From Seafaring to Belzona Engineering: Memories, Amusements and the Next Chapter

Interview with David Blackwell, Belzona Engineering Director

David Blackwell joined Belzona in 1987 after spending 13 years with Shell in the Merchant Navy and rising through the ranks to a Senior Engineering Officer. In Belzona, David has occupied various positions over the years and now heads the company’s Engineering Services Department. We had a chance to catch up with David (Read More)

and ask him some questions about his long-lasting experience in the corrosion mitigation industry and some trends he is currently observing in the market.

Q) As you spent over a decade in the Merchant Navy, can you please tell us a little bit about your life at sea?
    
A) I joined Shell Tankers fresh out of school as an Engineering Cadet. It was just a great life being at sea. Until you’ve been out of sight of land for two weeks at a time, you just don’t realise how big the world is, how much ocean there is out there.

You also get a chance to observe some spectacular sights – like the green flash. When the sky is perfectly clear and as the sun sets, all the different colours you have in the spectrum of light start to disappear over the horizon, and the green one is always the last one. Just as it disappears, the whole sky goes bright green and back to blue again before the darkness falls.
I also vividly remember the stars at night. At midnight, after finishing a late shift in the engine room, we’d come out, make a cuppa and sit out on the deck in the middle of the ocean in pitch black. Nobody that lives on land can ever see that amount of stars because of the lights from the cities. It is just awe inspiring, it really is. And obviously you see a lot of the world when you’re travelling, and I think the only continent that I haven’t visited now is Antarctica. That’s on the bucket list.
Q) How did you come to trade the sea for a life on land?

A) I traded my life at sea for an opportunity to see my son grow up, so I accepted a voluntary redundancy as the Company I was working for were reducing their fleet. The idea was then to get any odd job to give me time to look for a position on a rig supply vessel or a cross channel ferry to carry on my marine career. But I applied for a job at Belzona and have been here ever since, because I just enjoy the job so much. It is very interesting, very varied, always busy; it just grabbed my attention and I decided to stay and build my career here.

Q) Throughout your career at Belzona, do any memorable moments in particular come to mind?

A) I was once asked to accompany an Independent Consultant down a coal mine to look at a job on a coalface on one of the coal conveyor machines. As the lift took us to the bottom, I was told that the coalface is actually four miles away, so we had to hitch a ride on a conveyor belt 1200 feet underground. After jumping off the belt, I was looking at the potential job and they failed to mention that they were just about to knock all the props out from behind the coal face. So as I turned away, the roof in the middle just collapsed in one big slab, creating a noise I will never ever forget. At that moment I really thought my end was nigh.

Talking of mining I am often asked to visit diamond and platinum mines when I visit South Africa. This is not something for the faint-hearted, trust me. The security as you can imagine is very strict and you are not allowed to take anything into the mine – including your belongings or your clothes! You have to strip off totally and be searched on the way in and again on the way out – not the most dignified of sales appointments I can tell you!

Diamond mine

I also remember my first application offshore, on a deaerator in the North Sea, which was also the first ever application we did in the Oil and Gas industry. The process vessel was 17m (55.8ft) high and 6.5m (21.3ft) in diameter and we coated the whole thing top to bottom. Up until we lost track when the asset owner sold the rig it was still in service after 12 years. It had a few patch repairs done because of mechanical damage, but the coating itself was intact. I put that down to the way that we held the blasted surface. We wrapped the entire vessel in electric blankets, heated the skin up to 25°C (77°F) and held it there. Even in the harsh climate above the Arctic Circle, we were able to hold the blast to ensure a good application. This platform has now been decommissioned, but a replica is installed in the Aberdeen Maritime Museum, preserving Belzona’s offshore legacy, so to speak.

Q) How has the Belzona business changed over the years?

A) We are now getting into bigger types of business, where the applications are getting larger and more complex. And it’s a challenge; particularly in my position, to train people to recognise what the issues with large applications are. It is a major challenge to not only provide the materials, but to also provide the service to make sure the applications are done correctly. The validated training we offer helps a lot. The next stage is to propose a system whereby we can provide trained application teams that can help Belzona distributors who need them on a global basis.

Q) Can you comment on how some of the key industries that Belzona is involved in changed over the years?

Q.1) Oil and Gas

A) The Oil and Gas industry has certainly changed. Previously, we saw a greater demand for just product with people employed by the industry taking care of specification. I’m finding now that a lot of people who are in charge of writing coating specifications are relying more on coating manufacturers to provide guidance on when to use and when not to use their products. I think it’s a big change, as they want more service when it comes to the practical side of things.

Obviously Health and Safety has taken off now, resulting in a move away from hot work, which gives

Interviewed and written by: Marina Silva
www.belzona.com