A Tenby company operating in a highly specialist niche market has just completed the design and manufacture of a £200,000 Hyper-Vac vacuum tanker for the Middle East.
Celvac, a privately owned mechanical engineering and industrial cleaning company, design, develop and build bespoke systems and specialist vehicles and equipment for the removal and processing of industrial by-products and waste using high air flow and vacuum technology.
Their equipment is used in a range of sectors, including, water, petrochemical, mining and manufacturing/processing industries.
Celvac's latest contract, which was secured with support from the Welsh Assembly Government's International Business Wales team - is from Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) - one of the world's largest modern aluminium smelters.
The Hyper-Vac, which was designed specifically for Alba, was constructed at the company's manufacturing facility in Tenby and is currently en route to Bahrain.
A team will fly out later this month to commission it and train personnel to operate it. It will be used to recover Alumina ore and dust from inaccessible locations around the plant and recycle the product back into the processing system. This is the second bespoke system Celvac has supplied to Alba.
Kim Beynon, managing director at Celvac, described it as a "significant contract and excellent news for the company."
"The majority of our business has traditionally been in the UK and Northern Ireland where we have many long term contracts with the utility companies and the petrochemical sector, but we are now seriously exploring international trade.
"There's a huge amount of investment in infrastructure in the Middle East in both the water and petrochemical industries which means there is a continued need for specialist equipment and services.
"It offers exciting new business opportunities for us, which we are developing with support from International Business Wales. IBW has enabled us to attend a number of trade events in the Middle East where we have built up and maintained relationships with customers, met potential new clients and promoted the capability of Celvac.
"Exporting is a very important growing market for us and, having secured these contracts, it is important that we do all we can to raise our profile and we have already appointed an agent in Bahrain."
Ieuan Wyn Jones, Minister for the Economy and Transport, said trading internationally remained an important option for Welsh businesses.
"Although trading conditions are difficult globally, there are still very real opportunities overseas, particularly for companies like Celvac that are specialists operating in a niche market.
"The IBW team has the expertise, contacts and knowledge to advise and support Welsh businesses looking to enter new markets and I would encourage any company interested in developing links overseas to work with IBW."
Celvac, which employs more than 50 people at its base in Tenby, has benefited from a range of support measures from the Assembly Government over a number of years, ranging from funding to develop new products to a grant towards the cost of developing their new premises.
The company has grown organically since it was formed in 1993, providing services to water and petrochemical industry clients throughout the UK, and 2010 promises to be an exciting year.