Survival Craft Inspectorate (SCI), the Aberdeenshire marine safety specialist, is launching a new division at the Cruise Shipping Miami 2013 exhibition in the US this week.
The new business will supply, instal and maintain emergency liferafts for the commercial cruise shipping and energy markets.
It will operate initially from three UK offices, including premises at the parent’s headquarters at Findon.
SCI said 10 jobs were being created by the new venture, which comes after the group opened offices in North America as part of plans to target the cruise-ship market.
Just over a year ago, SCI announced it was setting up shop in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and St John’s, in Newfoundland, Canada.
Previously, the group was focused mainly on making and selling safety craft and support systems for ships and oil and gas-sector installations.
Chief executive Derek Sinclair said the launch of a liferaft division was a logical step, given the company’s industry-wide reputation for safety and in-house expertise.
He added: “SCI liferafts will be a welcome addition to the market, enhancing our service to clients and opening new markets for the business as a whole. We’re delighted to be launching our new division at Cruise Shipping Miami.”
The diversification follows the firm’s acquisition of the selling rights to a product, RocLoc, from Newfoundland-based Mad Rock Marine Solutions.
The patented RocLoc system is a lifeboat-release mechanism that is already widely used in the cruise-ship industry.
SCI used it for a recent safety refit for the Holland America cruise ship Rotterdam while she was docked in Hamburg, Germany.
The £260,000 project was completed in 10 days.
Tio Devaney, SCI country manager for the Americas, who flew over to Hamburg to oversee the work, said: “Despite harsh weather conditions and a tight timeline, SCI was able to deliver a successful project with strong co-operation from Holland America, SCI’s Americas office and SCI’s UK team.”
SCI employs 150 people across offices at Findon and Great Yarmouth in the UK, plus overseas in the US, Canada, Norway, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and – since the middle of last year – the Middle East.
The company is targeting annual turnover of £25million by the end of this year.