Aberdeen-based subsea construction company Subocean Group has invested almost £16million in cable-laying equipment and the refit and mobilisation of a chartered cable-laying barge to meet growing demand from offshore wind developers.
£5million has been ploughed into a long-term charter and the refit and mobilisation of the cable-laying barge, ATM Discoverer (now Subocean Discoverer), which is at the Ferguson shipyard, Port Glasgow, for the kitting out by some 30 workers.
The firm has invested a further £5million in a 5,500-tonne capacity cable storage carousel, which has been installed on the barge, plus £2million has also been spent on two new purpose-designed cable ploughs acquired from IHC Engineering Business. These will be used to bury windfarm power cables up to three metres below the seabed.
Subocean has also invested £4million in upgrading its existing UR101 barge with a 1,000-tonne cable-carrying carousel and upgrading an existing cable plough to make it capable of cable burial to three metres depth.
The firm says this hefty commitment is designed to cement the company’s position as a leading provider to the now accelerating offshore renewables market.
Subocean’s operations director, Mike Daniel, said: “We are investing heavily in our assets to help us capitalise on the recent international and national contracts we have won in marine renewables.
“In addition to the booming renewables sector, our North Sea and international oil&gas contracts have placed us well to continue our expansion and ambition to be a major player in the subsea construction industry.
“Demand for vessels in marine renewables remains high. By securing these barges on long-term charters, we are in a prime position to meet the needs of renewable energy companies.”
Subocean Group provides turnkey project design and implementation, including engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning of subsea facilities. It also supplies offshore management personnel, divers, life-support technicians, ROV operators, subsea equipment operators and offshore administrators.
In addition, it is helping to meet the infrastructure gap by hiring out specialist subsea equipment to the major contractors operating in oil&gas and offshore windfarms.
Meanwhile, another north-east company, Ferguson Modular, has landed contract wins totalling more than £1million.
The plum is a contract with Subocean for the two-year hire of a 48-person accommodation block for the Subocean Discoverer barge.
This is the second major contract awarded to Ferguson Modular by Subocean and follows the successful delivery of a 48-berth complex for the UR101 barge in 2007.
The modules package will this time comprise a dozen 10.3m accommodation modules plus additional stores, galley, mess, recreation, office, laundry and locker facilities.
The barge will operate in European waters, primarily working on various windfarm projects around the UK.
Gary Wilson, director of business development with Ferguson Modular, said: “We are very pleased to be continuing our working relationship with Subocean.
“The award of these contracts proves that our level of service and quality of our products continues to meet our client’s high standards.
“The Ferguson Group has invested heavily in developing the fleet of accommodation and containers available to our customers, with a further £60million investment planned across our divisions over the next three years to meet unprecedented levels of demand from clients worldwide. We also anticipate major developments in our modular division in the vessel accommodation market.”
The Ferguson Group employs more than 130 people worldwide and has been building A60 offshore accommodation modules since 1976, primarily for upstream oil&gas-related applications.