Cork shipping firm wins $7m supply contract

A family-owned Cork shipping company is looking East after winning a $7 million (€5.4 million) contract to supply barges in the Caspian Sea.

Mainport Group, owned by the Ronayne family, has won the barge contract with Italian oil giant, Agip, which operates large-scale facilities in the Caspian Sea.

Under the terms of the one-year deal, the Mainport Group will provide Agip with two "superbarges" in a joint venture with a number of local and British individuals.

The superbarges, which at 71.5m by 14.5m are the equivalent in width to a football pitch, will be used to transport drill cuttings - oil-contaminated shale and rock - from oil platforms in the Kazakhstan area.

The joint venture is also pitching for a 10-year contract that would see it supplying another four larger superbarges to Agip in the Caspian.

Dave Ronayne, chief executive of Mainport, said the company had benefited from being Irish in the politically-charged Caspian area.

"We're delighted with this contract, which is a culmination of 16 months of careful planning and negotiation," Mr Ronayne said.

Mainport has chartered the first two superbarges for the Caspian in the Azeri capital, Baku. The company is modifying the vessels to take account of factors such as the Caspian's shallow waters and freezing winter months.

Mr Ronayne, who is the second generation of his family to run the Mainport Group, said that dealing with Agip had presented the firm with "outstanding opportunities".

"We are well-positioned to handle and indeed grow our involvement in this lucrative area," he said.

Established in 1957, the Mainport Group has been involved in the offshore resources market in the Republic since the 1970s, when it began to service the Kinsale gas field.

More recently, the firm began to seek international contracts and now does business in the North Sea as well as in the Caspian Sea. It also has a joint venture in Norway with Sartor Shipping.

The firm also has operations in South Africa and, closer to home, supplies tugs to Aughinish Alumina and ESB.

Its offices are based in Cork, Dublin, Limerick, Foynes, South Africa and Norway.

In the Caspian, it will operate from Bautino in Kazakhstan.

The business, which is heading towards a turnover of more than €45 million this year and employs 82 people, also offers stevedoring and ship management services.