Engineer creates jobs in port workshop move

An offshore wind engineering firm has created more than 30 jobs in a workshop move.

Osbit has opened an assembly and servicing base at Port of Blyth.

Bosses say the move will allow the company to “scale operations and fulfil a record-breaking order book”.

They add the 3350sq metre site, on the port’s Wimbourne Quay, has delivered 33 posts and includes a build and test space four times larger than its previous base, putting the company in a “prime position to meet increasing industry demands”.

Headquartered in Riding Mill, Northumberland, Osbit designs and builds systems to support subsea cable installation and lifting and handling projects across the renewable energy sector, with its new port hub having already supported work on a floating offshore wind cable testing rig and access gangways.

Its factory move was supported by a grant from the Business Growth Fund, which is backed by the North East Combined Authority, Gateshead Council and Sunderland City Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

Steve Binney, Osbit director, said: “This is a huge milestone.

“We are now able to deliver multiple projects simultaneously under one roof.

“It also provides a satellite office for our rapidly-expanding team, enabling us to grow with the sector.”

Dave Jones, business funding adviser at support organisation UMi, added: “The Business Growth Fund exists to create quality jobs across the region, and this is a great example of that in action.”

Osbit’s new base was created from a warehouse at Port of Blyth’s Bates Clean Energy Terminal.

Alasdair Kerr, the port’s commercial director, said: “This enhanced site not only enables greater operational capacity, but strengthens the long-standing partnership between Osbit and the port.”

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