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Groupe Bourbon accelerates its development along the coastline of Africa, extends its services to the deep-water oilfields off Angola and establishes Les Abeilles in Cameroon Groupe Bourbon announces the start-up of major marine service contracts in Africa that consolidate its position in this key area of the so-called " Golden Triangle ".
With the delivery, this spring, of the multipurpose platform supply vessel Bourbon Jade and the anchor-handling supply tug Luzolo, Groupe Bourbon steps up its presence in Angola and adapts its service spread to meet the needs of the deep-water oil business in Africa. The first MPSV equipped with a 100-tonne crane, the Bourbon Jade was specially designed as a support for undersea operations in deep waters and offers possibilities well beyond standard platform assistance. Christian Lefevre, general manager of Groupe Bourbon's Offshore Division, confirms this development policy, " Our fleet in Africa currently numbers 108 crew boats and supply vessels, including 30 in Angola, and our start-up of new vessels in the West African zone is on schedule. This dense coverage, implemented by a workforce of over 950 employees, reflects our business drive and definitely positions us, through our subsidiaries Surf and Sonasurf, as a major figure in the field of marine services for offshore oilfields. "
Already present in all main French ports, in Senegal and the Ivory Coast, Groupe Bourbon's specialist subsidiary in the towage, assistance and salvage field, Les Abeilles, steps up its international development and opens business in Cameroon. Les Abeilles carried off an international call for tenders concerning the overall management of towage and inshore pilotage in the port of Douala, offering three major advantages over other tenders:
This 10-year contract will involve more than 90 staff-members and require the services of 4 tugboats and 2 inshore pilot boats, both newly off the stocks. The general manager of Les Abeilles, Bruno de Chateauvieux, assesses the start-up of this contract: " With a heavy volume of business in line with our initial forecasts, this Cameroon contract, which began in May, got off to a good start. The contract itself underscores our determination to re-establish Les Abeilles on the international map. " Paris, June 29th 2004 Catherine Gros : 01 53 70 74 70 cgros@image7.fr Emmanuelle Flobert : 01 53 70 74 61 eflobert@image7.fr Groupe Bourbon Financial relations : Patrick Mangaud 01 40 13 86 09 patrick@mangaud.com Press relations : Christa Roqueblave 01 40 13 86 06 christagb@wanadoo.fr
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