Difficult Contract Clauses

Abstract

Over the past few years it has become almost a joke in the subsea industry that contractors are always moaning about how tough things are, how low rates are and how they do not know how long they will be able to survive. It may indeed be almost a standing joke. However, there is a great amount of truth in it. The recent contraction in the industry points very clearly to this. We have over the last two years seen major subsea-related contractors go into liquidation, we have seen various “mergers” of subsea contractors and we have seen the contractors’ labour force becoming “organized” in order to try to protect their earnings and jobs. These are surely three classic symptoms of an industry in decline, and yet we are an industry that is in fact expanding and should be in a healthy situation.