Member Article

Osbit celebrates 10 years in business

Northumberland-based offshore technology supplier Osbit is celebrating a decade in business.

Osbit began operations at its Riding Mill headquarters 10 years ago with three owner-directors, now four, all engineers and soon established a powerful engineering team.

Over the course of 10 years, Osbit has delivered a number of offshore technology firsts to support its global customer-base. This includes world-first well intervention technology for safer operations, cable laying technology which tripled operational performance, and advanced subsea trenching vehicle technology. It has also recently developed an innovative seabed mineral collector, in partnership with Enshore Subsea.

Executive Chairman at Osbit Ltd, Dr Tony Trapp MBE, said: “We have had lots of excitement together with excellent results over the past 10 years, but also plenty of challenges. We made a significant investment in the early years but were able to eliminate debt after three years. 2014 was a record year for us but this was the start of the oil price crash which has seriously damaged the energy markets ever since.

“We now have the COVID-19 pandemic and Osbit has continued to deliver high quality engineering in a safe way in 2020 while the world has experienced the greatest level of business and financial turmoil that I have seen in my lifetime.

“We are fortunate to have entered 2020 with a record order book and to have strengthened the business over several years, diversifying our offering from the access systems we initially started with. We have developed some exceptionally good technology for offshore handling and well intervention, as well as subsea trenching and wind turbine foundation installation. Offshore wind is now very important and makes up a large proportion of our work.

“During the past few months, our teams have continued to deliver some really clever engineering for our clients, in challenging circumstances. We had a team building a 750-tonne pile gripper system in Singapore for the Taiwanese Yunlin offshore wind farm with increasing difficulty – that was a great triumph.

“At the same time, we have our largest project to date, the FTAI Ocean well intervention tower, being built on Teesside. This 1150 tonne piece of complex equipment combines many elements of existing Osbit technology from our experience in well intervention and offshore handling, with a series of innovations, to improve safety and performance. It is this ability to take what we know works, add some innovation, and use it to deliver something new for a client, that has fuelled our progress.

“Osbit is a really enjoyable place to work and our existing office is an important part of our company culture and we are looking forward to going back, as soon as it is safe to do so. I am delighted we have been able to retain our contracts and expand our team during this time and we are looking forward to returning with even more members of staff including fresh engineering graduates. We are also very proud to be based in the North East, and to continue our region’s legacy as a global hub for engineering excellence.

“Who knows what the next 10 years will bring, but I am confident that our brilliant team will find the best way forward so that the business can continue to flourish. I am extremely proud of what Osbit has achieved so far and this is a real tribute to the dedication and talents of our whole team. As a business, we have always thrived on taking on and overcoming new challenges, and I am looking forward to seeing what further impressive feats we can achieve in the offshore world.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Gardiner Richardson .