SPONSORS OF TYNE & TEES FEATURE
“We have put our money where our mouth is (some £50m so far) and we are now seeing the rewards.”
ASP HISTORY Up to now ASp is better known as a multi- user facility that has hosted some of the largest recycling contracts of recent times. From the de-commissioning of most of the largest oil & gas platforms through to the demolition of the so-called US ‘Ghost Ships’ along with the former flagship of the French Navy, the aircraft carrier, Le Clemenceau.
the latter was an experience that Etherington, rather coyly, merely describes as “interesting” although he added that it was “a lot of smoke and mirrors clouded by a public perception that took a real effort to turn around.”
probably a sentiment with which the wind industry can empathise.
EXPANSION over the last five years the Yard has expanded into oil Rig upgrade and maintenance projects and boasts a pretty blue-chip client base that includes Ensco, petrofac, transocean and Northern offshore with a mix of jack-up and semi- submersible rigs.
THE WIND ENERGY SECTOR Increasingly though, it is the wind sector that is dominating Able’s characteristically positive outlook. Etherington explains, “ASP is well located and it’s almost as if it had been purpose built as an Offshore wind installation base.
“We think it ticks all the boxes and a number of developers seem to share that view. It’s still relatively early days but watch this space. It’s certainly the best facility in the north east and with the potential that we have with the dry dock (Europe’s largest) is also tailor-made for gravity based foundations.”
INTEGRATED WIND CLUSTER Able see ASp as the ideal companion for the much larger AMEp development on the South Bank of the Humber where patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for transport, will next month (May) determine one of the UK’s largest planning applications and where AbLE are aiming to see the development of a truly integrated wind cluster.
As Etherington says, “Without the right port facilities the UK becomes a mere spectator – no UK content and no economic development benefits – just a heavily subsidised sector that would effectively export new jobs and new manufacturing.”
Able UK
www.ableuk.com
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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