SHIPSHAPE: A Meercat Workboat, the Tedworth, which was sold last year
Meercat Workboats scores a hat-trick to coincide with the European Championships – which is more than can be said for England!
The Portchester-based boat builder is proud to announce it is moving premises, that Seawork was a huge success and that it expects to benefit from the recent Brexit vote.
MC28 is a 15m x 6m monohull workboat currently in build for Briggs Marine at the company’s Portchester footprint near Portsmouth in Hampshire.
To coincide with the end of the build Meercat Workboats will be moving to Units 3a & 3b Hythe Marine Park, Shore Road, Hythe, near Southampton.
The move is anticipated to take place in September 2016.
The new site is circa 1600m², with 2 x 20T gantry cranes, an electrical workshop, and a hydraulic workshop, aluminium welding bays, dedicated stores, offices and customer parking.
Jamie Lewis, who is Meercat Workboats Managing Director, said: “This move really is significant for us.
“We’ve been searching for a new home for 18 months and it’s really great news that we’ve found a fantastic landlord in Oceanic Estates and superb new premises.
“The footprint really is perfect – and we need it to deliver on our FY17 business plan and our current pipeline.”
The company is also pleased to report that it enjoyed an excellent Seawork exhibition in Southampton.
Having exhibited MC26, the current 15m x 6m stock boat, in water, and also exhibited ashore, the business has three interested parties in the stock boat and two entirely new, serious, prospects.
Jamie added: “With several interested parties we really expect to conclude the transaction by the month end.
“This really will be a very good win for us as the boat genuinely is fantastic.”
Meercat Workboats is also looking forward to reigniting its export business based upon the recent EU Referendum.
The company has built 28 boats to date, exporting two to Norway, two to the Republic of Ireland, one to Sweden, two to Saudi Arabia, one to Tasmania, one to Peru, and one to Australia.
With exports to date totalling a third of the builds the business is best placed to maximise the potential of a lower value Sterling.
Nicholas Warren, the CEO of Burgess Marine, the parent company to Meercat Workboats, said: “The referendum has given us a wonderful opportunity to re-energise our export business.
“Domestically the business is performing ahead of expectations but to open up International markets again, to coincide with the firm’s relocation to better premises, is seriously opportunistic.
“We’re genuinely excited about some very real export opportunities – this is great news for British workboat building”.
For more details visit www.meercatworkboats.com and contact Jamie Lewis on +44 (0) 7973 116 275 or Nicholas Warren on +44 (0) 7710 499 544
Burgess Marine:
Burgess Marine is at the forefront of the specialised marine engineering industry, having earned a worldwide reputation as experts in all aspects of structural repairs and renewals as well as mechanical repairs both above and below the waterline.
With workshops and offices in Lowestoft, Dover, Portsmouth, Portchester, Southampton, Poole, Avonmouth, Devonport, and within STP Palma the business is ideally located not only to support the UK’s largest passenger ports, but also shipping in general throughout the United Kingdom and Superyacht’s based in Mallorca.
From its head office in Dover, Burgess Marine also provides highly skilled teams capable of carrying out planned refits and emergency works worldwide, having worked extensively throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, the Middle East, the Far East, North America, South America and the Caribbean.
The combined marine engineering experience of the Directors and Technical Management within Burgess Marine exceeds some 250 years; it is this level of knowledge and experience, together with complete commitment, that gives customers total peace of mind and Burgess Marine the leading edge.
Burgess Marine is an ISO 9001:2008 British Standards Institute accredited company and holds ‘DNV Approved Supplier’ status; the company is also a full member of the Association of Diving Contractors.
Burgess Marine is the sole owner of Meercat Workboats Ltd and Trafalgar Yacht Management Ltd.
Website: www.burgessmarine.co.uk
