The Story of the Craig Group

TIME TIDE his is the story of Aberdeen’s Craig Group, a family business whose beginnings are anchored in the City’s once powerful fishing industry, but which has largely & been displaced by the prosperous North Sea oil and gas industry. Established in the 1930s, Craig grew to become one of Scotland’s most successful trawler fleet owners prior to diversifying into the offshore industry and evolving to the multi-faceted, award-winning fishing to international energy services group that it is today. The Story of the Craig Group It is a voyage that is made all the more remarkable by the fact that its chairman, David Craig, was there right at the beginning when his father established the business. He has witnessed massive change ... from being a deckhand on an ancient steam trawler reliant on gas carbide and paraffin for lighting to, on March 7th this year, hosting the christening of Grampian Explorer, an £11million, state-of-the art, go anywhere offshore support vessel. THE AUTHOR: Jeremy Cresswell has a passion for the sea that started with voyages to Canada and New Zealand during his childhood, then evolved to yacht cruising, aquaculture and commercial fishing. Today he is an energy and maritime affairs journalist and is editor of The Press and Journal supplement Energy. The Story of the Craig Group Craig Group Ltd, 207 Albert Quay, Aberdeen AB11 5FS, Scotland UK Tel: +44 (0) 1224 592206 Fax:+44 (0) 1224 584174 www.craig-group.com Jeremy Cresswell Aberdeen Lagos Stavanger Cape Town Baku Atyrau (KZ) Abu Dhabi Singapore Perth Houston New Iberia Trinidad Faroe The Story of the Craig Group Jeremy Cresswell Special thanks to The BIG Partnership and Hampton Associates in the production of this book. The Craig family: George Snr, David, George, Lydia and Mother Mary. Time & Tide - The Craig Group Story CONTENTS FOREWORD by David Craig ...................................................5 INTRODUCTION ................................................................6 PART ONE: The Fishing .........................................................9 PARTTWO:The Oil Era .......................................................41 TABLES & PHOTOS ........................................................... 73 3 David and Helen Craig with his prize-winning dahlias. Time & Tide - The Craig Group Story FOREWORD After much persuasion from family and friends, I started putting pen to paper in an attempt to compile my memoirs, describing the early days of The Craig Group and capturing some of the anecdotes in our seventy years in business. From my initial scribblings and ramblings, the concept for this book was developed. Thankfully, the task of authoring our history fell to a real wordsmith and my contribution simply involved reminiscing and recounting the tales of days gone by. A chore I thoroughly enjoyed! Seventy years in business is a significant milestone and I am proud of our rich maritime heritage. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the family on whose Christian values, unity and loyalty the company was founded. To my father and mother for having the imagination to establish the business, my brother George and my wife Helen who are sadly not around to celebrate our 70th year, and my sister Lydia and her late husband George Bell for their support. We made a good team and our unity gave us strength to move forward successfully. As the third generation, my son Douglas has steered the group into new waters and continues to find new opportunities to grow the business and safeguard the future. Under his leadership and guidance, the company is in a strong position for the next generation to continue the legacy. The book is divided into two distinct parts, taking the reader on a journey through our roots in the fishing industry and then on to the discovery of North Sea oil and gas and our steps towards becoming a global player in this sector. I hope it is a journey you find nostalgic, entertaining and informative. DAVID CRAIG 5 INTRODUCTION George Craig Snr. berdeen is Europe’s Energy Capital, a hive of intense David’s is a hectic life. This year he was in Cape Town visiting the oil and gas activity the likes of which can be found company’s latest venture, a base that will act as launch-pad for marine in only a few other centres worldwide. This is a support and energy supply chain services to the fast growing offshore bustling port that makes few concessions to oil and gas industry of southern and western Africa. tradition, with massive infrastructure changes since North Sea oil was first discovered at the end of the 1960s. In the spring, he welcomed Aberdeen’s outgoing Lord Provost Margaret Smith and hundreds of guests aboard one of the Craig It was once a thriving fishing centre, but the fleet has been decimated Group’s latest marine investments, the £11million, Norwegian-built since Britain joined the Common Market in 1973, coupled with offshore support vessel Grampian Explorer. being banned from Icelandic and Faroese waters. Quaysides that were formerly crowded with large trawlers moored mostly nose-on - Through the Scottish media, and particularly The Press and Journal, discharging their catches, or resting briefly before heading to sea Fishing Monthly and Fishing News, David pointedly told the again - are now all but empty. Government and EU fishery commissioner Franz Fischler that the Common Fishery Policy had brought Scotland’s fishing industry to This was the world that David Craig, today the oldest shipping the brink of disaster. company chairman in the land, grew up in. Moreover, the company founded 70 years ago by his father, George Craig Snr, continues to Late summer, quite aside from tending his beloved dahlias, thrive ... one of the few traditional Aberdeen firms to have truly preparations were under way to fly the Craig Group’s pennant at successfully capitalised on fishing and North Sea oil. Offshore Europe. Time & Tide - The Craig Group Story For David Craig, this is all a far cry from starting his career as the Services, International Mooring Systems (IMS) and ChainCo lowest form of life aboard a family-owned coal-fired steam trawler International. There is also a vibrant leisure division. that hunted the waters around the Faroes, even Iceland. This is the vision of group managing director Douglas ... building on And it’s a long way removed from his ship being blasted from under the foundations laid by two prior generations ... being bold yet his feet by the Germans in World War Two; or 30 or so years later, conservative ... working with a hand-picked management team and loyal workforce and where safety is the watchword. from battling against the economic impact of the Iceland Cod Wars with his brother and long-time co-managing director George; or in The purpose of this book, which is in two parts, is not just to the 1970s grasping early opportunities in the then embryonic North celebrate 70 years of the Craigs in business; hopefully it will also Sea oil industry. make a small contribution to recording some of the history of two of the North-east of Scotland’s greatest industries - Fishing and North Once the core business, fishing accounts for just 5% of group Sea Oil. turnover today. The company has been transformed to one of Scotland’s Top 100 companies, ranking as market leader in offshore standby, marine electronics, mooring rentals, catering and JEREMY CRESSWELL procurement, with bases in the UK and internationally. Newburgh, October 2003 But for North Sea oil and the bonanza it brought to Aberdeen, the company, then George Craig & Sons, might have gone under, become part of the Granite City’s sepia-tinted history. Then came salvation in the shape of a Texan oilman who, one Friday in the early 1970s, walked into the Craig offices and asked if he could hire a trawler to act as safety vessel to a rig then drilling in the North Sea. The brothers, who were joined by David’s son Douglas in September 1975, saw their chance and rapidly adapted, converting trawlers to standby vessels to support the fast growing North Sea oil industry. They had no intention of sinking without trace. And how they have prospered, with Craig Group recognised as one of Scotland’s most successful and entrepreneurial family businesses. If accolades count for anything, then an Ernst & Young Award for Entrepreneur of the Year received at a dinner in Edinburgh this summer is surely a measure. Today, the group is becoming increasingly global in its outlook, with 10 bases spread from North America to Europe, Africa, the Caspian and East Asia. Spearheading the push is a family of specialist divisions, with Craig Energy Services now providing a common gateway to subsidiaries North Star Shipping, Seatronics (marine electronics) and CIS (Craig International Supplies), Catering 7 Trawlers moored at Aberdeen Fish Market, awaiting to discharge their catch in the 1930s. Time & Tide - The Craig Group Story Part One THE FISHING o walk Aberdeen’s fish market at 6am in the mid 1960s, would be all but swept away by politics and that North Sea oil would was an unforgettable experience. Winter, spring, prevail as Aberdeen’s dominant industry. summer or autumn, the excitement was immediate. The Aberdeen trawler fleet of the 1960s was potent, with a large It was the busiest place in town by far, with Market number of smart diesel trawlers displacing ancient, worn out steamers Street heaving with the kind of life that only a great that were then consigned to the quay at Point Law to await a final fishing port can generate. tow to the breakers. Picture trawlers and great line boats crowding in along the quays, the shrieking of derrick blocks as wicker creels of fish were swung ashore, The Craigs were at the forefront of the modernisation drive, with the great cod - known as ‘green’ in the trade - readied for auction, halibut Mary Craig setting the trend, her clipped lines set off with rakish that seemed as big as doors laid out with great precision on the wet funnel and the first ‘lantern-style’ wheelhouse ever to be seen on a concrete, boxes of haddocks, each bearing St Peter’s thumbprint on Scottish-owned fishing vessel.

Load more