Sentinel Marine to create 80 jobs with new ships

Offshore support firm Sentinel Marine is to create scores of jobs on the back of a £36 million investment in its fleet after an uptick in North Sea activity.

The Aberdeen-based business is investing in three new ships which it predicts will lead to 80 new jobs by the end of next year.

The new multi-role vessels – Cromarty Sentinel, Trafalgar Sentinel and Viking Sentinel – are an enhanced version of the firm’s emergency response and rescue vessels (ERRV).

Primarily to be used for the safety of offshore personnel, they will also have capacity to perform secondary roles such as oil recovery, rescue towing and dynamic positioning.

Sentinel Marine expects the ships, which are being built in China, to come into service by the end of 2020.

In 2015, the firm placed an order for nine new ships and will take delivery of the final vessel from that contract in April.

Rory Deans, chief executive of Sentinel Marine, which also has an office in Singapore, said: “The three new build multi-role ERRVs will be delivered throughout 2020 and will create employment for another 80 seafarers, bringing our total workforce to around 400 on and offshore.

“This is a speculative investment by Sentinel Marine, based on the significant demand there has been for our fleet of high-specification custom-build vessels which we have introduced on a rolling programme since 2015.

“There has been an increase in activity in the North Sea over the past 12 months, and there is certainly a market for vessels of this standard.”