A specialist marine giant has opened an office in Aberdeen to signal commitment to its offshore clients.
V.Ships Offshore, part of the global marine services V.Group, opened an office in Westhill, led by Jamie Grant who joined V.Ships in 2014 from Technip.
In 2014, V.Ships UK saw its turnover rise 16% to £76million and while pretax profits rose strongly – 71% to £13million.
The company was acquired by a Canadian pension fund, Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers), in a £333million deal in 2011.
The group, which manages more than 1000 vessels and employ more than 28,000 marine crew, currently supports a diverse fleet of vessels including FPSOs, offshore support vessels (OSVs), platform supply vessels (PSVs) and subsea pipelayers.
Matt Dunlop, group director marine operations. said: “We welcome the opening of the new Aberdeen office which signals V.Group’s long-term commitment to our offshore customers.
“In a challenging energy market, our vessel owners look to tighten operations and reduce their overheads. V.Group is responding to this by providing solutions which produce significant cost and efficiency savings.
“Our extensive range of ship management, technical and supply chain services are enhanced by V.Group’s scale and global purchasing power and maximise the highest possible returns on our customer’s assets.”
Meanwhile, the Norwegian well completion group TCO has recruited a new managing director of its UK business.
With over 35 years’ experience within the energy sector, Paul Betteridge has been appointed in the role, replacing Keith Woodford who takes an R&D-focused role as technical director with the firm.
Mr Woodford was a founder of i-Quip Technology which TCO acquired in 2012 to merge it with its other Aberdeen division, TCO In-Well Technologies UK.
Prior to joining TCO, Mr Betteridge worked for AGR, initially appointed as a business development manager in 2008.
Mr Betteridge said: “In recognition of our sound products and excellent services, the company has achieved rapid growth in recent years and I believe my experience means I am well placed to spearhead our fantastic team to the next stage of our expansion.”
The company currently employs 130 people across its bases in Aberdeen, Norway, North and South America, Australia, Russia, Africa and the Middle East.
