​North Star launches ambitious crew recruitment drive

Offshore vessel support operator North Star, which has facilities in Aberdeen, Newcastle and Lowestoft in the UK, says it aims to recruit 42 qualified seafarers in the next couple of months and a total of 170 over 18 months.

The first 42 will be needed as the first of four new Service Operations Vessels (SOVs) arrives at the Dogger Bank Wind Farm off the northeast coast of England, which at the moment is destined to be the largest in the world and will therefore need a large workforce.

North Star is looking for ship’s master, chief officer, second officer, gangway and crane operators and electrical engineers to live aboard the first SOV while they work on the turbines’ operations and maintenance at the site, a joint venture between SSE Renewables, Equinor and Vårgrønn.

“Over the past 135 years, the business has expanded from fishing into oil and gas, and now into offshore wind. Our four state-of-the-art SOVs are on 10-year minimum charters to the Dogger Bank Wind Farm, which presents a host of exciting seafaring career opportunities with long-term prospects,” said Steve Myers, North Star’s SOV operations director.

“As our unique vessel design utilises the most cutting-edge solutions including AI and machine learning technologies, walk-to-work gangways, and dynamic positioning, we have developed a programme of transition training to help upskill our current crew with their offshore wind career ambitions.

“The additional new hires will work across both the SOVs as well as backfill openings within our existing fleet, ensuring we maintain our inclusive company culture and leverage a collective expertise to deliver safe and efficient operations in-field.”

This recent recruitment drive is underpinned by North Star’s ongoing cadet programme, in which North Star invests £1 million a year.

Cadet programmes and apprenticeships are going to be vital as the offshore wind industry develops.

Seacat Services says it still employs three graduates of the first wave of its apprenticeship programme, which it started eight years ago.

Ian Baylis, founder and director of Seacat Services, says last year was a greater challenge than any other for crewing, and the hardest he had seen.