TWO Shetland boat operators, Delta Marine and Research Fishing Company (RFC), are investing more than £10million in new vessels to support a predicted increase in offshore renewable-energy contracts.
Delta Marine’s new-build, Voe Earl, will be launched in December.
RFC has ordered a new tug/workboat, Whalsa Lass, which will be launched later this month. Both vessels are being built to Delta’s design specifications in conjunction with Damen Shipyards in the Netherlands.
They will be fitted with 100-ton winches and be managed and operated by Lerwick-based Delta alongside a fleet which has been working with the marine renewables sector since 2003.
Delta expects to add to its 35-strong workforce over the next few months as a result of the new vessels. The company operates tugs and workboats, chartering vessels to the dredging and marine civil-engineering industries.
Its main areas of operation are the UK, Scandinavia, the Baltic states, the Caspian and the Mediterranean.