Darlington-based CTC Marine operates some of the largest and most technically advanced subsea trenching equipment in the world and has offices across the globe. As part of this month’s Success feature, in conjunction with the North East Chamber of Commerce, Lindsay Parker charts the company’s rise.

FOR anyone travelling along a town centre street which boasts popular bars and restaurants, it would be easy to miss CTC Marine.

It seems a somewhat unlikely setting for a company – based in Coniscliffe Road, Darlington – which recorded a turnover in 2008 of more than £100m and operates across the world from the North Sea to the Americas, through to the Middle East and Perth, Australia. In fact, blink and you’ll miss it.

“You can completely walk past this place and not know we are here, but although we’re tucked away, I do think it’s a company for the area to be proud of,” says CTC Marine’s managing director, Daryl Lynch.

Judging by its global reach, he’s right. CTC has the ability to trench or install any product, in any water depth, in any region of the world, mainly for the offshore oil and gas sectors, but also the telecommunications, renewable, power and military markets.

While some firms have struggled in the recession, CTC has gained new lucrative contracts abroad and opened another global office in Dubai as its potential for work in the Middle East increases. But while it may be a North- East success story, Mr Lynch is keeping his feet on the ground.

“We’re confident due to CTC’s potential, despite the markets’ competitive nature, we are in a strong position to continue to win work,” he says.

“Over the years we’ve diversified.

Once upon a time CTC was over reliant on the North Sea oil and gas sector. However, we’ve worked hard to gain a different client portfolio and added new sectors such as renewable power.”

The company, which is part of the Texas-based Trico Marine Group, has also expanded its services across the world.

Says Mr Lynch: “Operationally we’re in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Singapore. But we’re targeting other areas of the world too – from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico.”

CTC Marine was set up in 1993 by Darlington entrepreneur Charles Tompkins. The bulk of its business to begin with was providing fibre optic burial solutions for the telecommunications market. It later diversified to provide trenching services for the North Sea oil and gas industry. Three years ago, the company was bought by DeepOcean before both firms were acquired by Trico Marine in May last year.

New contracts include winning work in environmental markets – the most recent of which is laying, installing and burying 17 subsea power cable arrays linking the wind turbine foundations at the Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm in the Solway Firth.

“From a subsea point of view, both our trenching assets and people are adaptable. It’s about burying pipes or different types of cables and that can be applied to various industries,” says Mr Lynch.

“What we offer clients in addition is the confidence that we will take great care when we’re working for them.

With our skills and expertise we provide the whole package and give them the confidence we can manage their projects.”

CTC’s high-profile clients include London-based telecoms firm Alcatel, energy firm E.on, BP, Shell and stateowned oil and gas companies such as the Chinese National Offshore Oil Company. About 80 per cent of business is for the oil and gas industry.

As well as laying cabling and trenching, it can provide complete oil and gas reserve management, including carrying out Life of Field Seismic projects which assess how many reserves are left in a field and where they are best tapped. This can mean the revival of some fields, which were once considered to be down to their last reserves, and can extend the life of many by years.

Says Mr Lynch: “It involves us laying a fibre optic seismic cable under the seabed to allow clients to gain an accurate reading of their reserves. As the technology has advanced, it can now tell us where new reserves are, which in turn means an increase of life in the field of between 20 and 25 years.

“A lot of big fields developed in the North Sea in the early Eighties are being redeveloped because of this.

People talk about oil and gas being a dwindling resource, but it’s not allowing for new technology which can access new reserves and also target terrains which were previously considered untouchable. We’re already got the technology to work in some of the harshest climates in the world.”

CTC employs 140 people in its offices worldwide, the majority at its Darlington HQ and a marine base at Teesport, in Middlesbrough.

Darlington houses the main office staff such as the design, structural and project engineers and the commercial tendering workers. CTC also has about 330 offshore people on its books. The company has also invested in a graduate trainee scheme which has recruited 30 students so far.

“We really had to think about the graduate training scheme because you do have to invest time and money in people to mentor them,” says Mr Lynch. “But every single one of the people who has joined us is making a positive impact on the business. We also run an offshore apprenticeship scheme.”

CTC’s heavy trenching equipment is kept at the marine base at Teesport – the river being handy for transportation with its Rock Trencher (RT-1) alone weighing in at a hefty 197 tonnes. CTC often works with the Newcastle firm SMD to design and manufacture new trenching equipment in order to protect subsea products. The company owns the most powerful jetter in the world – the UT-1, which has 2.1 mega watts of total power.

As well as burying and installation services, CTC uses its team of engineers to write detailed project reports, carry out surveys, lay the route and provide post-lay inspection services. More than 11,000km of fibre optic cable has been laid for the telecommunications industry.

The company has also recently completed its largest subsea construction project to date, at the North Bardawil Field Offshore Egypt. The main scope of work on the project, for oil and gas firm Petrobel, was split into two phases and included pre and post drilling operations at the Assad and Zaraf wells.

The work involved connecting both wells to the pipeline transporting gas to the existing Barboni platform.

Given CTC’s multi-role support vessel – the MPSV Volantis – all the construction work was carried out from one place, saving the client time and money. The vessel houses the jet trenching system UT-1, which has a 2,000-tonne carousel reel to deploy the flexible pipeline which is laid, and a 150 tonne crane for deepwater work.

“North Bardawil is CTC’s largest construction package to date and highlights the breadth of services and technology that CTC provides, ranging from trenching to a more comprehensive subsea installation and protection service. We expect to secure similar projects built around advanced subsea technologies in the future,” says Mr Lynch.

“We’re also expanding our global outlook. We’ve got offices in Dubai, Singapore, and Perth, in Western Australia.

“We’ve grown very big over a period of time, from a geographical point of view and the number of people working for us, and we want to continue to do so.”