Fendercare Marine to Open Offshore Wind Turbine Support Base in Great Yarmouth, UK

On Thursday 19 July 2012, Norfolk-based Fendercare Marine will be hosting a launch event to officially open its Great Yarmouth offshore wind turbine support base.

The company’s new facility on the Old Bure Marine site in Cobholm follows on from the success of its first base in Lyness, Orkney and will provide an extensive range of support services & equipment to the expanding offshore wind industry. The Great Yarmouth site, which cost in excess of £1million, includes a large set down and storage area as well as quay side frontage and office facilities.

The base will be officially opened by the MP for Great Yarmouth, Brandon Lewis, and invited guests will also listen to talks by Mark Goodall, Board Member of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and John Best, Head of Sustainable Energy, Fendercare Marine.

Following the official opening, the guests will be treated to a “loop and swoop” flypast by Norfolk based formation display team, Wildcat Aerobatics and a rescue demonstration by the local RNLI vessel. This will be followed by lunch with an opportunity to network and view some of the products and services Fendercare Marine offer.

The new base will provide mobilisation and de-mobilisation facilities, maintenance and repair facilities with land storage, fully equipped project management offices and bunkering services.

It is intended that the new Fendercare Marine base will provide a hub for all types of offshore activity in the Southern North Sea. The base has mooring facilities for up to three offshore support craft at a time, with additional capacity for a further five vessels on land.

John Best, Fendercare Marine Head of Sustainable Energy, said: “I am very excited by the opportunity to work with other businesses in the local supply chain to ensure that we provide a full and comprehensive offer to our customers.”

Fendercare Marine – a member of leading marine service provider James Fisher & Sons Plc – has seen considerable growth and expansion over the last few years and is expected to turnover in excess of £160m this year. It has ambitious targets to treble this over the next four years and with a diverse and expanding portfolio of equipment and services operating in the marine and offshore industries worldwide, this target does not look unrealistic.

Fendercare Marine Managing Director Eric Plane said: “This base is part of Fendercare’s overall strategy to becoming more involved in the energy industry worldwide, both in terms of the oil and gas industries as well as renewables. The facility will enable us to do what we do best: provide an excellent reliable service and it will act as a conduit to bring solutions from other James Fisher group companies to the Southern North Sea area.”

“We are very excited by this opportunity to expand our local facilities and provide a very much needed service to the area” added Mr Plane. “We will be using this platform to evaluate further strategic locations around the country where additional support bases may be required in future.” 

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Offshore WIND staff, July 12, 2012; Image: Fendercare Marine