Houlder has delivered a fleet review report making recommendations for the future of the General Lighthouse Authorities’ fleet of vessels to the UK Department of Transport and the Irish Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. Houlder’s Simon Harris, Simon Hill, Chris Bell, Will Powell and James Russell formed a team joined by Paul Robinson, former fleet director at Serco.

Having won a competitive tender process, Houlder reviewed the fleet operated by the three General Lighthouse Authorities :– Trinity House, Northern Lighthouse Board and the Commissioners of Irish Lights. Visits were conducted to all the vessels in the fleet at locations across the UK and Ireland. This allowed the team to establish the condition of the assets as well as to understand the kind of operations they undertake.

Following the visits, two models were developed. Naval architects, Will Powell and James Russell completed a probabilistic operational model that was able to determine the risk and vessel utilisations for any given fleet construct and programming approach. In parallel to this, Houlder’s Chief Financial Officer Simon Hill developed a financial model based on detailed data provided by the three organisations. Results from both of these were used to compare different options against each other and establish what the most effective and efficient fleet possible would look like.

The recommendations made in the fleet review will be presented at the UK Department for Transport.