A MARINE firm is continuing a £25m upgrade after receiving equipment to move offshore structures.

Able UK, which operates Seaton Port at the mouth of the River Tees, near Middlesbrough, is using six self-propelled modular transporters (SPMT) to move decommissioned oil rigs to wind turbines and foundations.

The company is also building new quays to dispose of North Sea offshore platforms from the Shell operated Brent Field, with Able taking three platform topsides and a 138-metre steel platform jacket.

Earlier this year, it took delivery of the UK’s largest harbour crane, which bosses said will create 40 North-East jobs.

Neil Etherington, Able UK group development director, said: “We are investing around £25m in the upgrading and expansion of Seaton Port and constructing new quays for our Shell Brent work.

“The arrival of the SPMTs follows on from receiving the harbour crane and an order we have placed for a rough terrain crane.”

In July, Able revealed it had missed out on a contract to scrap the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner.

The firm had bid to recycle the vessel, which ran aground after striking a reef off Tuscany, Italy, killing 32 people in January 2012.

However, work was awarded to an Italian yard in Genoa.