Fugro secures four-year Heerema heavy-lift extension

By James Calloway

A four-year extension to Heerema Marine Contractors’ global framework agreement with Fugro runs from January 2027 through December 2030, keeping survey and positioning support in place for the heavy-lift vessel fleet.

The renewed agreement covers offshore installation, decommissioning and wind projects worldwide. Fugro will provide positioning and survey services for Heerema’s offshore operations, along with geo-data and positioning support for the transport, installation and removal of offshore structures. Oil and gas platforms and offshore wind foundations both fall within that scope.

What does the extension cover?

The agreement is organized as a global framework for Heerema’s fleet rather than a single offshore project. Fugro’s work spans the operating sequence named by the companies: transport, installation and removal.

For campaigns involving large construction vessels, the service package covers:

• Transport: positioning and geo-data support for moving offshore structures.
• Installation: vessel-position monitoring and tracking of installation progress.
• Removal: positioning and survey support as offshore structures leave their operating locations.

Fugro will also monitor asset movements during offshore work. The scope explicitly includes both oil and gas platforms and offshore wind foundations, giving the heavy-lift fleet a common technical support arrangement across two end markets.

The practical effect is continuity: Heerema keeps core survey and positioning coverage under the same supplier through December 2030.

How will remote operations change the work?

Fugro will use remote-operations technology under the extended agreement, drawing on its global network of remote operations centres. The technology enables real-time oversight of offshore activities, according to the announcement, while Heerema’s heavy-lift vessels conduct transport, installation and removal campaigns.

The companies say the approach aims to improve operational efficiency, safety and flexibility. For practitioners, the important distinction is that the remote function extends oversight of the offshore campaign; the agreement does not describe a shift away from large construction vessels or the use of a new vessel class.

Remote operations therefore provide a support layer for the positioning and survey work rather than replace the core heavy-lift operation. Fugro presents the approach as a way to manage increasingly complex offshore campaigns while retaining field support for vessel positioning, asset movements and installation progress.

The technology adds a remote oversight layer; it does not change the core heavy-lift work assigned to Heerema’s fleet.

Why does the four-year term matter?

The extension continues a collaboration that Fugro says developed over the previous four years. Thijs Prins, Fugro’s service line director for Marine Asset Integrity, said: “Over the past four years, we have built a strong working relationship with Heerema and developed a deep understanding of their operational requirements.

He continued: “This framework extension creates further opportunities for closer collaboration on technology and innovation that support increasingly complex offshore campaigns.”

For Heerema, the term provides a defined service window for positioning, survey and geo-data support through 2030. For Fugro, the global framework gives it a continuing role across offshore installation, decommissioning and wind work. Prins’s comments also place remote-operations technology and innovation collaboration within the longer-term service relationship.

Fleet-wide coverage matters to operators because one positioning and survey framework can support platform installation and removal as well as transport and installation of wind foundations. The agreement also gives both companies time to develop technology around the operating requirements Fugro says it has learned from Heerema’s campaigns.

The practical takeaway is service standardization across a global heavy-lift fleet, with technology collaboration built into the renewal.

What should operators watch?

The first checkpoint is January 2027, when the renewed term begins. The next test is how survey, positioning and remote-operations support get assigned to Heerema campaigns, and whether the closer technology work supports the efficiency, safety and flexibility goals set out in the agreement.

The next checkpoint is January 2027, when the renewed service period starts and its use across Heerema campaigns becomes visible.