North Star has been awarded a raft of new contracts totalling more than £100 million to support new and existing clients in the UK Continental Shelf with its fast-response emergency fleet, purpose built to protect personnel working on offshore oil and gas platforms, according to the company's release.
These significant new wins are a combination of new clients and new asset locations, as well as continuations secured with operators the 135-year-old maritime company has worked with since the 1980s. With additional year charter options, this marks North Star’s most sizeable emergency response rescue vessel (ERRV) orderbook in recent years.
The company is the North Sea’s largest emergency response vessel operator with 41 ERRVs in its overarching fleet which are currently assigned to support 50 offshore oil and gas installations in the region, delivering reliable, uninterrupted, around the clock assistance, 365 days a year.
With strategic locations in Aberdeen, Newcastle and Lowestoft, the business employs 1,400 personnel across the UK, including 140 deck and engineering cadets enrolled in its three-year training programme, now in its 26th year. It is also a key member of the UKCS ERRV Association.
To enhance its ongoing growth, North Star has undertaken an in-depth sustainability study across its existing 47-strong offshore infrastructure support vessel fleet to help decarbonise its tonnage, enhance operational performance, and meet its net zero 2040 target. It has also invested a six-figure sum in the fleet management software tool Sertica as part of its digitisation strategy to streamline the business and support further efficiencies.
Last year, North Star entered the UK’s offshore wind market and quickly established itself as the leading provider of service operation vessels (SOVs) which are used to transport technicians to offshore windfarms and accommodate them for extended periods of time.
The firm also announced its new owners, leading global private markets firm Partners Group (acting on behalf of its clients), and set out its ambitions to transform the business into a leading pan-European next generation offshore wind infrastructure services business.