Hartlepool cable firm's new contracts will secure work for hundreds

JDR Cables, which is based in Greenland Road in the town and employs more than 200 people, has won the deals with McDermott Middle East.

JDR supplies cables, umbilicals and services for a number of industries. It has secured contracts for two projects in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

The first is for more than five miles of cables - called umbilicals - and will see JDR making three umbilicals. The second project includes seven umbilicals which stretch for more than two miles.

Umbilicals are the cables which house important items such as fibre optics and electrical cables, and the ones made by JDR will provide hydraulic control and electrical signals to isolation valves.

They are critical in the event of an emergency within an offshore production system.

JDR’s Hartlepool factory will be engineering, designing and making the products which are expected to be ready by the last quarter of this year.

Company chief executive David Currie said: “These project awards confirm our leadership position in the supply of subsea umbilicals to the oil and gas industry.

“ We are delighted to partner with McDermott on these key projects.”

Last last year, the Hartlepool Mail exclusively revealed JDR’s five-year strategy which includes expanding its capacity for renewable power cables and adding a dedicated new facility for subsea production umbilicals.

The existing workforce of more than 200 was bolstered by 20 recruits and bosses said there were plans “to maintain steady growth in 2016.”

JDR has expanded from 97,000 sq ft of warehouse space in 2008, to more than 280,000 sq ft now.

The latest investment has seen JDR taking up the option of an extra third building at its site on Hartlepool’s dockland.

It covers 80,000 sq ft and will be used for a machine to make cables and umbilicals to the highest specifications in steel and thermoplastic.