Hard graft brings growth to Dales

The story begins in 1991, when Dales Marine Services, a family run business, first started operations in Aberdeen along with a new welder named Michael Milne. He was relieved to be making a shorter daily trip into work, as Aberdeen was 50 miles closer to home than the Peterhead site where he had been working.

Under the care of managing director Maurice Nicol, who started Dales Engineering in 1987, Dales Marine steadily built up its client base through short turn around times and a broad spectrum of services which includes repairs, engine overhauls, mechanical design and fabrication.

Michael Milne told MJ that the early days ‘were a bit of a stretch’ for all the staff at the new site. ‘There were only five of us in the workforce in Aberdeen when we started, he said. ‘We were busy all the time with long shifts, lots of hours. We hardly ever seemed to get home and sometimes we worked three long shifts in a single week because there simply weren’t that many of us on the ship repair side of the business.’

But it paid off. Boosted by success, Dales Marine took over operations of the Aberdeen dock in 2004, leasing the two acre site and dry dock from the Aberdeen Harbour Board and making it the largest privately operated facility in Scotland. This led in turn to quadrupling the workforce, with the last four years seeing an increase in its annual servicing figure of some 300%. And the new general manager? Yes, Michael Milne is now the first non-family director of the business, with shares (acquired through the company incentive scheme) to back up his commitment.

Dales now has as many as 100 workers on site including apprentices, and the dry dock which seemed to languish under it’s previous management (turning around a modest 14 or 15 ships a year) is now pushing through around 50 ships per annum.

Mr Milne explains that although the company is competing with Norwegian, Danish and some southern UK yards, the facilities are big, measuring 112m wide by 21m long, which means repair stops at Dales, which is the only dry dock in the area, makes economic sense for many vessel owners. As a result, the company sees its share of tugs from the Shetland Isles and Calmac ferries from the west coast of Scotland.

‘We have a repair schedule that is now taking bookings 10 months in advance, Michael Milne told MJ. ‘Despite the recent economics, I think the market is buoyant enough. More ships are always on order so that helps to keep us busy.’