Shipping Lines - Solstad Offshore helped to put Skudeneshavn on the map

With their bright orange hulls, extensive white upper works and yellow funnels superimposed with their owner’s red, white and blue house flag, they add colour to the local waterfront.

Solstad is an established Norwegian-owned service and supply shipping company that operates a large fleet of support vessels which includes construction service vessels (csvs), anchor handling tug/supply ships (ahts) plus a substantial number of psvs (platform supply vessels).

Since its founding in 1964 by Johannes Solstad, it has expanded with representation in Alesund, Aberdeen, Singapore, Rio de Janeiro and Perth (Western Australia). In 2018 the company was renamed Solstad Offshore from its previous title of Solstad Farstad.

Skudeneshavn is on the island of Karmoy in Norway’s Rogaland county. Starting out in bulk shipping, by the early 1980s the fleet had been sold though Solstad kept an interest in that sector. A fleet renewal programme began in 1996 and the fleet size increased from 12 to 43 ships by 2007. That year the company was floated on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Solstad Offshore ASA has become one of the largest players in the operation of modern, advanced vessels in the offshore sector worldwide.

Romania is not the first country that comes to mind when shipbuilding nations are discussed. However, since the end of World War Two and the ensuing Communist era, output soared especially with the investment of Western European and other outside sources. There was major investment by Norwegian group Vard, which in 2013 became part of the Italian Fincantieri conglomerate. Vard had three shipyards in Norway, two in Romania at Tulcea and another in Braila, one in Brazil plus the latest at Vung Tau in Vietnam. The more recent Solstad Offshore arrivals at Montrose – Normand Prosper, Normand Sapphire and Normand Sigma have all been completed in Romania.

For 225 years Montrose has been proud of its lifeboats and crews in providing one of the first such services on the east coast of Scotland. Numerous lifeboats have operated at Montrose, up to the present day Shannon, all-weather class, and so it was a day worth remembering on Saturday, May 25 when the (D-897) Margaret Olive was named and launched.

An excellent turnout of invited guests, volunteers and supporters gathered for the Naming Ceremony and Service of Dedication conducted by the Rev Norman Trewren.

Principals and representatives taking part in the ceremony included Mike Neil, Jill Hepburn, Kiran Noor, Ken Brown, Derek Smart, Sophia and Faris and Ms Sally McKay.

During the event one of the regular anchor handling tug/supply ships Pacific Dispatch, sailed upriver to tie up at an adjoining berth, underlining the port’s importance today. An exciting and comprehensive demonstration of the new lifeboat’s capabilities was given by the crew to round off the important and interesting occasion with a range of refreshments being provided.