Five year refit deal for Testabank

Testbank Ship Repair’s first tasks are successive refits of the two high speed passenger catamarans on the Portsmouth-Ryde service. The ten day refits of Wight Ryder I and II are being carried out at Testbank’s facility at Trafalgar Wharf in Portchester.

Both 40m aluminium cast hulls will be hoisted by the company’s 1,000 ton Rolls-Royce Syncrolift, one of the biggest of its kind in the south of England, before maintenance work begins.

Up to 10 staff will be involved on the refits at any given time, under the direction of technical director Brian Needle, who agreed the dea,l and general manager Karl Kerry.

Managing director Jason Coltman said, “This is another significant, long term contract win which comes as we continue to expand our activities at Trafalgar Wharf. To have the security and stability of this work is great news.”

Wightlink, one of the UK’s largest domestic ferry operators, brought the two purpose built catamarans into service in 2009 as part of a multi-million pound investment in its cross-Solent routes. Both vessels are single decked and have a seating capacity of 260. Their introduction required new berthing works at both Portsmouth Harbour and Ryde Pier.

John Burrows, operations director at Wightlink said, “Testbank are a locally based company, which is important to Wightlink as the investment stays within the area and provides much needed resources and job security in these challenging times. Wightlink spends over £4m ever year in regular ongoing routine maintenance of all our fleet, including annual refits, so it’s necessary to source a company that has the skills, experience and facilities to maintain our vessels, which Testbank clearly demonstrates.”

The Wightlink work is the latest success for Testbank since it reopened the ship lift facility on the Portchester waterside after five years of decommissioning. The company recently won a five year contract with Serco Marine Services to refit their south east fleet based at Portsmouth Naval Base. The Serco contract is worth an estimated £1 million a year.

Last year, Testbank won a high-profile order to renew the £44m luxury super yacht Senses. The company has also carried out refits on more than 50 other vessels including tugs, leisure craft and fishing boats since taking over the Portchester premises in the summer of 2009.

Testbank has its head office in Southampton’s Western Docks. The company has an £8m turnover and employs 65 permanent staff.