Omni Helicopters International (OHI) has confirmed that in late September, it joined forces with Suriname’s Coast Guard and Navy to execute that country’s first-ever helicopter-enabled Search and Rescue (SAR) and Man Overboard (MOB) training off Paramaribo. The announcement was made via a LinkedIn post by OmniHelicopters International on October 7.
According to OHI, the exercise took place in Suriname’s territorial waters and “demonstrated real-world emergency coordination at sea, with deck transfers and multi-agency collaboration that set a new benchmark for offshore readiness”. During the joint operations, multiple sorties were flown and transfers carried out between helicopter and vessels under operational conditions.
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Officials from all three parties agreed that, spurred by the success of the exercise, they will continue collaborating on similar exercises. In future drills, the Navy will supply a safety boat to facilitate wet hoist profiles, thereby “broadening the scope of future scenarios”, the statement said.
OHI emphasized that “national skills building is at the heart of every operation”, and that in every country of deployment it pursues a “local-first” approach to “strengthen the country’s capabilities and invest in safety”.
The training in Suriname coincides with preparations for its first offshore oil project, GranMorgu, led by TotalEnergies. The GranMorgu project is approximately 20% complete overall, with FPSO construction about 40% finished. The hull for the FPSO — SBM Offshore’s Multipurpose Floater C — was reserved in June 2023 and delivered in February 2025, built by China Merchants Heavy Industry. Topsides modules are to be fabricated by BOMESC Offshore Engineering and STS VOF, with COSCO Shipping Heavy Industries also participating.
Omni Helicopters has been operating in neighboring Guyana since January 2023, providing aviation support services to ExxonMobil in the prolific Stabroek Block region.
