Fewer Disputes and More Encouragement Advancing the Industry for the Same Goal The predicaments and solutions faced by the industry_Interview with Hank Tsai, Chairman of Rem Ocean Offshore Company

Too much political interference during their investment in offshore wind in Taiwan. The current situation might make those foreign companies believe that the investment environment in Taiwan is worse than expected, with risks higher than their initial presumption.

Hank Tsai, Chairman of Rem Ocean Offshore Company

By Mei-Hsu Shih

　　Although born as the son of an entrepreneur, Hank Tsai started his career in entry-level positions and is now the Chairman of Rem Ocean Offshore Company Limited, the owner of HC Offshore Contractor Company, and a Director of Boskalis HwaChi (Bowei) Offshore Wind Taiwan Co., Ltd. Devoting himself into Taiwan Offshore Industry with the extreme passion more than 14 years since 2009, as well as, with anticipations and the same amount of worries, Tsai has been observing Taiwan's renewable energy development and decided to speak out on the present urgent problems from a business perspective and his own experiences.

Industry-academia cooperation and talent cultivation have become slogans Without considering the reality of the industry

　　As the renewable energy industry is currently booming, many people are eager to invest or enter the field. Tsai believed that the foundation of a business or company was supposed to be established upon the improvement of techniques and talents rather than just the capital, as the latter shall only be utilized once the foundation is solid enough, fulfilling the business needs for further development and expansion. "Of course, positive development is certainly not an issue, such as R&D, technical enhancement, etc. However, many companies nowadays just put in a large amount of capital first without any practical experience, technologies, or know-how," Tsai noted. "Most of their planning are theoretical assumptions, which are only used to attract investments from other companies. If the operations proceeded successfully, they could then submit an IPO, and if things didn't go well, they would just terminate the company, which is a pity."

　　As a vast amount of capital is invested, Tsai pointed out that this further proves the necessity of talent and technology cultivation. "The cultivation of talents requires substantial investment, but industry-academia cooperation and talent cultivation seem to have become slogans and didn't reflect the reality of the industry," Tsai said. It's positive that the government and the industry put a lot of focus on talent cultivation, but the reality seems disappointing that it happened a lot that companies pay a lot to recruit or headhunt welding engineers and the crew from other companies. Many industry-academia programs regarding offshore wind are disconnected from reality.

　　Tsai used the collaboration of Boskalis HC and Boskalis as an example. Boskalis HC has been conducting industry-academic cooperation with schools and matchmaking of interns, aiming for the cultivation of talents that can be rooted in Taiwan. Currently, Boskalis HC is the only Taiwanese vessel company that offers the opportunity for students to visit abroad. In the future, Boskalis HC will collaborate with other companies to purchase more vessels, giving them the Taiwan flag and offering more internships and employment opportunities to more students.

　　Tsai pointed out that large foreign enterprises offer assistance and training programs to students and recruits. For them, such commitment does not significantly raise any extra costs as the programs have long been integrated with the company system, and such processes were also applied to the cultivation of Taiwanese talents. Since foreign enterprises are planning for in-depth cultivation in Taiwan, they obviously would need to spend more time, effort, and cost to recruit Taiwanese employees or interns, allowing them to learn or to even be dispatched to professional vessels in operation.

　　Tsai believed that the industry can make further contributions to the society of Taiwan. With opportunities emerging from the development of the offshore wind industry, Taiwanese students, engineers, and all relevant workforces can have the chance to earn experience with international engineering or services, which is the most optimal way for them to gain the ability to master wind farm operations in Taiwan, whether in wind farm development or O&M aspect.

Political interference may reduce foreign companies’ willingness to collaborate with Taiwanese companies

　　In the past, the Taiwanese general public is mostly unfamiliar with maritime engineering. However, due to the development of offshore wind in recent years, the industry has been gradually entering the public eye. Tsai appreciated the government's policies for renewable energy development but still warned that only when political interference can be reduced, will the overall development of the national industries become smoother.

　　Based on Tsai's own experiences and observations, although things seem peaceful on the surface, some companies have been leveraging their political powers to aggressively boycott joint ventures or the establishment of foreign companies in Taiwan. In the long run, this will only deplete the foreign companies' willingness to cooperate with Taiwanese companies.

　　Such struggles will definitely become obstacles for Taiwan to develop offshore wind! Tsai noted that some foreign enterprises have been investigating the causes, which led to worries about frequent Covid pandemic policy changes, excessive regulation conflicts among one another governmental departments in Taiwan, and considerations for more conservative approaches to engage with the Taiwanese offshore wind industry. Such suspicions have seen significant growth. "These big companies found that there are too much political interference and regulation conflicts during their investment for offshore wind in Taiwan. The current situation might make them believe that the investment environment in Taiwan is worse than expected, with risks higher than their initial presumption."

　　Tsai further pointed out his worries: "Taiwan is no longer a popular location for work. Starting next year, new wind farm constructions will be launched in the US, which will worsen the vessel shortage problem in Taiwan very soon. Next, other Asian countries will also start developing offshore wind, which will become a crisis for Taiwanese industries. What caused such a crisis? We built it up with our own hands. Good policies were presented, yet they were sabotaged by the surrounding entities aiming for political benefits. Now, we've ended up with difficulties in finding available vessels or even introducing any of them. All these are correlated."

Obstacles for the foreign working vessels entering Taiwan

　　Vessel shortage is a substantial problem for the construction of Taiwanese offshore wind farms, and the obstacles faced by foreign-flag vessels when entering Taiwan cannot be neglected. Tsai indicated that the offshore wind industry is an industry of massive scale that requires professional vessels for heavy construction. In addition, due to the nature of maritime engineering, it is quite difficult to achieve any progress when only depending on Taiwanese companies' funds and vessels.

　　Therefore, Tsai was convinced that the collaboration between Taiwanese and foreign companies will support Taiwan to make up for the shortcoming. Whether it is an improvement in technology or a capital increase, it would introduce a much-needed boost for the local industry. However, some Taiwanese companies have been spreading malicious rumors, using smear tactics, or manipulating business associations to impede the international collaboration opportunities of other maritime engineering companies. Tsai believed that such turbulences have impacted the development of the industry as they delay the construction progress of the wind farms and disrupt the establishment of professional backup support provided by smaller Taiwanese-flag vessels.

　　Furthermore, Tsai also pointed out that under the current policy, foreign-flag work vessels wouldn't be allowed to enter Taiwan unless there is an absence of Taiwanese-flag vessels capable of executing the wind farm task. However, it is quite challenging to obtain the certificates of the domestic vessels' unavailabilities, as they must be issued from the relevant business associations, yet there is no supervisory mechanism for reviewing the issuances of the certificates. Although the purpose of such policy is to safeguard opportunities for the local Taiwanese-flag vessels, as offshore wind development has entered phase III, the risks and cost of the wind farm vessel operations will only increase if no adequate local vessel can respond to such tasks in time, while foreign-flag vessels can barely enter Taiwan.

Hope for the government to support international collaborations Enhancing Taiwan's techniques and experiences

　　For a continuous positive development of industry, Tsai believed that the three elements - the right time, the right place, and the right people- are fundamental. Taiwan must take advantage of such changes and enhance its technologies.

　　"What does it mean to have the right time, the right place, and the right people? First, Taiwan happens to be seeing the development of the industry. Second, the government happens to be practicing such a policy. Third, foreign companies happen to be willing to work with the domestic companies."

　　However, international collaboration is not an easy task, which is why Tsai hoped that the government can escalate its support, not only for the joint ventures of the contractors but also for the vessels. "The monopoly of one company is definitely not a healthy development of the industry, as balanced development can only be achieved with the competition of multiple companies, this is why the government must encourage the smaller companies or even the enterprises that are already in the related industry but are suffering with fund shortages or lack of technologies to work with foreign companies in joint ventures, allowing more vessels to bear the Taiwanese-flag. After this, the Taiwanese-flag vessels will have to comply with the laws and regulations of Taiwan, recruit Taiwanese crew members, and improve the techniques of the local professionals, allowing more Taiwanese to have the chance to learn and operate windfarms. In this way, the domestic companies can grow and step into the international stage."

　　However, when collaborating with large international companies, Tsai encountered confusing obstacles coming from other Taiwanese companies. Tsai explained that HC Offshore Contractor Company was not chosen by Boskalis out of chance or luck, but how their professionalism and understanding relationship were optimal for partnership. "Joint ventures like ours are simple. First, anything that can be outsourced in Taiwan will be ordered domestically. Even with just the slightest chance to outsource in Taiwan, we will support the domestic companies to improve their product quality or even technology strength, allowing them to offer the adequate services required by the wind farms," Tsai noted. "Only when such methods are proven impossible, will we start looking for foreign companies."

　　"We followed the laws of the Republic of China during the whole process, and have been legally registered to the Department of Commerce of the MOEA, even changing the vessels into ROC-flag ones, which were approved by the Maritime Port Bureau under the most rigorous standards for transferring the vessel nationality. With all those vessels, more job opportunities have been created, and talents will be more competitive internationally. We cannot allow Taiwan to lock up itself," Tsai affirmed.

　　"Having all these chances to work with all these giant international companies, I consider Taiwan extremely lucky. Why? Because by working with such globally renowned giants, we will introduce more Taiwanese companies to the international spotlight with chances to compete under the international standard," Tsai said. "Isn't this what the government and industry wanted the most?" Tsai indicated that the wind farm constructions have been challenged by the natural environment, climate conditions, politics, and even factors like the pandemic. Under such difficult times, when businesses can barely survive on their own, the industry is supposed to work together for better developments, rather than blockading each other's progress.