IALA membership for Welsh buoy manufacturer

Over recent years the Bridgend factory has been focussing on the manufacture of navigation buoys. Whilst the Corilla Marine name may be relatively new in the industry, its products are certainly not.

The current technical team at Corilla is believed to have designed the first rotationally moulded navigational buoy back in 1986, a 1,250mm diameter buoy developed to be compatible with the Northern Lighthouse Board’s requirements and used in the Scottish fish farm industry. Once this was proven, larger size buoys were developed.

In 1995 both a 1,500mm and 2,000mm diameter split collar buoy were developed, many of which went into service on the south and west coasts of Ireland. The range developed further in the late 1990’s with the addition of 1,750mm and 2,400mm buoys. This was followed by the inclusion of a day mark for all the intermediate buoys (1,500mm to 2,400mm) and a Service Exchange Tower (SET). This allowed a port or harbour authority to stock spares and change parts if and when necessary, leading to considerably reduced down times.

What is claimed to be the world’s first truly 3,000mm diameter buoy was produced in 2001, which led on to the now highly successful 3m Class 2 series. These have been sold all over the world, including to customers such as the Meteorological Office which located one 260km off the French coast in 1,500’ of water. Some 25 of the Class 2 buoys are currently in the River Thames estuary for Trinity House.

One of Corilla’s 3m Class 2 Series buoys played an important part in the recent Olympic Games, with the UK Met Office positioning it in Weymouth Bay to collect data for forecasting the weather for the sailing events.

Corilla manufactured what is to be believed the world’s largest rotationally moulded navigational buoy for PD Teesport which currently has some 50 of Corilla’s buoys in the water.