Briggs Marine and Serco have teamed up to bid for the UK Royal Navy’s towage and marine services
They are jointly bidding for Marine Services 2022 contracts covering all marine service requirements of Royal Navy ships including towage services for Royal Navy ships.
Serco has provided these services to the Royal Navy since 1996 and shared these with Briggs Marine under the Provision of Marine Services contract since 2007, claiming to deliver 99.9% of all tasks required by the Royal Navy. The marine contract extends to support Royal Navy’s operations overseas as well as its UK operations.
“Serco and Briggs Marine have a strong relationship developed over many years and we have agreed to work together on this important new contract,” said Serco chief executive for UK and Europe Kevin Craven.
“We have kept our promises to the Royal Navy and UK taxpayer throughout the Provision of Marine Services contract, despite its challenging financial performance,” he explained. “Our partnership with Briggs offers a unique combination of skills and experience to meet the high standards of the Royal Navy and to deliver value for the taxpayer.”
Briggs Marine managing director Collieson Briggs said tendering for this contract would be a significant step in building a stronger relationship with Serco. “The capabilities of our companies are testament to the years of experience of our respective teams,” said Mr Briggs. “Together, we will offer the Royal Navy and the Ministry of Defence a strong potential supplier for this important work.”
The Marine Services 2022 contract will be the successor to the current Provision of Marine Services and contracts covering training and range safety held by the Ministry of Defence.
Serco manages more than 800 UK national, security-cleared mariners specialising in the defence and nuclear sectors. This includes managing directly employed Serco seafarers and crew management for Pacific Nuclear Transport seafarers.
It operates a fleet of tugs in the UK providing towage to Royal Navy ships and it runs port vessels SD Victoria and SD Northern River.
Serco Marine Services maintains and overhauls its own tugs, replacing an engine on its tractor tug SD Faithful in 2017. That year Serco added SD Tempest to increase its towage capabilities for the new Royal Navy aircraft carriers.
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