Pirie & Smith, marine consultants and ship surveyors to the marine and energy sectors, has appointed Graeme Alexander as General Manager to head up the company and take responsibility for leading its activities across the globe.

The appointment is in response to a 12-month period of international expansion for the Aberdeen-headquartered firm, which has seen it establish representative agencies in Thailand, India, Singapore, Dubai and Europe to provide a global network for local and international clients in the offshore, marine, fishing, renewables and insurance industries. In addition, Pirie & Smith, which also has an office in London, is actively looking at additional business opportunities in the Middle East.

Graeme brings more than 34 years of seagoing and shore experience to the new post having previously worked in the USA, Oman, India and Europe as well as the UK. Most recently he was General Manager Marine Operations for the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, responsible for passenger and cargo ferries and for the Penzance Dry Dock Company. Prior to that, roles ranged from engineer on specialised Dynamic Positioning (DP) vessels to Technical Superintendent and Project Manager of vessel conversions and new builds. Shore side experience included managing marine assets for a range of diving, geotechnical drilling and well operations projects.

“This is an exciting time to be joining Pirie & Smith,” said Graeme. “Within the past year it has not only grown its sphere of activities on an international level but has added new divisions to meet the needs of its growing client base, including the addition of a new DP division which is one of our growth areas.

“The company has a long tradition and established reputation for servicing the marine sector and my aim will be to continue the traditional values of Pirie & Smith while introducing new services and divisions in response to the needs of the modern marine and offshore sectors.

“I am particularly interested in helping to drive forward ongoing efforts to enhance safety right across the industry. We will work in partnership with other marine and surveying consultants to utilise our collective industry experience to jointly develop effective and robust safety assurance processes to benefit our customers and the overall marine industry.”

Based in Aberdeen, Pirie & Smith has been in operation since 1904 and is one of Scotland’s oldest firms of marine surveyors.