Burgess Marine has completed a £3m contract for the first of a new generation of offshore support vessels.
The company has built the craft for Mainprize Offshore at its shipyard at Trafalgar Wharf in Portchester, near Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK.
The 25-metre boat, the MO2, was delivered at the Seawork 2015 commercial marine and workboat conference in Southampton when Mainprize Offshore also signed a contract with Burgess Marine for a second vessel.
Sharon Mainprize, who runs the company with Bob Mainprize, signed the paperwork with Burgess Marine managing director Nick Warren on the Burgess Marine stand on June 16, the opening day of the annual industry event at ABP’s port of Southampton.
Mainprize Offshore expects to create up to 30 new jobs in total with the potential for more from future builds.
It will immediately place MO2 into charter service on the day of its handover for dive inspection work on the Greater Gabbard wind farm off Lowestoft in Suffolk.
The MO2 is the first vessel to be completed under Burgess Marine’s Surebuild concept to make high quality and versatile boats at competitive prices for the offshore market. Burgess Marine stepped into the breach after Buckie Shipyard on the Moray Firth in Scotland went into administration before completing the boat.
Mainprize, which has 20 staff, will manage and operate the MO2 on a three month contract to transfer personnel and equipment to the Greater Gabbard site for a dive contractor to carry out inspections.
Work on MO4 is due to start in August following the official signing of the paperwork at Seawork.