The twin hull unit, the world’s largest vessel, recently arrived in Dutch waters for final commissioning. It is named after Heerema’s late father, Pieter Schelte Heerema, a pioneer of the offshore construction industry who died in 1981.
The rising swell of criticism relates to the fact that the elder Heerema served as a Dutch officer in the Waffen-SS during World War II.
On Tuesday the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) issued a strongly-worded statement demanding that the name of the vessel be changed.
The ITF also launched a petition calling on Dutch supermajor Shell, which has contracted the Pieter Schelte to remove the giant platforms from its ageing Brent field in the UK North Sea, to cancel the contract or pressure Allseas into...
