Lord Botham visits Blue Ocean MTS

Blue Ocean MTS welcomed Lord Ian Botham OBE to our facilities on Monday 26 June. Lord Botham visited Western Australia in his capacity as UK Trade Envoy to Australia. His itinerary included Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth, where he met with key industry stakeholders and business leaders to promote UK-Australia trade and investment opportunities.

Lord Botham toured Blue Ocean’s Remote Operations & Service Hub in Bibra Lake and received a briefing on our business and future plans.

Lord Botham was accompanied by:

• Louise Cantillon, British Consul-General Sydney & Deputy Trade Commissioner Asia Pacific – Australia & New Zealand

• Faiza Khan, Senior Relationship Manager at UK Department for International Trade

• Kirsty Packer, Director of Investment (Australia & New Zealand), UK Department for International Trade & Head of Office, British Consulate Perth

• Caitlin Gheller, Programme Manager – Australia and New Zealand Free Trade Agreement Delivery

Discussions centred around the opportunities now presented through the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement (Australia-UK FTA), which was signed in December 2021. Australia’s services companies and professionals will benefit from new commitments that make it easier to operate in the UK market, supporting the mutual recognition of professional qualifications and greater certainty for skilled professionals moving between the UK and Australian labour markets.

Group Managing Director Mike Deeks CSC said that the UK is a critical part of our existing business and very much a focus of our future growth strategy in both subsea energy and defence fields.

“We are delighted with the AUS/UK FTA and see it as a mechanism to make our dealings with the UK simpler and more efficient.  As we seek to grow, we are keen to talk to investors in the UK who may be interested in backing this promising technology”, Mr Deeks said.