Last month ACE manufactured and delivered for hire two 120 tonne deepwater deployment winches complete with 200kW diesel hydraulic power packs to Saipem for operations in the Caspian Sea. ACE also recently completed an 11-month contract providing an 8-point mooring system of eight 75 tonne winches and eight 110kW electro hydraulic power packs complete with electronic remote control system on board a pipe lay barge for Petreco Sarl of Bulgaria.

Sales packages have also kept ACE Winches occupied and in three out of six months this year production has been on a 24/7 basis to meet customer requirements. Managing Director Alfie Cheyne told MJ, 'We have a proactive attitude at ACE and a committed workforce who know what it is to have no work, so when the work arrives we get our heads down and deliver the goods.'

In February this year ACE Winches secured a major contract from Technip Offshore in Aberdeen to manufacture and deliver a package of constant tension winches and tagging towers. The project was delivered two days ahead of schedule, 28 days from order. The equipment allows Technip to deploy significant crane loads subsea in a greater range of weather conditions than was hitherto possible to do safely and has greatly increased the operational flexibility of the offshore construction vessel CSO Constructor.

During March ACE delivered a 150 tonne double drum waterfall anchor handling/towing winch to Seacor Smit for their vessel Smit Lloyd 55 for operations in West Africa. The package was delivered with a 350kW Cummins diesel hydraulic power pack complete with electronic bridge control system.

ACE also supply knuckle boom cranes by HS Marine of Italy and are currently supplying a new 20 T/M crane to Orkney Towage.

MJ Information No: 19633