A fast boat to China

11:18am Thursday 31st May 2007

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A Pembrokeshire boat-building company has sent a fast boat on a slow boat to China, with another three on the way.

Pembroke Dock-based Mustang Marine was awarded a £1.2 million contract to produce a pilot cutter for one of China's largest ports, and has been contracted to produce a further three craft for the same port.

The fast steel pilot cutter was delivered to the state-owned Tianjin Port on the Bohai Sea Rim this month.

Mustang Marine has already swelled its workforce from 40 staff to 53 on the strength of the work.

The company was approached by the port to build the cutter after it constructed two similar vessels for the Milford Haven Port Authority.

"They came to us exclusively via the naval architect, Alastair Cameron, who designed the two Milford Haven cutters,'' explained Mustang Marine's managing director, Kevin Lewis, who travelled to Beijing to sign the contract and oversee the delivery and acceptance of the vessel.

The boat was sailed from Pembroke Dock to Antwerp where it was loaded onto a specialist heavy lift ship before setting sail on a 40-day journey to China.

The cutter has been specifically designed with the comfort of the pilots in mind. It has an aluminum wheelhouse, which is resiliently mounted to minimise noise and vibration.

It is one of the first fast pilot cutters in operation in China, a country which is rapidly modernising its port infrastructure and requires fast craft to turn around the huge increase in the shipping volume.

Tianjin Port has the capacity to transfer eight pilots from pilot stations to vessels in the anchorage some 15 kilometres offshore. It is the biggest artificial port in China, and with 270 movements daily requires the cutter to increase its efficiency.

Mustang Marine's commercial director, Ian Strugnell, is delighted Tianjin Port has expressed confidence in the company with an order for a further three cutters. "It gives continuity of work and lifts our profile on a world stage,'' he said.

"Tianjin Port is one of China's leading ports and is the gateway to Beijing. The success of the operation of the vessel will be scrutinised by other Chinese ports with similar requirements.''