Dunoon scuba diving business to enhance offering and create jobs

A dive charter company in Argyll is reducing costs and carbon emissions, while improving their customer experience, increasing turnover and creating new jobs.

Dunoon based Wreckspeditions Dive Charters Limited offers scuba diving charters in the Firth of Clyde for divers all around the UK and further afield.

The company has secured £24,511 investment from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) towards the £49,022 cost of a new nitrox compressor and associated 3 phase electrical fittings.

This will offer customers tank refills of nitrox with higher oxygen levels than air has, meaning they can extend their dive times and enjoy more of the dive sites on offer. Nitrox is also a much safer gas to breathe whilst diving, reducing the possibility of nitrogen narcosis and decompression illness.

Boat fuel costs will be less, as divers need fewer trips back and forth between dive sites and the shore, making the business more efficient. The new compressor also runs on electricity instead of diesel, which will help the business cut its carbon emissions.

The investment will enable Wreckspeditions to attract a wider customer base of more experienced recreational divers, who increasingly prefer diving on a higher oxygen mix. The move is forecast to result in a £149,000 increase in turnover within the next three years.

This, along with cost savings will mean the company will be able to employ two more people.

HIE previously provided funding for directors of Wreckspeditions to visit a much larger scuba diving company in the south of England as part of a learning journey.

In this they explored different methods and products while increasing their knowledge in developing relationships across the UK diving community. They also learned about managing different tour types, reducing their impact on the marine environment, and attracting new customers.

Morag Goodfellow, HIE’s area manager for Argyll and the Islands, said:

“Since the learning journey south, the directors of Wreckspeditions have been developing growth plans to strengthen the company’s future and the contribution it makes to the local economy and job creation.

“This new investment to offer nitrox, while making cost savings and cutting emissions, will broaden the company’s appeal to a wider customer base. Importantly it will create new jobs and generate more income for the local economy. I’m very pleased we have been able to provide support.”

Claire Hallybone, director and dive instructor at Wreckspeditions, said:

“Being able to offer Nitrox fills will greatly increase our customer base and appeal to more technical divers who currently do not visit this area due to the lack of mixed gas fills. It will mean that divers will be able to safely extend their dive times on shipwrecks within the Clyde, and therefore greatly adding to the customer experience.”