Diverse Marine celebrate successful first year on Isle of Wight.

28 June 2019

Today marks 12 months since the Directors of Diverse Marine at Medina Yard, Cowes acquired the assets and equipment of their former employers South Boats IOW, securing the employment of 20 staff on the site.


From humble beginnings, but always with the support of the company’s staff, clients and suppliers, the team have forged a successful path in the commercial marine sector, achieving a multi-million pound turnover and securing the immediate future of the business through long term work commitments.


Deliveries of note include a new harbour patrol vessel for Cowes Harbour Commission and successful refit projects for Aspect Land & Hydrographic Surveys, Commercial RIB Charters, Faversham Ships, PAG Group/Ambrey, the RNLI, Seacat Services,Turner Iceni, UK Border Force. Diverse Marine has also supported many operators with maintenance and repairs including Solent & Wightline Cruises, Mareel/TurbineTransfers, Seaward, Newhaven Port Authority, Hampshire Police, NR Marine Services, Williams Shipping, Landau UK, MST and many others, for which the company are extremely grateful.


Ben Colman, Director adds:“We have been truly humbled by the support we have received from our staff, clients and suppliers and are proud to work with each and every one of them. Twelve months ago, we started with some equipment, a loyal team, a very modest business plan but with our ethos of delivering high quality, cost effective refits and repairs to clients that valued an integrated approach to complete each project. Our staff, clients and suppliers are all part of the Diverse Marine family”.


Ben adds, “there are too many to thank but special mention must go our staff, all of whom were facing an uncertain future 12-13 months ago, but as a team have worked hard to deliver each and every project, often working long hours. The welfare of these guys and girls is very important to us and we can’t thank them enough”


As well as the 9m harbour patrol RIB for Cowes Harbour the success of the business has generated further new build contracts including a 10m Aluminium Survey Catamaran, a further 9m Aluminium RIB and most notably a 24m Wind Farm Crew Transfer Vessel for Seacat Services on the Isle of Wight. Diverse Marine works closely with island business Aluminium Marine Consultants, also now based at Medina Yard, who deliver the aluminium fabrication and hot works for most of the company’s projects. This approach enables both companies to keep their overheads down, ensuring competitive pricing and the ability to produce both bespoke and production builds to an international market.


The company also attracted the attention of Bremerton USA based but internationally renowned boat builder, SAFE Boats International. Diverse Marine now has a formal agreement in place to support SAFE in the UK and has a SAFE 35 Multi-Mission Interceptor demonstration vessel at the yard. Matt Chessell. Director adds “The company is also keen to mimic our relationship with AMC into a new venture to produce GRP and Composite vessels. We have a license from Peter Eyre Marine Design to produce a range of Pilot Boats and Search & Rescue Craft and we will be pursuing this through the course of this year”.


Another key area for the future is fishing vessels and Matt Floyd, Director adds “We have worked for over 12 months to understand the requirements of the industry and what is needed from an Under 10m and Under 12m craft. Working with Chartwell Marine Design, we have produced the Catchwell 10m and 12m vessels, featuring a high buoyancy hull form to enable high catch payloads yet retaining high raft height and high levels of seakeeping and comfort”.


The company has no plans for rapid expansion but intends to use its second year to solidify its position for stability and continue to provide high levels of support, competitively priced commercial refits and selected new builds. Diverse Marine is looking to secure its future on the Isle of Wight.

Diverse Marine’s Finance & Lease Programme Delivers Two CTVs, with Five More in Build

27 February 2025
Cowes, UK (27-02-25) Since launching its Finance & Lease Programme in November 2023, Diverse Marine has successfully delivered two crew transfer vessels (CTVs), with three more currently in build for delivery this year and two further shortly thereafter of the first batch.The programme continues to operate as a rolling initiative, providing new-build CTVs based on customer demand. The first vessel completed under the programme was NR Alpha, which was unveiled at Seawork last year. This Storm Class CTV has set new benchmarks for fuel efficiency and performance, leading NR Marine Services to order a third vessel—NR Rival, the first of the new Typhoon Class CTVs. NR Rival was delivered in January 2025. TheTyphoon Class features a hull form designed for exceptional head-sea performance and tower access while maintaining high buoyancy reserves for superior seakeeping in following and stern-quarter seas. It also comes with Zero Emissions (Power Management) class notation, recognising its efficiency in reducing fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. Stock Build 3, a first Brevity Class CTV is undergoing sea trials with the vessel available for quick delivery following rebrand to suit a prospective clients requirements. Stock Build 4, to be named NR Rebellion, a second Typhoon Class CTV, is now in its final build phase, with the wheelhouse and saloon fitted earlier this month. Again ordered by NR Marine Services, she is scheduled for launch and sea trials in March. Owen Nutt, Director at NR Marine Services, commented: “Receiving three world-class CTVs in the last 10 months has been transformative for our business. Each vessel has outperformed expectations in speed and efficiency, delivering significant fuel cost savings for our clients.This success has given us the confidence to order another Typhoon Class CTV and another Storm Class CTV through Diverse Marine’s Finance & Lease Programme, and we look forward to putting them to work soon.” Meanwhile, Stock Build 5, to be named NR Hunter, a third Storm Class CTV, is currently under construction at Diverse Marine’s facility in Cowes and will be launched at Seawork in June. Stock Build 6, an Ambitious Class CTV is also currently under construction and will be delivered to OEG, whilst Stock Build 7, a further Brevity Class CTV, will follow in Q3/Q4 of this year. Ben Colman, Director at Diverse Marine, added: “The success of our Finance & Lease Programme is proving that high-quality, next-generation CTVs can be more accessible and affordable for operators. By reducing the financial barriers to vessel ownership, we’re enabling companies to upgrade their fleets with more efficient and capable vessels. With four more vessels in build and strong interest in future slots, we look forward to continuing to support the offshore wind industry with innovative financing and cutting-edge designs.” For more information on the Diverse Marine Finance & Lease Programme, including availability and build slots, please contact Ben Colman or Peter Curtis on 01983 300656.

Diverse Marine Start Construction of CSOV Daughter Craft

12 June 2024
Seawork, Southampton, UK (12-06-24) Diverse Marine is proud to announce that it has been selected by VARD GROUP AS to construct a Chartwell Daugher Craft to be installed on a VARD 4 19 CSOV under construction for PURUS Wind. The 12m catamaran daughter craft,designed by Chartwell Marine in Southampton features a twin IMOTier-3Volvo Penta IPS propulsion system to reduce emissions and provide good performance when deployed from the CSOV.  Ben Colman, Director of Diverse Marine:“I am very proud of this contract award, something different for our small boats team off the back of small military craft, amphibious CTV, survey vessels and a fast passenger vessel. If there is sufficient demand for daughter craft of this type then we may consider a stock build programme similar to the CTV’s to have craft available without the burden of construction finance and stage payments.”

Diverse Marine & NR Marine Services announce the launch of NR ALPHA

10 June 2024
Diverse Marine and NR Marine Services and proud to announce the launch of the second of class Storm Class CTV, NR ALPHA that is now proudly being displayed at Seawork 2024 in the Port of Southampton on berth VB21. NR ALPHA is a sister to NR PREDATOR delivered in March this year. NR PREDATOR has performed very well on her first contract with higher performance levels and substantially lower fuel burn and emission levels than other similar vessels on the same project. The Storm Class measures 27.6m LOA by 10m BOA and is fitted with a quad IMO Tier-3 Volvo Penta IPS propulsion system. Its unique hull form features a very fine entry with higher buoyancy reserves above the main chines and resistance reducingsolutions integrated into the underbody. A resilient superstructure ensures very low noise and vibration levels in the passenger saloon with the first recording sub 55dBA at full power. NR ALPHA is the first vessel from the Diverse Marine Finance and Lease Programme announced late last year and the first of three vessels being delivered to the scheme this year. The programme allows Diverse Marine to build offshore wind crew transfer vessels to stock for onward lease or sale. The scheme removes the requirement for clients to source construction finance and Diverse Marine can offer the vessels on lease/hire purchase with 0% deposit, a fully funded solution with payments monthly in arrears. Ben Colman, Director of Diverse Marine:“We are delighted to announce the build of NR ALPHA for NR Marine Services.Theperformance of NR PREDATOR has exceeded everybody’s expectations with exceptionally good performance, fuel efficiency and reliability, a testament to the high quality produced by our team at Cowes”.  Owen Nutt, Director of NR Marine Services: “The addition of NR ALPHA to our fleet so soon after NR PREDATOR is testament to the growth and forward plans set out by our business to add high quality, high performance and efficient vessels to our fleet. Diverse Marine’s Storm Class is the result of the KPI’s we provided to Walker Marine Design and the ship yard. With NR PREDATOR all of these KPI’s were met with the vessel proving to be faster and more efficient that predicted. We are very pleased and excited that we can add NR ALPHA to the fleet and provide our clients with class leading vessels that can save £100,000’s of fuel cost annually without any compromise”.
Show More
Share by: