Turriff based deck machinery maker, Ace Winches have warned that up to 30 staff are at risk in their latest round of cost reduction. The company said the cost reduction was due to the severity of the downturn in the gas & oil industry.
At its peak, Ace Winches employed over 300 people at its UK base at the Towie Barclay Works and locations in Norway.
In a statement the company said
Ace Winches, like many others in the oilfield services sector, has been proactively managing its business during the downturn within the oil and gas industry.
As a result of the severity of the continued oil and gas downturn which has seen oil and gas operators significantly reducing investments, the Ace organisation has had to introduce further cost savings to ensure long term business delivery sustainability.
It is therefore with sincere regret that the company has advised its employees of potential headcount reductions at its UK facilities in Turriff, Aberdeenshire.
The company is currently in consultation with its staff and making every effort to mitigate any potential impact on its employees, as a result of this process it is anticipated that about 30 positions will be impacted.
As a result of the steady decline in the number of subsea projects, specifically within the North Sea, a small number of offshore personnel will be affected.
Regrettably, six are likely to include modern apprentices in craft trades. The company will endeavour to support these apprentices in seeking ways to find alternative employment and/or training programmes in similar trades across the local region.
The group will continue to employ approximately 200 skilled professionals including our Norwegian operations which are not impacted as a result of this consultation.
This latest round of cuts comes on the back of previous cost saving measures which saw up to 60 staff losing their jobs in 2015. The company had recently announced that it had secured a spooling contract with Oceaneering for Shell’s Prelude Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) project.
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