ACE Winches exports Scotland’s heaviest air cargo

ACE Winches has broken two records in recent weeks, with the completion of its largest ever manufacturing contract - worth £4.2 million (US$ 6.6 million) for Superior Energy Services, based in Houston - which was delivered on the world's largest commercial aircraft, the Antonov 225.

The deck machinery specialist designed and manufactured an electrically driven 8-point mooring spread at its global headquarters in Scotland. The complete winch package was designed to be capable of operating in temperatures as low as -45 degrees C. They will be used on a barge working in the Arctic.

The first shipment of winches, weighing 125 tonnes, was dispatched by road from Scotland and delivered on three lorries to Southampton. It was shipped across the Atlantic Ocean on the vessel Integrity, reaching Baltimore on the East Coast of America. It will then be driven across America to Houston.

Superior Energy Services required the second shipment to be delivered ahead of schedule. The winch package, also weighing 125 tonnes, was exported by airfreight from Glasgow Prestwick Airport on the world's largest commercial aircraft, the Antonov 225. This is the heaviest load ever to be exported by air from Scotland. The combined weight of the load and aircraft totalled 550 tonnes and, therefore, the freighter had to make various stops en-route to refuel.

The manufacturing project was competed in six months.