PRESS RELEASE Monday July 10 2017
RIVER CRUISER MAINTENANCE DEAL MARKS STEP-CHANGE FOR TWO LOCAL FIRMS
CITY CRUISES YORK has set up a three-year maintenance contract with marine specialists Pearson Electrical, to upgrade and maintain the five vessels in its fleet.
The arrangement follows City Cruises' acquisition by London-based mirror company, City Cruises, which operates the biggest fleet of tourist boats on the River Thames, alongside another, smaller, operation in Poole, Dorset.
And it signals significant growth for both businesses. City Cruises York has exciting plans to capitalise on the wider reach of its sister company, to attract significantly more customers - and ultimately more visitors to York.
While for Pearson, based on Clough Road in Hull, this is the latest in a series of major new contracts which are contributing to the company's fastest-ever growth.
Mark Mattinson, Sales & Marketing Manager for City Cruises York, said: "We became part of the London-based company on 5 May and that acquisition has taken us to a new level, in terms of our marketing and customer reach.
"We were already the biggest river cruise vessel operator in the North but this new partnership has brought us under the umbrella of a much larger organisation, with all its experience of running boat trips and events in our country's biggest tourist city.
"We're busy working with the London team to shape exciting plans for growing our business. New opportunities for us include tapping into their experience of international tourism, and their bigger entertainment and corporate hospitality offering."
And things are looking very promising for the company, which has seen a 30% uplift in passenger numbers, year-on-year.
Formerly known as YorkBoat, the company already had an outstanding safety record, and were fully compliant with Maritime and Coastguard Agency standards for electrical components and wiring on their vessels. However, for consistency, they are now upgrading to comply with the more stringent standards operated by the Port of London Authority, which is the benchmark used by its new owners.
And this is where they decided to get Pearson Electrical involved. So far, Pearson have carried out a full electrical rewire on its River Prince Vessel. The other four boats - River King, River Duchess, River Palace and Captain James Cook - have so far undergone a partial overhaul, with plans to fully rewire all of them this coming winter.
Matt added: "We researched industrial electricians to carry out this work and Pearson Electrical really shone through due to their marine experience and expertise.
"We particularly wanted to support another local company and we really consider Hull and surrounding area to be our marine base in terms of suppliers and infrastructure.
"They are a team of really helpful and knowledgeable guys go out of their way to do a great job. Because of their outstanding level of industry expertise, we can have complete confidence that they will get the job done to the very highest standards."
The two companies are now preparing to sign a three-year ongoing maintenance contract that will see Pearson Electrical continuing to keep the City Cruises York fleet in tip top operating condition.
And things are looking very rosy for both businesses. City Cruises York - which earlier this year won ‘Best Canal or River Boat Operator for Groups' in the national Group Travel Awards 2017 - is so far enjoying its busiest ever tourist season, with passenger numbers up 30 per cent year-on-year, helped by its new southern boost.
Meanwhile, the City Cruises York partnership is one of several which is seeing Pearson go from strength to strength. With the help of the Green Port Hull initiative, they recently signed a framework agreement for electrical maintenance support with RTS Wind, which installs and maintains wind turbines off the coast of the UK.
In February, Pearson Electrical also signed an agreement with the Siemens wind turbine manufacturing plant, also in Hull, to help maintain vessels transporting its turbine blades from Green Port Hull to wind farms in the North Sea. This, coupled with the City Cruises and RTS Wind arrangements, has resulted in a 25 per cent increase in Pearson Electrical's workforce (from 15 to 19 people), and boosted its annual turnover by 20 per cent.
The Government plans to install a total of 3,000 North Sea wind turbines over the next seven years, in collaboration with partners including Siemens and A2SEA, with which Pearson Electrical already has established maintenance relationships.
Mark Pearson, Managing Director of Pearson Electrical, said: "Our company is growing at its fastest pace ever, thanks largely to our relationship with the Green Port Hull initiative, which has provided us with access to invaluable support including help in securing unique industry-leading ISO accreditations.
"We have grown five-fold from just three employees three years ago, to 15 today.
"We're very proud to be working with companies with the kind of reputation and profile City Cruises York has, and are looking forward to supporting their ambitions to further boost their business success in the years to come."
Pearson Electrical has built up 30 years' specialist experience in the marine, industrial and hazardous area sectors, and the ISO accreditations they recently achieved with the help of funding from Green Port Hull has unlocked the door to some of its biggest framework agreements ever, including the RTS Wind arrangement.
More details about Pearson Electrical Limited are available at www.pearsonmarine.co.uk, and they can be contacted via 01964 631382, or info@pearsonmarine.co.uk.
For further information, and to arrange photographs or further interviews, please contact Tracy Fletcher of By Tracy Fletcher Limited PR, on 07983 633385, or via bytracyfletcher@gmail.com.