecycle of energy assets.
“We are not only there for the build – we are there during production and decommissioning,” Mike said.
The company also deals with waste and environmental contaminants through its controlled disposal plan, and its Zero Waste to Landfill initiative ensures an environmentally-friendly solution for developers.
But it’s not just about offshore wind. ASCO is equipped to support new energy projects as well as oil and gas during the energy transition, while still meeting its commitment to decarbonise the supply chain and become a net-zero greenhouse gas business by 2040.
“If you simply stop producing hydrocarbons today, the lights will go out,” Mike said. “However, it is important we continue the shift to more sustainable energy production, and to create new energy, you need logistics
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