CROMARTY Firth Port Authority (CFPA) has signed a deal with Semco Maritime, which will see the Danish company establishing a rig refurbishment base in the firth at Invergordon.
Semco Maritime is a leading project engineering company in the global energy sector and is investing £5 million in the project. It is already working in partnership with ports in Norway, Denmark and Vietnam. It currently employs over 2000 people and has more than 30 years' experience facilitating the design, fabrication, service and maintenance of drilling rigs.
The port authority owns Scotland's leading marine facility for rig projects, the Invergordon Service Base, and has handled over 650 rig visits during 40 years.
Andy Dodds, UK general manager of Semco Maritime, said: "Our UK division already employs over 50 people and is headquartered in Aberdeen. As per January 27, we will have expanded into Invergordon and will initially employ a permanent staff of 10 engineers, project leaders and ground personnel. Because of a tight time schedule and the demand for precise and accurate execution, rig upgrade is a highly manpower-intensive operation, creating several hundreds of jobs when a rig is harboured for service. Many of the jobs will be performed by local suppliers and skilled local labour, working closely with Semco Maritime's own rig upgrade specialist team."
Chief executive of CFPA Bob Buskie said the announcement was not just good for the port, but for the supply chain companies who operate in Ross-shire and throughout the Highlands.
"By offering a wider choice of solutions for our customers, we are boosting the robustness of the Highlands energy sector, as well as creating opportunities for future growth."
Semco Maritime's senior vice president Hans Peter Jørgensen said: "Social responsibility is at the heart of all we do and any investment will take into account the impact on the town of Invergordon, with whom we are keen to establish a strong relationship with."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article