Marine company lands £35m China deal

MARINE specialist James Fisher and Sons says its subsidiary JFD has been awarded a £35m contract by Shanghai Salvage for the supply of a 24-man saturation diving system.

The Barrow-on-Furness company says the system is rated for diving support to depths of 500m.

The contract is for the design and build of two independent 12-man saturation dive systems for delivery in 2019, including diving bell, hyperbaric lifeboat, gas management and life support equipment.  

The systems can be deployed individually on vessels or installed together on board a dive support vessel.  

They will incorporate advanced state-of-the-art technology which will allow the safe conduct of 500m diving, which is significantly beyond the depth rating of the majority of standard diving systems.
Government-owned SS is one of the biggest professional salvage companies in China and in 2008 JFD supplied it with a 300m rated saturation diving system which achieved the Chinese record for the deepest saturation dive in 2014.

JFS chief executive Nick Henry said:”The decision to award the contract to JFD is testament to our proven capability.

“Shanghai Salvage has recognised the key benefits associated with JFD systems and we are delighted to support them once again as their diving operations advance into deeper waters.

“JFD prides itself on its engineering expertise which has been developed over the past 35 years, allowing us to deliver highly specialised and technologically advanced systems of exceptional quality.”