Aberdeen’s Craig Group is investing about £30million in a further expansion of its offshore emergency-response and rescue-vessel fleet.
The order for four further vessels has again gone to a Spanish shipyard and, when completed, they offer the potential to create a further 120 or so North Sea marine-industry jobs.
The investment represents a continued drive by the group to operate the largest British wholly-owned fleet engaged in the UK offshore industry. It also reflects a confidence in the continued growth of the family-owned business and consolidates previous investments in the fleet over the last seven years.
Douglas Craig, chairman and MD of Craig Group, said: “Our continued commitment to the expansion and ongoing modernisation of the fleet reinforces our strategy of providing clients with a service based on safety and quality. The creation of more than 100 jobs in the UKCS marine sector will be welcome news, too.”
The company has invested massively in new tonnage of late, with £130million already ploughed into fleet modernisation. That build programme started in 2003 and will have delivered 16 new vessels by the end of the current year.
Scheduled for delivery in the next two years, the four further ERRVs will be built at the Balenciaga Shipyard in northern Spain.
Balenciaga has previously delivered 12 vessels to North Star Shipping, with three of these currently under construction.
With European shipbuilders struggling for orders, including smaller specialist yards, Balenciaga will doubtless have priced aggressively to secure the latest batch-build from Craig, which will no doubt have haggled hard, given the prior orders of the past seven years.
At present, the Craig fleet stands at 30 units, comprising a mix of general offshore support, ROV (remotely operated vehicle) survey and ERRVs.
The four new ERRVs are being built to a design developed by OSD-IMT (formerly IMT of Montrose) and will be designated NSS-IMT 950s class.
They represent an evolution of the earlier 48m IMT 148 model, which is what Balenciaga has been building for Craig, but are 50m in length and are broader. Also, there are significant differences around the bows to help make them more fuel-efficient and sea-kindly.
Each of the new ships will be equipped with one or two daughter craft and one fast rescue boat. Indeed, emergency-response and rescue vessels have advanced greatly since the Cullen report of some 20 years ago, with Craig playing a prominent role in this regard.
Today, ERRVs provide frontline cover for thousands of workers in one of the harshest environments in the world and are essential for the support of offshore operations, particularly where mass evacuation of an installation is required.
The vessels also provide other vital services, such as anti-collision surveillance, pollution control/oil recovery, emergency towage, and tanker and assist duties.
Managed by North Star Shipping, a division of the Craig Group, the latest batch of new vessels is earmarked to replace older tonnage.
North Star’s MD, Callum Bruce, said: “Our core market remains buoyant and we are meeting the needs of our customers by providing the most modern emergency-response and rescue vessels fitted with the latest technology. These new vessels will exceed our customers’ expectations in terms of safety, operability and efficiency.”