Llifeboat and davit manufacturer Schat-Harding has strengthened its US service network by purchasing Maritime Solutions Inc, a Norfolk, Virginia-based lifeboat and davit service company.

Gary Joseph, president of Schat-Harding USA, says, "We have worked with Jim Lyttle and his staff at Maritime for a number of years and know the good service they can deliver. By buying the company and integrating it into our world-wide network we can help them to improve their technical skills and also improve the service to our clients at key ports up and down the East coast of the USA."

Schat-Harding has a fabrication plant, spares and service base in Louisiana, service engineers based in Florida and now with the purchase of Maritime it will have eight fully trained engineers on the East coast. The Norfolk centre will have a full range of spares and will be connected to Schat-Harding's safety database SHIELD, which ensures timely servicing and delivery of spares.

As owners turn to original manufacturers for service and maintenance, Schat-Harding continues to gear up its global network to meet their needs. Today the network consist of 12 owned service stations supplemented by authorised service partners in over 20 countries, providing service facilities in over 30 countries worldwide.

Globally Schat-Harding now has 320 dedicated service engineers and back-office service personnel. This is continuing to expand and these S-H service engineers are supported by over 60 trained / certified service partner technicians.