2025 was a fantastic year for Marine Services, thanks to our extremely diverse range of services and products we supply to the marine industry. Have a read of some of the highlights of what we achieved in 2025 and what we are looking to expand towards throughout 2026.

2025, as usual, actually started in 2024, as just before the Christmas Holidays, in the darkness of night, we loaded two of our hero replica longboats onto trucks, bound for Morocco for a Christopher Nolan production, The Odyssey. Our replica boats were to form part of the lead roles in this movie due for general release in 2026. This was only the start of our work on the Odyssey, read on later in the article to see how more we assisted this production. See the hero boats we sent out in our catalogue online.

Hero replica long boats being loaded at the end of 2024

While our hero boats settled into their lives in Morocco, we were busy finishing work on the first commercial passenger vessel in Ireland to be powered solely by electric propulsion. As ePropulsion distributors in Ireland, we worked with our partners, the Irish National Sailing and Powerboat School, to convert the Elan 36 sail training vessel from diesel to fully electric, the first of its kind in Ireland. There is a great video of how we did this online below.

Indeed, the larger conversion was just one part of ePropulsion, where we provided a number of other conversions on a small scale and were busy selling the Spirit and eLite models.

i20 test bed, the same engine we installed into Beaufort Venture

There was a rumour of a considerable movie due to grace Irish shores in early 2025, and sure enough, we found ourselves in the thick of what was then called USP, which at the time translated to the Untitled Statham Project. This Jason Statham production was set in and around Wicklow, with the marine work shot at Blackcastle beach beside Wicklow Harbour and the tank scenes at the National Media Centre in Ashford. For the production, we worked with our colleagues based in the United Kingdom by supplying and installing a Marine base pontoon in Wicklow Harbour, Licensed Safety and Support Boats, diving services to sink and raise again a wreck featured as a backdrop off Blackcastle, which also provided more Hero boats and support craft with crews for the duration of the shoot

The remnants of the wreck when recovered as seen from one of our support craft

As USP wrapped up, our thoughts turned to Bloodaxe. After the original Vikings and Valhalla series wrapped up a number of years ago, there were always rumours that the series would be back, and in 2025 it returned under the name Bloodaxe. This saw a full time marine crew based in the National Media Centre as we brought the fleet of vessels from Vikings and Valhalla out of storage and got them ready to sail again throughout the rivers, lakes and seas of Wicklow. This series continues to shoot in 2026 and is an important project for us to continue with. Support boats and Viking Ships ready to go to sea in Wicklow Harbour.

Support RIBs and Viking Ships ready to go to sea in Wicklow Harbour

Meanwhile, after investing in the original modular pontoon company Airfloat MPS a little over a year ago, we were pushing to grow this company again, as it offers the best modular pontoon system in the world. Our promotion did take off for us, as mentioned above, providing access solutions for USP. We were busy throughout Ireland, undertaking maintenance and expansion projects for new and existing customers in Skibbereen, Clifden, Wicklow, to name a few. This showcases our ability to travel and deliver no matter the distance from our base. Notably we took on the engineering challenge to create bespoke swimming ladders for the existing Airfloat Pontoons in Wicklow Harbour showcasing again our diverse skillset in the marine industry.

Bespoke ladders are being installed in Wicklow Harbour

We had some great pontoon hire projects throughout 2025, providing access solutions for the Irish Sailing Inclusion Games, the River Lee swim and much more, however a great bespoke project was the provision of a temporary dock in Buckie Harbour, Scotland for the Odyssey movie, this saw a full truck load of pontoon and access gangway head to Birkenhead giving access for the largest Viking ship in the world to provide a stable access to an otherwise inaccessible dock.

Temporary dock installed in Buckie

The highlight of the year was of course the multi bay RIB dock for Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council, this tender was announced earlier in the year and Marine Services were delighted to win this project. As with nearly all of our projects, Marine Services were totally self-sufficient requiring no outside contractors for this project.

Multi Bay drive up dock in Dun Laoghaire Harbour

Meanwhile the TV and Film world continued with more and more projects requiring our specialist skills, we spent time on the Grand Canal and River Shannon on a project called ‘One Sweet Hour’ which we are very much looking forward to seeing when it comes out in 2026. Amongst this, there were multiple projects of various scales that as always required us to think outside the box and utilise our specialist equipment

Electric engines mounted on a Manitou

A major highlight of the year was now being able to use our existing skillset and apply it to underwater photography. Using a Gates housing, Marine Services have the dive team and expertise to get the perfect underwater shot for any scale of production.

Gates camera housing on set

There is naturally so much to talk about; however, we would have to write a short novel to do so We are very much looking to work with new and existing clients in 2026 and are excited for the challenges this will bring.

Ready for 2026