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Subsea – BusinessSubsea – Business completion last month. Fabrication of the 82nd system starts in May for a project in 2000m of water off West

Africa.

“We are a niche supplier,” says

Newton. The new facility offers the opportunity to build longer and more complex ropes up to 600te in weight compared with the company’s previous limit of 360te. The 24-bobbin closing machine enables the production of ropes with very low rotation characteristics, essential when carrying out accurate placement of heavy objects on the seabed.

“Our market is ropes for demanding and sophisticated applications – about 40% of the total rope market. This is as opposed to the remainder of the market, based in China, which manufactures straightforward industrial ropes,” says Templeman.

In deepwater heavy lifting there are

Korean and Italian competitors, but

Bridon expects to retain a market edge with its new closing machine in Newcastle. The main customers for lifting ropes are heavy lift and underwater

The 24-bobbin rope closer machine.

contractors such as Heerema,

OE | February 2013 oedigital.com 64 oe_Bridon2.indd 64 31/01/2013 17:07