October 18 - Braemar Shipping Services says its penetration of the global marine and offshore services sectors continues to develop with the bringing together of its business units under the umbrella control of the Braemar Technical Services (BTS) divisio

The company says it will bring a broader service as well as operating efficiency benefits to customers of its technical services businesses - Braemar Casbarian, Braemar Falconer, Braemar Steege, Braemar (incorporating The Salvage Association) and Braemar Wavespec.

The establishment of BTS will provide a pool of wider industry expertise; encouraging synergy between the business units and forming a wider global network of offices.

BTS business units will continue to offer their specialist services but at the same time will be able to call upon the combined strength of the division to offer customers a ready-made solution for wider business issues and larger or more diversified contracts.

The division will be headed up by two joint managing directors - Nigel Carpenter, the head of Braemar Steege, and Chan Yew Wah (Michael) who leads Braemar Falconer. With 385 employees, BTS will be the largest employer in the Braemar Shipping Services plc group.

The creation of BTS will involve some corporate restructuring, which is in progress and will be the subject of future announcements.

"We are creating a single entity which will help each of the BTS business units operate even more effectively in the markets they already serve while also provide a platform to offer division-wide solutions to clients in the marine or offshore sectors," says Nigel Carpenter.

"BTS will have the ability to conduct much more engineering in-house, and thereby better control costs. We will have the benefit of being able to tap into more office locations, where we will have survey capability on a first response basis for our clients which again gives us an opportunity to meet their needs more economically."

Quentin Soanes, Executive Director of Braemar Shipping Services plc comments: "The establishment of BTS is part of Braemar's continued plan to be a world leader in marine and energy services."