Newport Galvanizers has come to the aid of a front-line RNLI lifeboat station after it was found that the Wedge Group’s plant in South Wales was the only galvanizing site with facilities able to galvanize massive steel sections for a new launching slipway, using a ‘single dip’ process. 

The lifeboat station and slipway at Angle near Milford Haven are being upgraded to accommodate an advanced new Tamar class lifeboat. The alterations included fabricating and installing a new slipway onto the existing piles and transoms.

Newport Galvanizers worked closely with the RNLI and the fabricators of the slipway sections. Each unit measured 6m x 3.2m and weighed up to approximately 7.5 tonnes, says Andrew Maclean, the plant’s Engineering and Process Manager.

“Newport was the only plant known of that could physically fit the unit in a single dip. However there were issues with regard the weight as Newport's crane has a SWL of 6.4 tonnes.

“This meant having to go back to the crane manufacturers and designers to ascertain that the load could indeed be lifted safely This was done, and the crane manufacturers were in attendance on each occasion these were dipped to supervise the lift. “

Rhodri Jenkins of the RNLI explains the importance of the new lifeboat for the coastal rescue service at Angle: “The Tamar can withstand the worst of conditions and is designed to be faster and more effective than its predecessors.  The Tamar is designed as a slipway-launched lifeboat, has a top speed of 25 knots and can carry more than 100 survivors.  Each Tamar lifeboat costs more than £2.5m.”