Irish and Norwegian Shipping Companies join forces to combine North Sea Operations

Shipping company Sartor AS of Sotra in Norway joined forces this week with Irish Mainport Holdings Ltd, based in Cork, to combine their North Sea Operations in the multi-role/ standby sector in the offshore oil industry.

A new company has been established, Ocean Mainport Offshore Limited (Ocean Mainport), which today purchased 7 vessels that the companies were already partly or wholly interested in.

Both companies, who are market leaders in their respective countries with two generations of maritime expertise, have been in discussions for the past 6 months.

“We are delighted to be setting up this new company with Sartor AS. With the offshore market booming, we both felt it was time to look to the future, it was time to branch out with our European counterparts and expand,” said David Ronayne, Managing Director of Irish Mainport Ltd.

“The partnership will benefit both parties, enabling us to give a better service to existing and new customers”.

“Ocean Mainport Offshore Limited will continue to seek opportunities for expansion in the ERRV, Multi role and PSV market and we expect to acquire further vessels in the near future,” Mr Ronayne continued.

The Ocean Mainport vessels will continue to operate in both the Norwegian and British sector of the North Sea and elsewhere, and are mainly multi-role offshore vessels with standby and emergency response capabilities, as well as normal platform/ drilling rig supply duties. Sartor AS will manage the day-to-day operations of the vessels under the Norwegian flag. The owning company will be administered by Irish Mainport Holdings Ltd.

The new fleet comprises of Viking Fighter, Ocean Fighter, Viking Prince, Ocean Sky, Siggbas, Sartor and Ocean Mainport.

The finance for the purchase has been provided by Bank of Scotland (Ireland) through their Cork (Ireland) office.