CREW CHANGE & WORKBOAT SPECIALIST
Providing trusted Teesport based marine solutions since 2017
Our News
Fresh from the Galley Radio
RLM Lade Way joins the fleet!
Janauary 2024
We’re thrilled to announce that our latest vessel RLM Lade Way has arrived on the Tees!
The Ex-Mod Landing Craft was originally based in Plymouth, believed to of been stationed onboard the HMS Bulwark, before changing over to a commercial workboat. Similar to one of our other vessels the RLM Luff Way, Lade Way is named after one of the safe natural channels between the rocks at Redcar.
Our latest addition sports a 4 Tonne cargo capacity coupled with a 1.5t SWL Deck crane and of course, the ability to beach and load equipment with the bow ramp.
Operations Manager Nathan Lee added: “Nearly a year to the day we welcomed our workcat the RLM Cerberus to Teesside, which was a game changer for our operations, putting us into another league for potential services we can offer.
The arrival of the RLM Lade Way is both a testament and commitment to our clients as we strive to capture all of their needs based on lessons learnt and requirements from previous projects; also looking to bolster ship supply and cargo handling in Teesbay.”
It's a buoy!
October 2023
Storm Babet sure did cause chaos along our shores and she also kept the RLM on their toes performing a recovering from Redcar beach!
This 300kg Wave Rider Buoy had came adrift from it's mooring on a local construction project, subsequently washing ashore around a mile from site. The RLM Team swiftly mobilised and recovered the equipment without any damage, later returning it to the owners.
UKRA 2023
September 2023
It was great to be heading up the UK Renewable Academy's 2023 Marine scope once again, overseeing the co-ordination and logistics to take 60 people offshore and around the Teesbay Windfarm.
This year we again welcomed North Sea Logistics & High Speed Transfers' CTVs, including the brand new HST Millie which had only left the builders yard two days before!
Tall Ships Race 2023!
July 2023
What an afternoon that was!
We had the pleasure of getting up close and personal on the start line of the International Tall Ships Race 2023 in Tees Bay today, ferrying photographers from across the country to see the spectacular start of leg two across the North Sea into Norway.
We’re thrilled to of been selected to be apart of this unique event and we wish all vessels and crews a safe onward passage, best of luck in the race!
RLM Hoists the main sail!
May 2023
We're thrilled to announce that RLM has been selected as a preffered supplier to support the International Tall Ships Race that's coming to Hartlepool this summer!
You can read the press release below:
"A Teesside company built from almost a decade of experience on the River Tees will be helping the Tall Ships Races Hartlepool 2023 make a big splash on the region. Red Lion Marine (RLM) will be setting sail with the media before and during the event to help showcase the incredible spectacle.
RLM has been selected as the preferred vessel supplier to support the media coverage for the Tall Ships Races in July.
Nathan Lee, the Red Lion operations manager, said: “This is a great campaign for our 10metre Catamaran and we look forward to welcoming media crews from across the country onboard on behalf of the Hartlepool Tall Ships Team.
“For the parade of sail and race start we’ll be looking to sub charter a further two local vessels to support the sheer number of press expected to attend.
“We’d like to thank Hartlepool Borough Council for choosing Red Lion Marine and more importantly, choosing local companies to support local campaigns.”
The full article is available, here: Red Lion Marine sets sail for Tall Ships Races Hartlepool 2023 - Tall Ships (tallshipshartlepool2023.co.uk)
Red Lion Marine completes survey support off Redcar
May 2023
RLM has recently assisted international geotechnical experts Lankelma with a survey off our home shores of Redcar beach, providing marine co-ordination assistance, local consultancy and crew transfers arrangements.
The jackup barge Sandpiper has became a regular sight off Redcar in the past few weeks as survey works continued into May. Overall RLM headed up over 40 crew transfer operations by subcontracting Hartlepool based Cook Marine Ltd whilst supporting Lankelma’s mobilisation, rig moves & trial periods.
RLM is again pleased to be selected to by an international company to support a local project on our home shores and we look forward to working with them again in the future.
We're now a WBA Member!
March 2023
This week Red Lion Marine officially joined the Workboat Association, teaming up with over 150 other Workboat Owners & Operators that focus on industry collaborations for safety, training and regulatory topics.
Our membership will assist RLM with benchmarking future projects and standards of practice going forward and we’re pleased to be a member along with many other companies similar to ourselves.
RLM Expands With A New Fleet Addition
February 2023
We’re thrilled to announce that we have welcomed a new vessel into our fleet this week in the form of a 10m WorkCat!
The RLM Cerberus joins us as a multipurpose craft capable of over 22knts and we look forward to getting to know her better in the coming weeks.
RLM Cerberus:
- 60 Mile Range Offshore
- 14 Person Capacity
- Survey Work
- Diving Operations
- 1.5t Deck Cargo
- Safety Standby
- 15 Square Metre Deck Space
Manager Nathan Lee added: “We’ve now entered a realm where instead of looking at the horizon, we can steam straight toward it. The new WorkCat is an excellent vessel to have stationed at Teesport, which is arguably becoming the gateway into the North East.
We’ll be spending some time getting the craft ready for her first assignment starting in April for a period 3 months, which is an excellent kick start for her career as a workboat under the Red Lion Marine flag. As a final note, my sincere thanks goes to the surveyors, hauliers, marine authorities and of course our crew that helped in getting this one over the finish line!”
RLM Selected to support UKRA once again!
October 2022
UK Renewables Academy (UKRA) is delighted to announce that Red Lion Marine Ltd will be providing all of the offshore crew and vessel management for the final day of the course when delegates shall transit offshore on crew transfer vessels to see an offshore windfarm in operation.
"It is great to have a local company based in Teesside supporting the UKRA course and to be able to show the delegates what skills and services are available right on our doorstep" said Liam McIvor, Director of UKRA." "Red Lion Marine's expertise in offshore renewables and construction will no doubt add to our delegates' experience during their visit to an offshore wind farm - we are proud to be able to work alongside Red Lion Marine Ltd in delivering this, for many, once in a lifetime experience."
'Red Lion Marine is backed by over a decade of experience on both the River Tees and further afield in the offshore renewable industry. This work scope on behalf of the UKRA is a clear vote of confidence in RLM whilst they follow suit alongside many offshore developers ensuring local expertise is utilised where possible. We’re looking forward to seeing the planning and preparation come to fruition next month as we role out the first UKRA offshore tour.’ Nathan Hobday, Director. The course has been specifically designed and developed alongside leading industry professionals to give participants an understanding to every area of the sector.
RLM Secures a further 3 years supporting Offshore Wind Training
October 2022
Red Lion Marine, has secured a 3-year extension agreement with global wind industry training provider RelyOn Nutec.
The contract, which was initially signed in 2020, renews a vessel service agreement which sees Red Lion Marine support the training organisation with the delivery of Global Wind Organisation (GWO) accredited courses at their facility on the banks of the River Tees.
The vessel, RLM Luff Way, is used by RelyOn to deliver the marine element of wind sector courses where an offshore turbine transfer environment is simulated on open water. Delegates get the opportunity to practice vessel to wind turbine and vessel to dock transfer drills, as well as ascending and descending tower ladders as part of their GWO Basic Safety Training.
Director of Red Lion Marine, Nathan Lee said: ‘RelyOn Nutec is one of the only organisations across the UK that offer this type of training outside of the pool environment and it’s great to see that they are actively endorsing the renewable industry ethic of using local content where possible. The refreshed agreement allows Red Lion Marine to continue to re-affirm our position as a trusted Teesport based company whilst keeping our crews in guaranteed work’.
RelyOn Nutec’s Commercial Director, Lee Fenton continued, “Our organisation is rapidly growing our wind sector training offering with significant investments in facilities, equipment and digital learning capabilities. It’s essential that we’re supported by reliable suppliers who have a similar commitment to quality as we do. Red Lion Marine fulfils this brief and more, and we’re pleased to reconfirm our agreement with them”.
Red Lion Marine has supported RelyOn since the height of the global pandemic when the training organisation had a requirement for a dedicated craft with sufficient deck space for social distancing.
The organisations have also worked closely to deliver the marine scope of the UK Renewable’s Academy in July this year and are looking at future joint projects together as the industry enters an exciting push further into offshore wind next year.
Red Lion features in PD Port's first Teesport Spotlight
September 2022
As part of Teesport’s brand new business spotlight feature, each month we’ll be visiting a different organisation along the banks of the River Tees to showcase the great things that are happening across the industry and the businesses that enable our region to thrive.
This month, for the first ever instalment, we chatted to Nathan Lee of Red Lion Marine to hear about his career and the diverse service offering RLM provides to river users.
Nathan, owner and founder of Red Lion Marine, started his career on the river working at PD Ports as a Pilot Cutter Deckhand back in 2010 – something he later revisited as Cutter Master during the COVID19 pandemic to offer additional support in order to keep vital trade flows moving throughout the national lockdowns.
With over a decade of experience under his belt, Nathan now sits at the helm of Red Lion Marine, managing a crew of up to 12 colleagues and two vessels, delivering a variety of support services to businesses along the river.
Idyllically situated in a quiet corner of the Port Clarence Logistics site, aptly named Red Lion Meadows, Nathan and his crew offer project management support, vessel hire and end-to-end solutions to compliment any marine work scope and to keep projects on track and on budget.
Whilst Red Lion Marine was firmly established on the banks of the river in 2017, it is actually the global COVID19 crisis that has spurred a significant growth period, said Nathan.
“COVID19 was a testing time for Red Lion Marine, stretching our finances and tenure right at the peak of our initial investment into workboats,” he explained. “The climate ultimately paved the way for a completely different business strategy, forging a new resilience within the company which allowed us to continue operating and stay the course throughout the pandemic.
“We’re actually now looking into investing further in new plant and equipment that will help to drive our growth as we continue to emerge out of the other side of COVID19.”
Red Lion Marine was originally established to provide marine consultancy in the offshore renewable industry, working on various projects across Europe. Returning now to his roots in the form of project support and workboat provision, Nathan now has two workboats that sit quayside at Red Lion Meadows; the RLM Luff Way and the RLM Alpha, both of which are currently in contract with neighbour Relyon Nutec.
A global safety training provider for the energy industry, RelyOn Nutetc’s north-east facility is a stone’s throw from Red Lion Marine on the River Tees.
The training organisation relies on Nathan and his crew to support with the marine element of wing sector courses where an offshore wind turbine transfer environment is simulated in open water. The partnership with RelyOn Nutec has built momentum since an initial agreement was signed in 2020, with a three-year contract extension recently agreed and the two organisations now working side-by-side on additional projects.
“We’re really proud of the partnership we have established with RelyOn Nutec,” said Nathan. “What initially started out as a trial during the lockdown has grown, thanks to our hard work, flexibility and commitment to clients, into something which now forms the bulk of our service provision.
UKRA Success!
July 12, 2022
Just like that, the campaign is complete!
A total of 50 nautical miles covered, 144 transfers & 76 persons taken offshore for there first time, ever! All in under 6 hours.
It was a pleasure to assist UKRA & Stephenson Harwood LLP alongside RelyonNutec to deliver their marine work scope as a grand finale to the UK’s first Renewable Academy course.
See you next time!
WWII Veteran Pays A Visit
19th April 2022
We’re happy to of hosted an interesting visitor at Red Lion Meadows today, the 1935 built ‘Watchful’, which is now based in Hartlepool.
The vessel has undergone extensive refit by a group of volunteers aiming to both restore and maintain the vessel for public use in the future.
Watchful played a key part in the Dunkirk evacuations, performing a total of 3 cross channel runs and saving over 900 lives.
Alongside Wilton Engineering, Red Lion Marine is proud to be able to assist with maintaining an important piece of maritime history.
That's a wrap!
4th November 2021
RLM Luff Way has been hosting a Dutch film crew this afternoon, showcasing various parts of the Tees & Middlesbrough. We’re looking forward to the release next year!
RLM Pledges clean up support
October 1st, 2021
Red Lion Marine is pleased to pledge our support to a recently founded group dedicated to cleaning up the South Gare.
The South Gare breakwater is home to a number of birds and marine life whilst also acting as the first line of defence for the channel into the Tees with a lighthouse standing 16m high on the very end.
We have provided both tools and a small donation to aid their efforts going forward and we’ll continue to do so in the future.
You can follow their progress on Facebook here.
Fit for duty
August 28th, 2021
Red Lion Marine is pleased to receive approval from the Canal & River Trust to operate our vessels on the inland water ways of the Tees.
Our permit now sees both craft available to cover various scopes upriver of the Tees Barrage making RLM one of the few companies able to operate on the inland stretches. We look forward to working with the Canal River Trust in the future!