Manor Marine and ZeroUSV partner on production of advanced British-built USVs

Above: Tom O’Neill, Operations Director at Manor Marine and Matthew Ratsey, Managing Director of ZeroUSV.
Courtesy Manor Marine

ZeroUSV has made a strategic investment in Portland based multidisciplinary shipyard, Manor Marine, to accelerate the production of its high-tech, UK-designed and built, Oceanus class autonomous vessels.

The new partnership sees ZeroUSV become a shareholder in Manor Marine, providing ZeroUSV with guaranteed production capacity to significantly scale and deliver at pace, its Oceanus class USVs, from Manor Marine’s base in Portland, Dorset.

Additional manufacturing space may be added from Autumn 2027 to support the growing new build pipeline.

This further enhances ZeroUSV’s end-to-end domestic production capabilities, while securing long-term business for Manor Marine, advancing its objective to support state-of-the-art, UK shipbuilding projects while bringing economic benefits to the South West region.

Low carbon autonomous craft have been identified by the National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) as a core area of growth within the UK maritime market. Strengthening the supply chain for USVs aligns with the UK’s Defence Industrial Strategy, and unlocks significant opportunities to export this homegrown innovation overseas.

Rod Paterson, CEO of the National Shipbuilding Office, said: “Having visited both Zero USV and Manor Marine, and many other brilliant British SMEs, I am hugely impressed by their innovation, agility and craftmanship.

“The development enhances our sovereign capability, drives local economic growth and skills, offers future export potential and is being developed at pace. This is all critical to our Defence Industrial Strategy, our future Hybrid Navy ambitions and the NSO Shipbuilding and Maritime Technology Action Plan.”

Designed for ‘over-the-horizon’ missions, ZeroUSV’s fully robotic, autonomous low carbon Oceanus class USVs embody these objectives, benefitting from large payload capacity, industry-leading hardware and customisable design, serving as a versatile platform for a wide range of critical maritime operations, including defence.

Over the last two years, Manor Marine has been a trusted construction partner for ZeroUSV, delivering the construction and outfitting of all four Oceanus12 vessels now in operational service.

Construction of the first Oceanus17 class – a new larger 17-metre platform development with the proven engineering of the Oceanus12 – is currently underway, and set for delivery in early July this year.

Manor Marine’s strategic location at the gated, ISPS-compliant, Portland Port will ensure robust security, aligned with the requirements of building vessels for defence applications.

Closer integration with Manor Marine will support ZeroUSV’s objective to continually accelerate the design, engineering and build phases for the Oceanus fleet,creating increased agility in the delivery of these versatile autonomous craft.

Matthew Ratsey, Co-founder and Managing Director of ZeroUSV, said: “From the outset Manor Marine have proven to be a key partner in delivering the world-class Oceanus12 USV which the 17 is now building on. The investment we are making today is a recognition of that, and a serious statement of intent which will guarantee production capacity and allow ZeroUSV to continue to scale at an aggressive pace which the market demands. This will be a direct boost to the UK’s sovereign shipbuilding capability and local economic opportunities in the South West.”

Tom O’Neill, Operations Director, Manor Marine, said: “Autonomous vessels represent a new frontier for critical maritime operations supporting defence and energy security objectives and it’s important that the UK capitalises on its growing reputation in this space. We’re proud that ZeroUSV has made the transition from client to strategic investor; this says a great deal about the trust that our teams have cultivated in the delivery of the fleet to date and sets us up perfectly for deeper collaboration in future.”