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Rolling out to Germany

Four giant industrial reels made on Tyneside have been shipped off to Germany where they will be used to lay cable along the Rhine.

Ship repair company A&P Tyne, of Hebburn, took three months to complete the cable reels, which each weigh 75 tonnes and stand almost 10 metres high.

They are the firm has ever assembled and are now heading off to Germany to lay cable along the River Rhine.

DavyMarkham of Sheffield secured a contract from NKT Cables in Germany to produce the reels and they sub-contracted A&P Tyne to assemble them.

Managing director Stewart Boak said: “We were working to tight tolerances and completing the weld assembly was a challenge.

“It is a prime example of the range of projects undertaken by A&P Tyne. We have an excellent reputation and facility for ship conversion, refit or general repairs. We also have a modern, extensive fabrication hall, with a state of the art panel line and plasma burning machines, that allow us to undertake this type of work and all other steel and aluminium fabrication projects.”

After assembling, preparing and painting the reels, they were installed aboard the cable-laying barge, which is sailing out of the Tyne this week, headed for the Rhine.

Mr Ian McBride, project manager from DavyMarkham, complimented A&P’s workforce on their “dedication, co-operation and commitment” which, he added, had “without doubt attributed to a successful completion.”

The yard’s 210-strong workforce is currently busy on a £55m Ministry of Defence contract to build sections of two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers, which will secure jobs for the next five years and are finishing off the last of four re-fits for P&O ferries.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .