Ensco Leaves the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife

The offshore multinational Ensco has left the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with the withdrawal and transfer to the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria of the drilling vessels “Ensco DS-5”, which left on August 5 towed by the “Alp Guard”, and “Ensco DS-3”, which departed yesterday following the same tugboat.

While waiting to learn more details, it seems that the decision is motivated by the merger of Ensco and Rowan, which have formed a new company called Valaris plc – together they have 82 platforms – based in London. However, maritime sources claim that the Port Authority of Las Palmas offers better conditions and facilities, and Ensco was somewhat dissatisfied with the treatment it was receiving from the Port Authority of Tenerife.

Thus, the drilling vessels “Ensco DS-3” and “Ensco DS-5” will continue their long wintering at the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which has become the major base for operations and naval repairs for this type of vessel. The excellent work once done by José Rafael Díaz Hernández, then director of the Port Authority, and Airam Díaz Pastor, commercial director, has gone to waste.

It has been a while since there have been drilling vessels at the anchorage of Anaga, the best shelter in the Canary Islands. In recent days, two more have left to increase the exclusive concentration in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – a business that moves millions of euros annually and generates specialized and well-paid jobs – and the platforms that were at the intended industrial port of Granadilla have also left, possibly because their owner was fed up with paying extra costs for their prolonged stay.

Voices calling for a change in the management of the Tenerife port have increasingly powerful arguments every day. The Association of Consignees – mostly made up of companies headquartered in Las Palmas – has already cleared the southern dock and the third alignment of the East breakwater. We will see if it can bring in substitute traffic. It seems that some are bothered by the arrival of ships at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with all that it entails. And that’s how we are doing.

Photos: Ramón Acosta Merino