Member Article

Tees Components to supply thrusters for 'Boaty McBoatface' vessel

Tees Valley engineering firm, Tees Components, has been awarded a contract to supply the new RRS David Attenborough research vessel with four new thrusters.

The Tees business have been contracted by Cammell Laird shipyard, who are constructing the new £200m vessel in Birkenhead, to supply four of its Tees White Gill Thrusters which will allow the National Environment Research Council (NERC) boat to position and maneuver in icy waters with extreme accuracy.

Lead design engineer at the engineering firm, Adam Robson, commented: “We are delighted to be working with Cammell Laird and their design team, Rolls Royce, on this prestigious project and also to continue our working relationship with NERC.

“The installation of four of our thrusters on this vessel will provide excellent manoeuvrability and station-keeping abilities in the extreme conditions in which this vessel will be operating.”

John Drummond, Project Director of Cammell Laird said that the shipyard was ‘delighted’ to award the contract to Tees Components following technical compliance meetings and contractual negotiations.

The family-owned North East firm, which has been operating out of its North Skelton base for over 50 years, first developed its White Gill thrusters product in 2005 after Managing Director Clive Wood secured the intellectual property rights from Elliott Turbomachinery.

Since then, the firm has obtained contracts to install the thrusters on vessels around the world, with work also underway to install the technology on other NERC-owned ships including RRS Discovery, James Clark Ross and Charles Darwin.

The RRS Sir David Attenborough, which drew publicity earlier in the year after a public naming contest recommended the moniker of Boaty McBoatface, is owned by NERC and will be operated by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) once it enters service in 2019.