A marine engineering company has appointed a production manager following a £650,000 investment in Portland Port.

Maritime engineering company, Intermarine UK has named Mark Bowden as its new production manager.

Mr Bowden, who was previously procurement manager at A&P Falmouth, will be in charge of day-to-day operations at the company’s new 2,400sqm fabrication and welding facility at Portland.

Intermarine UK, part of Polish-owned Inter Marine Group, signed a 20-year lease on the site at the start of this year and has since invested £650,000 in new machinery.

The move has enabled the business to evolve from a labour-only operation to one that can offer an extensive range of engineering and fabrication services.

Mr Bowden’s career within the maritime sector includes more than 27 years at ship repair and conversion company A&P Falmouth, nine of those as procurement manager negotiating long-term supplier agreements.

Most recently he oversaw the opening of India’s Lavgan shipyard in the state of Maharashtra, before moving to Rosyth in Scotland to assist with the construction of the second Royal Navy aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales.

Mr Bowden said his primary focus is on building Intermarine UK’s reputation as a provider of engineering services to the UK’s ship repair, refit, conversion and shipbuilding markets.

“Inter Marine Group has been involved in a lot of labour-only jobs, the biggest being the assembly of the second aircraft carrier in Rosyth. We’ve consolidated our operations here in Portland with facilities that enable us to stand out from businesses that only supply labour," Mr Bowden said.

Earlier this year Intermarine signed a six-figure contract with North West shipyard Cammell Laird to fabricate more than ten tons of piping systems for the RRS Sir David Attenborough polar ship, Britain’s biggest commercial ship building project in more than 30 years.

Inter Marine Group President Slawomir Kalicki welcomed Mr Bowden to the team and said the company is continuing to invest in its Portland base, most recently through the purchase of a £100,000 internal mandrel pipe bender.

“We’ve spent around half a million pounds equipping the workshop and this latest machine is another example of how the company is investing in this facility. It’s a statement that we’re here to stay and that our approach is to be as collaborative as possible with clients by offering an overall package,” Mr Kalicki said.