A recruitment network finds people. A managed workforce turns up at the yard and welds.
Brunel and Airswift are large, credible global staffing businesses with published scale. The difference for a shipyard is what arrives: a shortlist of candidates, or an existing crew of over 2,500 tradespeople already working to yard weld procedures.
This is not a proposal. Over 2,500 experienced tradespeople are currently deployed with a leading Middle Eastern shipyard across welding, fitting, turning, pipe-fitting and rigging, with capacity to scale further.
Side by side
| Attribute | Represented by UnstratShipbuilding manpower | Brunel InternationalWorkforce Solutions and Global Mobility1Netherlands | AirswiftFabrication and shipyards workforce solutions23United Kingdom / United States / Singapore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engagement model123 | One managed workforce delivered through a single accountable channel, covering mobilisation, certification, accommodation coordination and rotation | Project and Consulting Solutions, Workforce Solutions and Global Mobility Solutions, connecting specialists to client projects | Contract and direct hire recruitment plus workforce solutions, supported by candidate delivery centres in Brazil and Malaysia |
| People currently deployed12 | Over 2,500 with one Middle Eastern shipyard | More than 12,000 specialists worldwide, representing nearly 100 nationalities | Over 9,000 contractors and 1,000 employees |
| Geographic footprint123 | Vetted sources across Africa and Asia, deployed into the Middle East | 120 or more offices, active in 45 countries | 60 offices with corporate hubs in Houston, Manchester and Singapore; hiring carried out in 58 countries |
| Trades covered13 | Welders, fitters, turners, pipe-fitters, riggers, fabricators and marine electricians | Technical specialists across renewables, conventional energy, mining, life sciences, future mobility, industrials and technology; individual shipyard trades not listed | 42 disciplines recruited for across fabrication and shipyards |
| Shipbuilding-specific track record published13 | One leading Middle Eastern shipyard supported across the trades a hull programme depends on | Not published as a shipbuilding figure; the annual report cites supported operations in more than 30 offshore locations | 4,250 FPSO jobs filled globally and more than 50 FPSO and major fabrication yard projects managed |
| Trade testing and certification13 | Trade testing and certification aligned to classification-society and yard weld-procedure requirements | Not published | Not published |
| Scaling behaviour123 | Crews ramp up for block fabrication and outfitting peaks and draw down without long-term liability to the yard | Contracting model described as providing flexibility in a tight market, with specialists forming part of Brunel's workforce | Contract and direct hire options, with global talent pooling through dedicated delivery centres |
| Primary sector orientation123 | Shipbuilding and heavy fabrication, with capacity to extend into adjacent marine-services trades | Energy-led: renewables, conventional energy, mining, life sciences and industrials | STEM industries broadly, with a dedicated fabrication and shipyards practice |
| Day rates and commercial terms12 | Not published | Not published | Not published |
Competitor values are quoted from the vendor documents listed under Sources, as published on the date shown. Configurations vary, so treat every row as a starting point for the evaluation rather than a like-for-like test result.
What the table means
Concede the scale, question the fit
Brunel places more than 12,000 specialists across 45 countries and Airswift runs 9,000 contractors from 60 offices. Those are bigger businesses than ours by any measure, and for a multi-discipline energy project with staff spread over three continents they are the obvious call. What their published material describes is placement: finding, contracting and mobilising individuals into a client's organisation.
A shipyard buys output, not headcount
Block fabrication does not fail because a yard could not find welders. It fails because the welders who arrived cannot pass the yard's weld procedure, because certification paperwork lags the schedule, or because 300 people land with nowhere to sleep. Our offer is a workforce already assembled, trade-tested against classification-society and yard requirements, and managed through one channel including mobilisation, certification and accommodation coordination. The evidence is over 2,500 people currently on a yard rather than a database of candidates.
One channel, one accountability
Large staffing groups spread a shipyard programme across regional offices and separate contracts for recruitment, mobility and payroll. That is manageable in peacetime and painful during an outfitting peak. A single managed workforce means one contract, one performance conversation and one party who cannot pass the problem sideways.
Questions buyers ask
What is the best alternative to Brunel or Airswift for staffing a national shipbuilding programme?
Both are strong and larger than us: Brunel with more than 12,000 specialists in 45 countries, Airswift with over 9,000 contractors and 4,250 FPSO roles filled. If you need individual specialists placed across many disciplines and geographies, they do exactly that. If you need a working crew on a hull programme, the Unstrat consortium delivers a managed workforce rather than placements, currently over 2,500 tradespeople at one Middle Eastern yard, trade-tested to the yard's own weld procedures and handled through a single contract.
How does a managed workforce compare with a recruitment agency on cost of ownership for a shipyard?
No party in this comparison publishes rates, so treat any figure you are shown as a quotation rather than a market price. The structural difference is where the overhead sits. With placement, the yard absorbs onboarding, certification chasing, accommodation, rotation planning and the cost of a tradesperson who fails a weld test on arrival. With a managed workforce, those sit with the supplier and are priced into one number. The comparison to run is cost per certified productive hour on the yard, not agency margin.
How fast can 500 additional welders and fitters be mobilised for an outfitting peak?
We do not publish a mobilisation time, and any supplier that quotes one without seeing your visa regime, medicals and weld-qualification requirements is guessing. What we can point to is the existing base: over 2,500 people already deployed with a Middle Eastern shipyard, sourced from vetted channels across Africa and Asia, with the model built to ramp for fabrication and outfitting peaks and draw down afterwards. Ask us for a mobilisation schedule against your specific trade tests and we will put it in writing.
Do shipyard workforce suppliers handle certification and accommodation, or just hiring?
It varies, and the published material shows the difference. Brunel and Airswift describe recruitment, contracting and global mobility services without publishing trade-testing or accommodation arrangements for shipyards. Our offer explicitly includes trade testing aligned to classification-society and yard weld-procedure requirements, plus mobilisation, certification and accommodation coordination through one channel. Whichever route you take, get the split of responsibilities written into the contract before the first crew lands.
Sources
- 1. Brunel International, Brunel International N.V. Annual Report 2024 (copy held on this site)Retrieved: 2026-07-31
- 2. Airswift, About AirswiftRetrieved: 2026-07-31
- 3. Airswift, Fabrication Recruitment Agency: Workforce Solutions for Fabrication & ShipyardsRetrieved: 2026-07-31