An Aberdeen energy service business said yesterday it wanted to recruit more than 200 people after buying £100million of new vessels.
Sentinel Marine said it had ordered four emergency-response and rescue vessels for operations in the UK North Sea, with an option for a further four.
Sentinel said the vessels, due to be delivered next year, would lead to 200 seafaring roles and 15 onshore positions in Aberdeen.
Chief executive Rory Deans said the order with Malaysian manufacturer Nam Cheong would just be the start of Sentinel’s investment in the North Sea, however, adding that he wanted it to have grown to a 400-strong workforce two years after the first ships were delivered.
He said: “The fleet of vessels doing this type of work in the North Sea is very old and companies have not spent a great deal on new ships in recent years.
“The average age of the whole fleet is about 26 years old, so it has been crying out for the kind of investment we are now putting in.
“This is just the first phase for us though; we expect to invest further and want to be a significant player in the North Sea within five years.”
Sentinel’s £100million expenditure was supported by investment fund Maas Capital Investments.
Mr Deans added: “This type of investment in the oil industry demonstrates Aberdeen’s relationship with the North Sea as being one of solid growth.”
Sentinel, launched by Mr Deans in June 2011, also has an office in Singapore and he said it had ordered a further six vessels there worth a combined £145million. The first of those, to be focused on work in Asia-Pacific, is due to be delivered this year.
Mr Deans was formerly managing director at Aberdeen-based Nomis Shipping, the company he founded with his father, Frank, in 1989.
They built the company up to more than 600 employees and a fleet of 32 vessels before Nomis was sold to Vroon Offshore Services in 2008.
