MJR POWER & AUTOMATION: Powering Marine Decarbonisation

Global shipping accounts for around 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making the maritime sector a central focus in the drive towards net zero. With international regulators and governments tightening decarbonisation targets, the industry faces an urgent need to cut emissions through electrification, hybridisation, and alternative fuels. The challenge is enormous: marine vessels are some of the most energy-intensive assets in the transport sector, and the infrastructure to support their transition has only just begun to emerge. Yet, companies like MJR Power & Automation are positioning themselves at the forefront of this transformation, bringing decades of engineering experience to bear on one of the most complex industrial challenges of our time.

“What is driving our business right now, and what is helping us to grow 40-50% year-on-year since Covid, is the push to electrification and the decarbonisation of marine. We are heavily involved in that space and we are well-versed in electrification, hybridisation, battery energy storage, propulsion energy optimisation, offshore charging, shore power, and all of the themes that are being rolled out and gathering momentum,” MD Paul Cairns tells Energy Focus.

ENGINEERING FOUNDATION

Founded in 1997, MJR Power & Automation has built its reputation on delivering power and automation systems across the marine and offshore industries. Today, the company employs 45 people in the UK, with a sister operation in Spain comprising 15 engineers, generating multimillion GBP revenue. Its client base is diverse, stretching from commercial operators of ferries, cruise ships, and container vessels, to offshore energy players managing jack ups, heavy lift craft, subsea vessels, and diving support ships.

“We deliver power and automation systems and all of our work is for the marine and offshore industries – that could be commercial, such as ferries or container ships or cruise ships, or offshore vessels such as jack ups, heavy lift vessels, cable and pipe layers; and we do oil and gas work including subsea vessels, diving craft etc. We have a mixed portfolio between commercial, marine, and specialist marine for offshore energy,” says Cairns.

The company’s full-cycle capability – spanning design, build, installation, commissioning, and long-term support – gives it a comprehensive role in the sector. “We design, build, install, commission, and support marine power and propulsion systems and automation and control systems for ships,” he adds.

Like many marine businesses, MJR faced disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic. With much of its work delivered abroad, global restrictions presented an immediate challenge.

“Pre Covid, we were growing year-on-year but Covid stopped us in our tracks. We took a 70% turnover hit because we couldn’t travel. A lot of our work is outside the UK and we could not do the work. After we came out of lockdown, there was pent up demand and, although difficult to deliver because of people and material shortages, we have seen growth of 40% of average year-on-year since 2022,” recalls Cairns.

This rebound has coincided with a surge in decarbonisation projects, leaving MJR well placed to capitalise. “We are highly experienced and we provide genuine solutions to complex problems,” says Cairns, emphasising the company’s competitive edge.

BREAKTHROUGH PROJECTS

At the heart of MJR’s current momentum is a portfolio of pioneering projects aimed at solving key infrastructure challenges. Chief among these is offshore charging.

“We have been working on developing our offshore charging solution. That was supported by DfT via Innovate UK. We designed and developed the first of its kind offshore charging system to charge electric and electric hybrid vessels from clean energy generated at windfarms. We trialled that very successfully last year, and we are now building our first multi megawatt scale offshore charging system as part of the ZEVI project with Tidal Transit,” Cairns explains.

The partnership with Tidal Transit, which is developing the first fully electric crew transfer vessel (CTV) for offshore wind, has been a milestone. “We are assisting them with the design and build of that while also delivering a 1.2 MW offshore charging system,” he says.

MJR is also supporting Stena Line with upgrades to Power Management Systems (PMS) on board the Stena Scotia and Stena Hibernia vessels.the project involves the integration of modern digital control technology, improved monitoring capabilities, and enhanced automation features, all designed to optimise load sharing, power availability, and system redundancy in port and at sea

Further afield, MJR recently undertook a hybrid conversion project in South America. “We have just completed a large hybrid conversion in Brazil for Petrobras which is taking a conventional diesel-powered offshore anchor handling and towing vessel and converting the power supply,” Cairns highlights.

INNOVATION PIPELINE

Beyond charging and conversion, MJR’s project pipeline shows the breadth of its expertise. “We are busy right now with a project in Las Palmas at Astican Shipyard where we are doing a life extension, replacing old power and propulsion systems on a survey vessel which hosts the deepest rated manned submersible in the world that has completed all the world’s main five ocean trench dives to 10,000m,” Cairns explains.

Hydrogen is also on the company’s horizon. “We are designing and building a containerised hydrogen generation system for trialling of low carbon, low emission hydrogen engines on ships,” he says.

Meanwhile, MJR continues to push electric workboat innovation. “We are designing and building, and are just about to commission, the whole power and propulsion system for a fully electric workboat with around 4MW of battery capacity. We are doing lots of innovative things in that space,” notes Cairns.

The company’s confidence in leading the charge on marine decarbonisation stems in part from Cairns’ own background. “I have been in the business for 30 years and started with my degree and master’s degree in electronic engineering before working as a freelancer in marine service, fixing problems for ship owners and operators. Gradually, those owners and operators would request more and more, eventually asking me to design and build system replacements,” he says.

His career has spanned commercial shipping, subsea telecoms during the fibre optic boom of the late 1990s, oil and gas, and offshore wind, before re-joining MJR in 2014 to grow the company. “I moved back into MJR decided to grow the business to be a leading independent provider of marine power and automation systems,” he states.

POWERFUL PARTNERSHIPS

The company’s supply chain strategy underpins its ability to deliver complex projects. “We are partners with a number of global brands such as ABB, Siemens, Danfoss and similar, but we manufacture hardware, and we use products from all. We don’t reinvent the wheel – we’ll take standard power conversion modules and hardware, and engineer that into our own solutions,” says Cairns.

With design and manufacturing capability based in Teesside, MJR leverages a strong local network. “We build in Teesside and we have a full design, manufacture capability. In that, we use a strong local supply chain including cabinets, steel, copper, fabrication, precision machine tools, cable, instruments, and all sorts of electrical and mechanical hardware. We try to use local suppliers in the Northeast as much as possible,” Cairns adds.

Dacon Fabrications and other local suppliers are integral to this approach. “We use Dacon Fabrications and a collection of other companies to provide us with precision parts and other materials and the fact that they are both high-quality and local is excellent for us,” he notes.

FUELLING FUTURE GROWTH

With marine decarbonisation accelerating, MJR Power & Automation’s trajectory looks set to remain steep. The combination of technical expertise, project delivery capability, and a strong innovation pipeline positions the company to benefit from surging demand for sustainable marine systems.

Cairns is clear about what sets the business apart: “We design and build innovative solutions for the decarbonisation of marine transport operations. We are highly experienced and we provide genuine solutions to complex problems,” he says.

Looking ahead, the challenge of building cleaner shipping fleets will only intensify, requiring leaders who can balance technical innovation with reliable delivery. MJR’s heritage, combined with its forward-thinking projects, means it is already a trusted partner in this transition. As Cairns and his team continue to expand their capabilities, the company is poised to shape the future of marine power systems and play a pivotal role in the journey towards a net-zero maritime industry.