A push to see North East firms take a bigger slice of the growing, multibillion-pound underwater market has launched on Tyneside.
The Global Underwater Hub (GUH) - the national trade body that sprang from Subsea 海角视频 and represents around 300 members - has opened its Newcastle base, which will serve as a focal point for the north of England. Senior executives were at the Walker facility to explain how the body will help firms tackle the global underwater market, which is currently worth an estimated £50bn and expected to grow to £140bn by 2035.
As part of the global $3trn "blue economy", underwater services span a range of sub-sectors including oil and gas, renewables, aquaculture, defence and subsea mining. Setting out GUH's ambition to BusinessLive, chief executive Neil Gordon said the facility - and two others like it in Scotland and the South West - create a physical network that will help companies identify market opportunities and navigate skills.
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The Newcastle hub, which neighbours the riverside bases of operators such as Technip, Baker Hughes and SMD, will also help to host international trade delegations with GUH having recently received groups from all Barbados, China, France and all three Baltic countries.
Citing North East examples such as JDR Cables' £130m investment into a subsea cable factory in Northumberland, Mr Gordon said: "Our objective is to transform this underwater industry into one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the country. You can almost relate it to something like Formula One: it's a real high-tech- and competitive environment that influences a lot of other things. It's the difficult inner space, underwater where we're really making high-tech stuff.
"And it's also about that accelerated transition to net zero and creating high value technology, jobs and exports."
The launch of the facility comes just days after the Government's latest Contracts for Difference allocation round for wind farm developers failed to attract any bids. Offshore renewables constitute a major part of the underwater market, and Mr Gordon said the flop had been a "wake up call" which required urgent attention.
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He said: "The strike price for CfD 4 was very low, and that set a very low precedence. I think, combined with all the other things that have gone on recently with cost inflation, there's been a compounding effect. Before CfD 5 we knew there was a couple of projects pulled back from because they were uneconomical. I'd say to Government there has been a wake up call that we need to look at this. There's enough evidence around that we need to change. It's the pace at which we change which I think is the essential thing."
"The dynamics of the industry have changed so quickly. Once a process has begun in Government, to change is not quite as simple as we might think. And I think that's where we're learning that we've got to be dynamic and quick enough to adapt to these things because otherwise it has an impact. We don't have the luxury of time. We've got a window and we're world leading - although China has just taken over in terms of capacity. We want to make sure we still drive that forward and don't out-price ourselves."
GUH's new facility has been broadly welcomed by a range of regional organisations including Newcastle City Council, Invest Newcastle and Advance Northumberland. Mike Jones, chairman of subsea robotics firm SMD, and also a chair of GUH North, said: “This is a huge achievement for the region. The North has a long track record of spearheading developments within underwater technology and this hub will help accelerate this even further. There are a lot of challenges within the underwater industry as we transition but by coming together via GUH we will have a stronger industry voice and better access to intelligence so we can remain ahead of the game.
"We’re looking forward to using the hub's facilities, connecting with like-minded businesses, and working on groundbreaking projects to help our industry continue to thrive in the North. There are many challenges within the underwater sectors but by coming together through the GUH and developing pioneering solutions, we can remain ahead of the game."