Brochure Advertising The Hall Russell Shipyard's Offshore Services
Manufacturer
Hall, Russell & Company, Limited
(Aberdeen, Scotland, 1864 - 1992)
Date1985-1988
Object NameBrochure
Mediumlaminated paper
ClassificationsMaritime History
DimensionsOverall: Length: 20.9 cm, Width: 29.5 cm
LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub
Object numberABDMS031535
Keywords
As the Oil & Gas industry took off in Aberdeen, some businesses engaged fully with the new industry. Hall, Russell, in common with others chose to continue with their core business. HRL continued building and repairing ships, though they did provide specialist services to the oil industry, such as fabrication, specialist machining, and general engineering. Specialist work carried out included the refurbishment of the tension leg bearings for the Hutton TLP, but the engineering business struggled for access to labour and facilities earmarked for shipbuilding.
When Aberdeen Shipbuilders took over, they created the separate offshore company to better exploit the yard’s capabilities, and they did this successfully with varied scopes of work. One notable project was the reconstruction and refitting of the accommodation for the Ivanhoe/Rob Roy floating production facility on Tyneside which made use of underutilised outfit trades.
This example of a publicity brochure was a re-working and re-branding of an existing design developed in the early 1980s during ownership by British Shipbuilders. The photo in the front page shows fabrication in the building hall with RMS St Helena on the berth. The full page spread on the second image would have been taken in 1982, or 1983, and show HMS Peacock (Ship 988) being assembled in the dry-dock. The dry dock was used for shipbuilding while the Building Hall was assembled over Berths No2 and No3.
In the end, Hall Russell Offshore was not a commercial success as it started during the 1985/86 oil industry slump, and its losses led to the liquidation of Aberdeen Shipbuilders and consequent transfer of their business to A&P Appledore Limited, with Hall, Russell & Company being renamed A&P Appledore (Aberdeen) Limited.
The renaming of a long-standing Aberdeen company was not the first. The legal entity Alexander Hall & Company which had been a subsidiary of Hall, Russell & Company Limited was renamed in 1985 as Hall Russell Offshore, as on this brochure.
