Sea Launch Scaling Back Amid Manifest Gap

Sea Launch’s Zenit 3SL. Photo: Sea Launch

[Via Satellite 08-22-2014] Sea Launch is reducing its head count among staff at both its Nyon, Switzerland headquarters and at Energia Logistics’ Long Beach, Calif. site to compensate for the lack of launches this year. Sea Launch is also temporarily taking its Launch Commander and Odyssey vessels out of service, a move the company said is common during periods of inactivity in the marine industry.

Sea Launch said it will use this downtime to upgrade its launch and support systems and finalizing internal trade studies relative to available vehicle configuration changes. The launch company reports it is also looking into shore-based power for the vessels while in port.

The last launch of the Zenit-3SL was for the Eutelsat 3b satellite in May 2014. Sea Launch anticipates resuming launch activity during the mid-2015 to mid-2016 time frame.

“In light of this gap in our launch manifest, Sea Launch is taking the opportunity to pursue all prudent business solutions to realize significant cost savings in labor, maintenance and fuel while maintaining the capability to call-up the vessels as needed,” said Serguei Gugkaev, CEO of Sea Launch. “While any reduction in staff is regrettable, Sea Launch will retain key personnel across all corporate and technical functions, allowing the company to ramp-up to meet its next launch commitment.”