Aker axes 600 more subsea jobs

Aker Solutions is reducing its Norwegian workforce by as many as 600 positions as the company takes necessary measures to strengthen the organization and boost competitiveness amid a continued market slowdown.

Image from Aker. 

“The company is streamlining its subsea business to support leaner processes and bolster overall operations. This will affect management and other staff in Norway,” the company said.

The 600 permanent positions that may be affected are from Aker’s facilities in Fornebu, Moss, Tranby and Ågotnes. This adds to the earlier job cuts of some 1000 positions Aker made in 2015 in its global subsea business, of which more than half were from Norway.

The reductions are part of Aker’s global subsea business restructure that is geared towards enhancing the development of its subsea technology and products, as the company expands in key markets outside Norway.

Aker said that about 33% of its order backlog of US$6 billion (DKK 40 billion) was for subsea work in West Africa at the end of 2015.

"We are proactively building on our strengths in the subsea area, where our competence, technology and strong customer relationships put us in a prime position to capture opportunities when the market recovers," said Alan Brunnen, head of Aker Solutions’ subsea business.

Aker Solutions has approximately 15,000 permanent employees in approximately 20 countries. About 7000 of these are in the subsea area, of which about 2500 are in Norway. The rest are in countries including Brazil, Angola, Malaysia, the US and the UK.

Last month, Aker announced its plans to streamline its maintenance, modifications, and operations (MMO), and subsea businesses, in addition to slowing activity and reducing costs in its Q4 2015 results. The company reported a 16.5% dip in revenue to $918 million for the period, compared to $1.1 billion in Q4 2014, as market activity declined.

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