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MAINPRIZE OFFSHORE LTD I PROFILE 2 Mainprize Offshore
Mainprize Offshore Ltd has 12 years’ experience providing offshore crew and cargo transfers within the renewable energy industry. General Manager Steve Evans, Finance Director Steve Wilcockson and Operations Manager Colin Thompson discussed the company and its fleet expansion. Report by Phil Nicholls.
The fleet of specially designed CTVs at Mainprize Offshore Ltd is almost doubling in size with four vessels under construction. These new builds will further enhance the company’s reputation for efficient and innovative ships delivering a professional and reliable service. “We pride ourselves on the performance of our boats,” Finance Director Steve Wilcockson explained. “They are oper ating in what is typically the harshest environment in Europe.”
Mainprize Offshore became the new name for this company in 2011, as the business evolved from trawling to offshore renew ables. Developing the fleet over the fol lowing years was a key feature of the growth of the company. Mainprize quickly built up a fleet of five vessels developed to meet the specific needs of the offshore windfarm industry. The company is headquartered outside Scarborough, Yorkshire, on the northeast coast of England. All its vessels currently
Incremental gains “We own the IP for the designs of our boats,” agreed Mr Wilcockson. “The best analogy I can give is that we go into an F1-level of detail; we look at the nuts and the bolts. If we can save 0.1% of weight by using a dif ferent method, then we’ll do that. It’s all for the incremental gains.”
“We’re not a company who just sits in Scarborough,” Mr Thompson explained, “We visit the boats on a regular basis and frequently take the crews out for dinner. This is all part of our family culture, the crews actually feel wanted and part of a team, rather than just a number.”
This strong family culture valuing the workforce is the first of Mainprize’s three core values. Secondly, Mainprize embraces change as it pushes the boundaries of innovation and adapts to evolutions in the market. Finally, the company prides itself on achieving high levels of customer satis faction through reliability, proven excel lence, and dedication to providing the very best service. Elite vessels The latter two core values are evident in the story of MO 5. “This ship was the tipping point into the top echelon performance of our vessels,” General Manager Steve Evans said. “ MO 5 was a pivotal project for Mainprize.
The careful design of the fleet is only one strand of Mainprize’s ability to secure and maintain long-term contracts delivering high levels of customer satisfaction. The caring family culture at Mainprize unites the best crews with its efficient vessels. “We can make the F1 analogy again in terms of the crew,” Mr Wilcockson said. “We’re looking for the Lewis Hamiltons and Max Verstappens because only the best crews can properly handle these boats.”
Mainprize Offshore 3 operate in and around the North Sea. Mainprize is steadily building up its work force to 60 to crew the additional vessels. The current Mainprize fleet of five ships are all designed to serve the offshore wind farm industry. The 25m, twin hulled MO1 and her sister MO2 were both designed by Teknicraft, a New Zealand firm specialising in catamarans. The other three ships, all with twin hulls, were designed in collaboration with Walker Marine Design, UK. Each of the MO series of boats is built to a different set of specifications; they are all flexible vessels capable of fulfilling the broad range of Mainprize services. The core of these duties is crew transfer, heavy cargo operations and offshore bunkering. Additional services offered by Mainprize include subsea survey, dive support oper ations and marine consultancy. The MO series of boats are at the heart of Mainprize’s USP. Operations Manager Colin Thompson outlined what makes these vessels so special: “Our careful design cre ates fantastic boats. A lot of time goes into research and development, looking at really fine details down to flow lines, rudders, propellers, thrust-to-weight ratios: all of that is incorporated into making our boats what they are.”
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Mainprize Offshore 5
6 Mainprize Offshore MAINPRIZE OFFSHORE LTD I PROFILE MO 5 involved extensive modelling in the testing tank. We spent a tremendous amount of money on R&D. All our newer vessels are design improvements on top of MO 5.” The next four additions to the Mainprize fleet are under construction, designed by Walker Marine Design in the UK. MO 6, MO 7 and MO 8 are due to be launched in Q4 of 2022; these multi-role catamarans are able to transfer personnel in 2m wave height. They feature exceptional cargo capabilities with 190 sqm deck space and 41-ton pay loads. The fleet expansions continues with the addition of MO 9 to the fleet in Q2 2023. Most of the Mainprize fleet operate under long-term contracts reliant upon the company’s close relationship with business partners. “We have a core of long-term suppliers and partners,” noted Mr Thompson. “It’s all based on communication, trust and loy alty. We are very loyal to people who serve us well.” In turn, Mainprize serves its cus tomers well, such as with the MO 5 declared the best boat in the client’s operation.
“ There’s always a challenge,” said Mr Thompson, explaining why Mainprize Offshore is a fantastic place to work. “The challenge varies in magnitude: it might just be a simple crew move at the last minute, or a mad dash to the airport to look at some thing that’s happening on one of our ves sels. It’s an absolutely great company and an ongoing success story.” n
The current four boat expansion to the Mainprize fleet is not the end of its plans. MO 10 and MO 11 are listed on the website with a potential move into hybrid technology, but the exact designs are in a state of flux. Mr Wilcockson outlined the many fac tors affecting the design parameters for these later vessels: “The demand for boats, specifically our boats, is absolutely massive We need to juggle the huge demands for our boats with the ability to deliver them suc cessfully. Our boats solve our customers’ problems, so they are built to perform the roles the client needs.”
Schrödinger’s catamarans
The team at Mainprize face several chal lenges as they adjust to the demands of the expanding fleet. “Crewing is our biggest hurdle at the moment,” Mr Thompson said. “And it’s all down to availability. Another challenge is how to recruit the very best crew, but they’re just not out there at the minute. We have a massive training plan ongoing, and we will recruit the best folks out there , then partner them with our vessels to create a high performing package.”
Thus, until the clients’ requirements are fixed, the capabilities of MO 10 and MO 11 remain undetermined. The design process for Mainprize boats involves a lot of backand-forth with the client to ensure that the final boat will efficiently fulfil the require ments of the contract.
Mainprize Offshore 7
