Bosses at Great Yarmouth's �50m outer harbour are celebrating after it signed a contract with a major offshore company.Harbour owners EastPort UK has signed a long term deal with the Edinburgh-based Subocean Group to allow the Scottish company to set up a workshop and equipment store at the port.

Bosses at Great Yarmouth's �50m outer harbour are celebrating after it signed a contract with a major offshore company.

Harbour owners EastPort UK has signed a long term deal with the Edinburgh-based Subocean Group to allow the Scottish company to set up a workshop and equipment store at the port.

The move will let the subsea cable installation company use both the harbour and riverside facilities to store parts for its offshore wind farm operations and client base.

Subocean, which was first formed in 2005, employs 100 people with a turnover of �100 million, which is derived from the rapidly expanding renewable energy sector.

The company's offshore wind projects include Lynn and Inner Dowsing, Robin Rigg, Rhyl Flats, Thanet and Greater Gabbard.

John Sinclair, managing director of Subocean, said: “Yarmouth is a key region for Subocean in terms of supporting our operations including our work on all our marine renewables projects in the south east.

“Our base at EastPort UK enables us to additionally establish a spare cable and parts depot from which we can deliver smarter and more cost-effective solutions for Subocean and our clients.”

Yarmouth's port, which has been privately owned since May 2007, has seen the investment of some �100 million to create a new deep water outer harbour facility to complement its existing river port.

The outer harbour became operational at the end of January and has been visited by vessels the Svanen, Deep Cygnus, Seven Sisters, Bibby Topaz, Normand Mermaid and the Subocean-chartered Polar Prince.

Gorleston-based Seajacks recently made EastPort UK the home port for their two self propelled jack up vessels.

Seajacks, owned by Riverstone Holdings, an energy and power-focused private equity firm which manages the world's largest renewable and energy fund, believes that Yarmouth's port is perfectly placed to facilitate the most recent wind farm developments in round 3.

The company is planning to build a new office/warehouse complex close to the outer harbour to support its operations which are currently focused on Walney offshore wind farm in the Irish Sea and, Greater Gabbard off the Suffolk coast.

Port bosses point to the fact that with Gleadell Agriculture, Stema Shipping (UK), PSA International, Seajacks and now Subocean already committed, it underlines the importance of the outer harbour development and the growing support it is receiving.