South Boats Special Projects Ltd. announce their immediate expansion to Venture Quays in East Cowes. Following significant new orders from key players in the offshore wind industry, the company has leased a number of units within the former Columbine works, one of the most recognisible shipyards in Britain.
The Venture Quays site allows South Boats to fulfil recent orders from Turbine Transfers Ltd., MPI and Seacat Services for a wide range of wind farm service vessels. In addition the site will also be the home of the South Boats Service Centre, offering extensive refit and repair facilities for vessels of up to 30m, including 24-hour tidal access to the yard’s ship lift and a hall height in excess of 10m.
Jeremy Paul, Managing Director of South Boats is quoted as saying: “We are delighted to be able to make further additional investment on the Isle of Wight, especially during the continued economic uncertainty. Venture Quays allows us to increase our capacity and productivity for the new range of aluminium catamarans, whilst also adding state of the art service, refit and repair facilities for a wide variety of vessels.”
South Boats is recognised as a pioneer in designing and manufacturing wind farm service vessels. The company has built 122 vessels on the Isle of Wight, 65 of which have been for the offshore power industry. These have been built in five classes, from 15m to 30 meters, representing a 50% market share in European wind farms that are serviced by 13 operators, including Turbine Transfers Ltd. (Holyhead Towing Company), Iceni Marine Services Ltd., Northern Offshore Services AB, MPI Workboats, Ltd. (Vroon Group BV), Maritime Craft Services and MTS Group. The boats have worked on 25 wind farm projects in 7 countries. South Boat designs are continually evolving to meet the growing expectations of the industry for higher levels of safety, reduced noise levels and enhanced crew comfort.
The historic Columbine works has previously produced Princess Seaplanes, hovercraft and wind turbine blades.
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Source: southboatsgroup, September 15, 2011