Maris Subsea grows in size

Energy industry recruitment firm Maris Subsea has expanded after taking over a consultancy services division of US company Oceaneering.

Maris said yesterday the move had added two people – veteran diver and inspection engineer Tim Chesshire and recruitment specialist Julie Stewart – to the team working from its office in Dyce, Aberdeen.

About 20 contractors will also come under the management of Maris, according to director Steven Dunbar.

In addition, 12 “key” Oceaneering clients will be provided with dive technical support, company representative and subsea engineers.

Mr Dunbar said the deal was a potential acquisition that ended up becoming a “transfer of services” and Tupe – transfer of undertakings (protection

“Developing a competence assurance package”

Post-crisis: Investors trying to assess likely demand outlook

of employment) – agreement due to the “current economic climate”.

The enlarged company will have a “great opportunity” to help newer North Sea operators manage the “complexities of their dive operations with increased assurance”, he said.

He added: “Maris committed to developing a competence assurance package five years ago.

“After significant investment and development the arrival of Tim’s expertise on top of what we had in terms of technology use is what we hope to be the final major component.”

Maris – whose other base is in Elgin – is a subsidiary of industrial services investment company Envoy and Partners, which was spun out from Invernessheadquartered Global Energy Group last year.

Former Bank of England (BoE) governor Mark Carney has said Covid-19 is likely to move the global energy transition “more to centre-stage” for investors.

Government bail-outs for heavy-emitting industries – like airlines – will increasingly carry a “quid pro quo” in terms of how fast firms can move along the path towards net zero carbon emissions, he said.

Mr Carney, who stepped down as BoE governor in March, also said banks were now better able to weather a prolonged economic slowdown than they were during the 2008 financial crisis.

His comments came during an IHS Markit CeraWeek Conversations Insight with Impact event.

On the energy transition, Mr Carney said potential investors in nearly every sector were trying to assess the likely demand outlook after Covid-19.

“The phrase that gets used by some of them is ‘let’s build back better’,” he said, adding: “So what is better?

“As you restart your economy where do you want to go?

“Where do you want to go as a society? That question is being asked everywhere.

“You start with what are the lessons from the

“The phrase that gets used by some of them is ‘let’s build back better’”

Covid-19 crisis? One of them is: the first job of the government is protection – you’ve got to have a resilient economy.

“You can’t wish away systemic risks like a pandemic and it would be nice to wish away climate change, but you can’t just put your head in the sand and pretend it’s going to go away.

“You’ve got 125 and counting countries that have net zero as a legislative requirement. It’s pretty likely that’s the orientation, and the policy is set in that way.

“What’s crucial here is this is a whole economy transition; it’s every sector in the economy – that’s the right way to go from where we are to get to net zero.

“What you don’t want to do is try to jam everything into (groups of ) deep green activities and everything else is brown and bad.”

Mr Carney said banks were in a much stronger capital position than in 2008, and able to put some of their “excess buffers” to work to boost the economy after Covid-19.

He added: “Liquidity is up £1 trillion in the UK for the major banks. We like to say that’s ‘prudence with a purpose’. It’s ‘resilience with a reason’.

“It’s not there just to allow me to sleep at night – it’s there for times like this.”

Sella Ness was controversially allowed to stay open until 2026 after the Scottish Government over-ruled Shetland Islands Council, which refused to grant a planning extension for the site.

Moorfield Hotel’s owner, London-based

“We have started a staff consultation process”

RBH Hotels, is seeking a judicial review to get the Holyrood decision overturned.

A spokeswoman for the hotel said: “Sadly, we have started a staff consultation process regarding potential redundancies.

“Whilst we deeply regret the impact this will have on the fantastic team we have here, there are a number of uncertainties surrounding the future of the business, including the position on some longer term accommodation contracts.

“The decision to extend the planning for Sella Ness, along with lack of economic activity as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, is having a detrimental impact on the hotel’s trading.”

She added: “We hope to keep the hotel open and to minimise the number of redundancies.”