The record breaking heavy lift maintenance vessel Pieter Schelte, owned by the Swiss based Allseas Group SA, has been renamed Pioneering Spirit. The new name reflects what the ship stands for – a new technological step in platform installation and decommissioning. The name also fits the 30-year tradition of Allseas to pioneer and surpass technical boundaries. 

The name change came about after vehement opposition from the maritime unions, and most recently Jewish groups from the Netherlands and Belgium.The Panamanian flagged vessel was named in honour of the Allseas Group’s owner’s father, who was a Nazi Waffen-SS officer and was jailed for war crimes. The company had previously resisted calls for a renaming but succumbed to the public pressure and decided to change its mind.