An Irish marine weather forecasting firm already competing with Met Éireann is set to take on the British Meteorological Office, when it opens its latest European branch in Scotland today.
Nowcasting International Ltd, a private firm based in Ennis, Co Clare, claims to be one of the world's fastest growing marine meteorological services. With its US partner, Wilkens Weather Technologies (WWT), it has been providing detailed meteorological information to the US offshore oil and gas sector for several years.
Its clients include the Irish Coast Guard and the Naval Service, and customers include Irish Ferries, P&O Ferries, British Petroleum (BP), the ports of Dublin, London and Aberdeen, Mobil Equatorial Guinea and several Norwegian firms. It has energy clients on five continents, extending from central and south America to Sakhalin island off Russia.
Nowcasting was set up in 1999 by Dr Patrick Hartigan who then recruited Dr Mark White, formerly of the Marine Institute, to direct the new venture. The firm drew on funding from the Eircom enterprise fund, Mayfair Venture Capital and Shannon Development, and it rapidly developed its international client base. It specialises in "high quality" marine forecasting which is critical for health and safety, and the economics of working offshore.
"Nowcasting's customers need to know such things as how high the waves will be, the speed and direction of the wind and how strong the current will be," says Dr White. "Knowing these things in advance allows customers to decide whether to leave port, to start dives or to plan the lifting of offshore platforms - which can weigh as much as 12,000 tonnes and be lifted on floating cranes."
The US alliance with WWT has given the firm a foothold in the lucrative Gulf of Mexico market, and it also provides invaluable information to airlines which allows for economic routing. The new Nowcasting Wilkens office in Aberdeen will support the team's forecast offices in Houston, Texas, and Ireland. It will be led by Andy Swan, who has 27 years experience in meteorology, including work with the British Meteorological Service and Weathernews International in Aberdeen.
The Scottish branch will focus on the Nowcasting Wilkens offshore oil and gas client base in the North Sea, extending from Aberdeen to Stavanger in Norway.
"Needless to say , as a small firm we are judged first and foremost on the quality of our forecasts," Dr White says. "You're only as good as your last forecast."