A CORPORATION owned by thousands of people indigenous to Alaska has gone into business with Co Antrim company Causeway Geotech Limited.
Set up in 1972, the Alaska Native Corporation Sealaska is owned by 23,000 Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian shareholders, with more than 10,000 years of ancestral ties to the oceans, forests and communities of Southeast Alaska.
The organisation’s Seattle-based ocean health business Woocheen, has merged with the Ballymoney-based ground-investigation contractor Causeway Geotech.
The company employs around 100 people in Antrim and Balbriggan in Dublin.
Causeway’s owners will retain stakes in the company, with the firm’s leadership team and staff continuing in their roles.
Causeway will also retain its own brand.
Director Darren O’Mahony said: “Our marine ground-investigation capabilities will be expanded, and our ability to move from nearshore to offshore waters will be developed to increase our market share in the offshore wind sector while continuing to serve our customers on land.
“We want to be at the forefront of the ground-investigation sector, not just in Ireland and the UK, but on the global stage,” he added.
“The extensive support, sector experience and leadership that the Sealaska merger will afford us will let us realize those aspirations.”
Ciaran Doherty said the firm, set up in 2012, has grown into the leader in ground investigation in the Irish market.
“We feel that Sealaska, given its origin and history, shares many of the same values as ourselves — trying to give opportunities to people to make a good living for themselves and their families, rewarding hard work and respecting each other. I see this as an opportunity to reward and thank people for their effort to date.”
