Tracking an Offshore Rotation: What FIFO Means and How Workers Plan a Hitch

FIFO stands for fly-in fly-out: flying temporarily to a work site, then home again once the hitch ends (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-13). On a Newfoundland platform that’s a 21-day or 28-day block offshore followed by an equal block at home, and most workers end up tracking those dates themselves rather than relying on one official tool.

Our rotations guide already covers how the 21/21 and 28/28 patterns work; this page covers the planning and tracking side.

What FIFO means in the Canadian offshore context

FIFO is a general term for remote-work rotations, not something unique to oil and gas — it’s also standard in mining, and it’s especially common in Alberta, Nunavut, and Australia (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-09-13). On Newfoundland’s platforms it works the same way it does anywhere else: you fly out (by helicopter, from St. John’s) to work a fixed number of consecutive days, then fly back for an equal or similar stretch off, rather than commuting daily like a land-based job. See our Cougar Helicopters commute explainer for how that flight itself works.

How long is a hitch, actually

Hibernia runs crews on a 21-day-on, 21-day-off schedule, with roughly 270 workers on the platform at any given time, 315 km off the coast of St. John’s (Canadian HR Reporter, accessed 2026-09-13). That 21/21 pattern is the one most commonly reported across Newfoundland’s platforms; 28/28 is also used, generally suiting workers who commute in from outside the province since it means fewer round trips per year — see /rotations/ for the fuller breakdown of both patterns and what “on” days actually involve. Either way, there are no partial hitches or early flights home built into the schedule — you work the full block, weather and helicopter availability permitting.

How workers actually track a rotation

There’s no single official system that tracks an offshore worker’s hitch for them — it comes down to the individual. Three common approaches, in roughly increasing order of how much setup they take:

• A paper or wall calendar. Simple and reliable, especially for family at home who want to see the pattern at a glance without opening an app. The main downside is that it doesn’t travel well and has to be redrawn if a hitch shifts.
• A phone calendar with a repeating event. Most phone calendar apps can repeat an event on a custom interval, so a worker sets up alternating “on” and “off” blocks once and lets it run. This is the free, no-install option most workers already have.
• A purpose-built rotation app. A handful of apps exist specifically for shift and rotation workers. RotaDays lets you enter a pattern once — including 21/21 and 28/28 presets aimed at “oilfield and drilling crews, offshore and rig work, FIFO” among other rotation workers — and lays out work days, days off, and travel days months ahead, with calendar export (RotaDays App Store listing, accessed 2026-09-13). Offshore Mate is built specifically for offshore and rotation workers, combining a rotation calendar with a certificate-expiry tracker and calendar sync, plus family-sharing views (Offshore Mate, accessed 2026-09-13). My Fifo Life is aimed at FIFO workers generally, combining roster tracking with credential tracking and job listings (My Fifo Life, accessed 2026-09-13). None of these are specific to Canadian offshore work or to any operator or platform, and this isn’t a ranking of them — what fits depends on whether you want a simple calendar or something that also tracks certifications and pay.

Whichever method you use, the basic unit being tracked is the same: hitch start date, hitch end date, and the swap-over day when the outgoing and incoming crews change over by helicopter.

Why tracking matters beyond knowing when you fly home

A hitch calendar isn’t just for personal planning. Certifications like BST/HUET have expiry dates that have to line up with your next hitch — see our tickets page for what’s required and how long each one lasts. Fog delays at St. John’s airport can also push a hitch start or end by hours or days, which is one more reason workers who track their own schedule tend to build in a buffer rather than assume every changeover runs exactly on time. See our platform life guide for what a hitch actually looks like once you’re on it, day to day.

FAQ

What’s your go-to method for tracking offshore rotations? There’s no single standard — workers use everything from a wall calendar to a repeating event in their phone’s calendar app to a purpose-built rotation app like RotaDays, Offshore Mate, or My Fifo Life. The right method mostly comes down to whether you want a simple visual reference or something that also tracks certifications and family sharing.

Life on a Rig: How Long Do Oil Rig Workers Stay on the Rig? On Newfoundland’s platforms, a hitch typically runs 21 or 28 consecutive days before crews swap out by helicopter, with an equal or similar stretch off afterward. Hibernia specifically runs a 21-day-on, 21-day-off pattern (Canadian HR Reporter, accessed 2026-09-13).

What does FIFO mean on an offshore platform? Fly-in fly-out — flying to the work site for a fixed rotation instead of relocating there, then flying home once the hitch ends. It’s the standard term for this kind of rotation-based work across mining and oil and gas, not something specific to offshore platforms.

Is there one official app all offshore workers use? No. There’s no platform-specific or operator-issued tracking app for Newfoundland’s offshore workforce — the apps mentioned above are general rotation-tracking tools built for shift and FIFO workers across several industries, not something issued by an employer or the regulator.

Some workers use off-shift downtime for regulated online gambling. If that’s you, only ever use operators registered for your own province — our comparison page by province covers registered options by criteria like licensing and Interac support, off-shift only, and never on camp or company networks or devices.