A&P Moves into Oil and Gas Sector (UK)

Based in two North East England locations, A&P North East is a company with ship repair and conversion yards on the rivers Tyne and Tees. Part of the A&P Group which also includes A&P Falmouth where ship repair and conversion services have been taking place for more than 150 years, the modern North East yards boast 3 operational dry docks – the largest of which is 44 metres by 259 metres.

With over 200 employees, A&P North East can rightly claim to be one of the region’s major employers and in recent years the Tyne facility, in addition to the core ship repair and conversion activities, has begun moving into the Oil & Gas sector by using its fabrication and engineering workshops to aid companies in manufacturing structures for use both topside and subsea.

A&P North East has worked closely with many of the world’s leading maritime and Oil & Gas companies. Relationships with these companies include framework agreement for ship repair work.

Commercial Director Neil Jarvissays “We are working with some of world’s leading companies and have been over a sustained period, entering into framework agreements with them is testimony to the quality our workforce has been able to deliver, encouraging them to return time and again.”

One company who have discovered in A&P North East a commitment and skill that has kept them returning is Global Marine Systems Energy Limited, the largest independent provider of submarine cable installation, maintenance and related engineering services in the world; The most recently completed project being a 110 day mobilization at the A&P facility in Middlesbrough for their vessel Cable Enterprise.

The vessel was being mobilized for a contract on the Gwynt y Mor offshore wind farm with works on the project including; fitting of a carousel to the main deck and under deck stiffening along with fabrication and installation of a number of items including a forward cow catcher, bulwalk sections, A-Frame seats and plough carriage.

General Manager Ian Douglas commented, “The work scope was completed on time & on budget for Global Marine, We also carried out work assistance to erect & install the carousel. The complete work package was initially layed out on a general arrangement with changes to the arrangement emerging as the project progressed with class approvals & client requirements.”

During the same period the Normand Oceanic underwent a mobilization A&P North East’s Tyne yard in Hebburn.

The offshore support vessel, is purpose built for subsea work in deep waters and is equipped with a 400t subsea crane, a deck area of more than 2100 m2, DP class 3 and cabins for 140 personnel.

The mobilization project included removing existing fixed bulwarks and replacing them with portable, removable sections, providing vessel toeboards to the full length of the ship on both port and starboard sides, and installing bumper protection frames in way of deck machinery.

Electrical work involved installing 23,000 metres of cable for data distribution, power and ROV hookup. In addition, the fire alarm system was extended, and the on-line/offline rooms and other offices were modified to suit client requirements.

A&P North East’s Production Director Darren Brown said, “The job was scheduled to take 17 days and was quite intense. We worked around-the-clock to achieve the programme. There was a lot of work done in such a short period of time and we met all milestones. It was great to have her in our yard. This was a big order for us and the sort of work that is our bread and butter”.

Mr Brown further explains some of the factors which attract customers to the facilities; “We are dealing with some big companies, and we are now becoming the yard of choice in many instances. It’s not always just down to price, it’s quality and schedule and a major factor is safety. The record we have in this area is exceptional as well as necessary.”

Looking forward, A&P North East has many exciting prospects ahead of it. The first is, of course, the core business of ship repair and conversion, coupled with the growing Oil & Gas and offshore renewable sectors.

With the location of the yards in the North East region seen a major plus for North Sea Oil & Gas projects Mr Jarvis said “Ship repair and conversion is at the heart of what we do and will continue to be a huge focus for us but we’re also seeing a lot of fabrication projects in the Oil & Gas sector. As for Offshore Wind we’ve completed a number of vessel mobilisations for clients working in this sector and we would expect to secure more work as the market develops; we are ideally placed to provide both fabrication and marine services, particularly once we start to see the large round 3 offshore wind projects.”