IMH & Sartor in joint venture

IRISH Mainport Holdings (IMH) has joined forces with Norwegian shipping company Sartor to combine their operations in the North Sea.

The deal will see the Cork-based shipping, warehousing and marine logistics company beef up its activity in British and Norwegian waters.

IMH and Sartor have set up a dedicated subsidiary, Ocean Mainport, that will provide standby and emergency response capabilities as well as standard supply services to oil rigs in the region.

The joint venture company has taken over seven vessels to service the market, which IMH said had boomed in recent years. The ships will sail under the Norwegian flag.

“We are delighted to be setting up this new company with Sartor,” said IMH managing director David Ronayne.

“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 raise our position in the North Sea market.”

Mr Ronayne also said the companies would continue to look for opportunities to expand in the market for emergency response rescue vehicles and platform supply vessels which are specialist ships used to supply offshore installations. He added that more ships would be acquired in the future.

The companies were in talks for six months before agreeing the deal earlier this week. The deal is backed by Bank of Scotland’s local office in Cork.

IMH, which is headquartered on Cork’s Monahan Road and employs 75 people, had a strong year last year. Profits jumped 54% to almost €1.9 million, while revenues were 33% higher at €16.8m.

IMH’s main business consists of supplying services to the marine sector and has operations in Cork, Foynes on the Shannon estuary, Dublin, Waterford, Belfast and Killybegs in Donegal. It also has a presence in South Africa.

Its main subsidiaries include Ronayne Shipping, Seahorse, Fastnet Logistics and Celtic Tugs. The company was set up in 1974.