The agreement with Olympic Shipping will initially be a seasonal charter, starting at the end of Q1 2014 with options to extend.

The vessel will be mobilised with ROVs from Bibby Offshore's sister company, Bibby Remote Intervention. Together with Olympic Shipping, they will jointly market the vessel from when it arrives in Aberdeen this month.

Bibby Subsea managing director Andrew Duncan said adding to the company's fleet increased its offering to the inspection, repair and maintenance, and construction markets, which were an important growth area for the business.

"We have recently secured a number of major contracts in these areas and the Olympic ARES will be used to execute large and complex projects in the UK Continental Shelf, Denmark and elsewhere in the North Sea, while offering our clients greater choice and availability," he said.

"The Olympic ARES is a superior vessel with excellent specifications, including a 250-tonne heave-compensated crane for subsea use and 1300 square metres of clear back deck space."

Olympic Shipping executive vice-president Bjorn Kvalsund said the ROV services agreement with Bibby Remote Intervention would allow both to take advantage of additional opportunities.

Bibby Offshore, with new sister company Bibby Remote Intervention, has grown from 10 employees in 2003 to employing more than 1300 people onshore and offshore worldwide.

The company has a fleet of six subsea support vessels and 13 ROVs and offices in Aberdeen, Liverpool, Singapore, Trinidad and Houston.