By Fraser Stewart, ASCO
When people talk about the energy transition, the focus usually falls on shiny new technologies: wind turbines, hydrogen plants, carbon capture facilities. But in my experience, the real enabler isn’t the kit, it’s the skills and systems that sit behind it.
For more than 50 years, the same logistics expertise, equipment and processes that have kept oil and gas platforms running safely and efficiently are now being applied in completely different contexts. The principle hasn’t changed. Whether a person is supplying an offshore rig in the North Sea, keeping a large aluminium plant in Norway operational, or managing materials for a pulp and paper mill in Canada, reliability, safety and efficiency remain non-negotiable.
Same principles, different setting
Transferable skills are one of the most undervalued assets in today’s critical industries. Too much time is spent “reinventing the wheel” when the playbook already exists. Logistics, port operations, materials management, crew movements and compliance aren’t unique to one sector. They’re the foundations that allow any high-risk, high-value operation to function.
In oil and gas, failure isn’t an option. The stakes are too high, and the risks are too great. Over decades, this industry has created a discipline around how people, materials and information move. Those disciplines don’t disappear just because the setting changes. The same mindset that ensures a drilling platform receives critical equipment on time is now being applied to industries as diverse as wind, heavy manufacturing and even healthcare.
Logistics and the supply chain
Too often logistics is seen as a support act. In truth, it is a strategic enabler. If the supply chain fails, nothing else moves forward. It doesn’t matter whether a company is building the world’s biggest offshore wind farm or maintaining a decades-old industrial facility, the difference between success and failure lies in the same fundamentals: integrated systems, skilled people and disciplined processes.
I’ve seen first-hand how this translates in practice. Transporting a turbine blade over long distances requires the same attention to detail as moving subsea equipment for offshore drilling. Coordinating materials for a paper mill on the other side of the world takes the same blend of planning, compliance and problem-solving as servicing a North Sea platform. And when helping manage operations for an aluminium smelter, the same principles of safety, traceability and precision are applied that the energy sector has demanded for decades.
As industries diversify, the need for collaboration and knowledge transfer is only going to grow. The idea that energy, manufacturing, heavy industry and healthcare can operate in silos is outdated. The skills that allow us to move a 70-m turbine blade with millimetre precision are the same skills that ensure critical medical supplies reach their destination on time.
This is the bigger picture. The energy transition is one part of the story, but the broader challenge is ensuring critical industries of every kind remain resilient and adaptable. That requires recognizing logistics for what it is: not just a cost to be managed, but a capability that safeguards continuity, enables growth and unlocks innovation.
