Following the news of its recent acquisition, CRE Marine has continued to provide a high-quality and flexible approach to underwater connectivity, while supporting customers. Staying loyal to its roots has not stopped the business from implementing important changes. Business Development Director Paul Morrison and General Manager Paddy Mair explained more. Report by Imogen Ward.
Underwater connectivity expert CRE Marine has been delivering excellence to a wide range of industries since it was established in 2002. Initially operating as a third-party OEM cable moulding shop, the company continued to expand its capabilities, all while enhancing its own position within the market.
“Although we were predominantly focused on cable moulding and subsea cable assemblies for the offshore market, the company grew swiftly thanks to its can-do attitude and exceptionally fast turnaround,” explained Business
Development Director Paul Morrison. “Thanks to this rapid growth, CRE Marine has been able to expand into renewables, aquaculture, ocean science and even defence.”
CRE Marine stepped into the world of subsea connectors in 2011, with the development of its own line of metal shell dual seal subseaconnectors. By bringing the subsea connector manufacturing in-house, CRE Marine hoped to enhance quality control, reduce lead times and drive innovation from within. Not only did this move help meet increasing customer demands, but it also positioned the company
as a leading provider of reliable, high-performance subsea connectivity solutions.
The business transformed once more in 2018, when Mr Morrison and Mr Mair were brought on board. The two men were mentored by the legacy Directors in hopes that they would become the next generation of management and input their own vision into the company. This venture proved highly successful, allowing the company to grow steadily until its acquisition by Trexon in 2024.
In the six years between hiring the next generation of management and Trexon’s acquisition, CRE successfully doubled its workforce – a true testament to the company’s growth trajectory and the success of its expansion efforts.
Exploring the range
As a multinational portfolio company specialising in highly engineered connector solutions, Trexon saw CRE Marine as a natural fit for its expanding portfolio.
Today, CRE provides a diverse range of connectors, each custom-designed to meet the unique requirements of its clients. This
Subsea Supplies
Subsea Supplies values the strong, longlasting relationship with CRE, a consistent partner throughout our 25-year journey. Since 2002, our collaboration has only grown, reflecting a shared vision. We thank CRE for its support and look forward to our continued collaboration.
tailored approach has made connectors a cornerstone of the company’s operations, accounting for greater than 50% of its output. Many of these connectors were designed in collaboration with customers, including the renowned CS-MS.
After receiving a request from a worldrenowned engineering and technology solutions company with its own line of ROVs, CRE set to work developing a new connector purpose-built for these unmanned vehicles. Today, these connectors are known as CS-MS, named after developer Craig Simpson, and are aluminium shell connectors specifically designed for the needs of the customer.
Most commonly used for ROVs, recreational submersibles, stress monitoring and downhole applications, the CRE connector
range have been supplied for solutions from splash zone, down to full ocean depth and can be designed bespoke at no extra cost to the customer.
Innovation at CRE often stems from customer requests, though not all projects end up where they were originally intended.
In 2018, the company developed its first miniature connector in response to a client’s request for a compact solution that could fit within extremely tight spaces. Although the client ultimately chose not to proceed with the project, CRE recognised its potential and introduced the design to a company in the aquaculture sector. The connector proved to be a perfect fit for the company’s small net cleaning vehicle.
Within a year of its debut, CRE’s miniature connector quickly rose to prominence as one of the company’s best-selling products. Its success served as a clear testament to the strength of the idea behind its development.
An updated portfolio
The company also offers a range of fibre optic connectors, which are designed to withstand increasing water depths and bandwidth requirements. Having already
had great success in this area of expertise, CRE has recently expanded the range.
“Historically, we have only ever manufactured expandable beam fibre optics,” explained Mr Mair. “However, when a client asked if we could turn our expertise to a point-to-point fibre-optic connection, we felt ready to explore this new opportunity.”
CRE has dedicated the last two years to developing this new range of connectors and is extremely happy with the results.
The company’s impressive portfolio has been utilised across a diverse range of projects over the years. From camera installations that aid the aquaculture industry to multiple large submersible projects, CRE has eagerly taken up the challenge of each and every one.
According to Mr Mair, the company has experienced a significant increase in demand for cabling used in semi-permanent
Expansion, expansion, expansion:
With its growth goals firmly underway, CRE Marine has also been developing a high voltage connector range. To ensure the success of this project, the company recently invested in new testing equipment and has upped its game when it comes to training.
camera systems in aquaculture pens worldwide. To carry out these specific projects, CRE utilises custom-manufactured Vectran braided cable alongside the CRE range of stain-terminated connectors to ensure the weight of the camera system can be supported, while ensuring the critical power and data requirements of the camera system are not compromised.
“We are also seeing an increasing number of ROV-, AUV- and UUV-based projects, as the
drive for these continues to skyrocket within multiple subsea sectors,” said Mr Morrison. “These vehicles are becoming larger and more advanced to respond to the growing demands for enhanced exploration, safety and efficiency.
“As the underwater vehicles become more sophisticated, the need for reliable, high-performance power and data solutions have never been greater. Our expertise perfectly positions us to support this expansion.”
A fully-equipped workforce
Naturally, the development of such complex products, means CRE needs to trust in its employees’ capabilities. In order to enhance its workforce, the company has developed its own grassroots training programme. Designed to help people enter the industry, this programme targets a wide range of sectors, with applicants regularly needing to have no previous experience within the industry, providing them with the knowledge and experience needed to become a subsea cable technician.
“The grassroots training programme has been incredibly successful, with candidates completing the course and moving up into crucial positions within the company,” revealed Mr Mair. “We have really enjoyed giving people the opportunity and the time to develop into great technicians.”
Ensuring its employees are highly competent is an important element in the top-quality service that CRE provides. Another critical piece of the puzzle is its longstanding suppliers and partners.
“A lot of our suppliers have been with us for many years and are an integral part of our business,” shared Mr Mair. “They understand what we do, they have diversified with us in order to continue to meet
the needs of our customers, and they are always quick to help.”
Having developed these relationships over a number of years, CRE intends to continue working with these trustworthy suppliers while also growing the chain. This growth will be important as the company seeks to globalise its business.
“In the near future, CRE aims to establish a stronger physical presence across the globe,” explained Mr Morrison. “Our primary focus will be on placing CRE employees into markets within the US and Asia. Once we have a physical presence in these key regions, we plan to broaden our product portfolio to better serve the growing market demands.” n
