JW Automarine : From saving whales to working with NASA

PVC and PU fabric manufacturing specialist JW Automarine (JWA) is a prime example. The firm has received some unusual requests in its 52 years, from making props for James Bond movies to making NASA astronauts weightless in a swimming pool to imitate the feeling of zero gravity, all in addition to its core lift bag and load test bag business.

It also makes ‘life jackets’ for rescued orangutans when transporting them to be released into the wild, stretchers for stranded whales in Canada, and products for superyachts owned by the rich and famous, including former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich’s superyacht, Eclipse.

Much of its work from its Fakenham manufacturing site involves load-testing of cranes, with its famous yellow bags filled with hundreds of tonnes of water.

Its impermeable products, filled with air, are also used to bring up unexploded bombs and salvage sunken vessels and equipment from the seabed.

The company also has offices with close access to the oil and gas industry. It has rental companies in Aberdeen and the USA, and is in rental partnerships with two separate companies in Greece and the Netherlands.

Load-testing bags for cranes can be made up to 100-tonne capacity (Image: JWA) Design engineer Steve Bell said: “We have been approached by several companies to harness tidal energy, using bags in various ways including blowing up bags with compressed air.

“We also work with companies who undertake subsea drilling work. We will design the small storage bladders that contain some of the chemicals they need as part of the drilling operation. These will be put on a big ‘skid’ and transported by ROV [remotely operated vehicle].”

Its tubular-shaped lifting and buoyancy bags are a key product line and are used in bomb disposal operations.

“When a bomb or unexploded ordnance is discovered, the Ministry of Defence bomb disposal teams will go out in boats and dive down. They attach our bag to the unexploded bomb.

“They will press a button on a timer before returning to the surface, which is an evacuation scene. After whatever time they have set the timer to, the lift bag will inflate and come up to the surface with the bomb, in a controlled manner. Once it comes to the surface, the team will then tow it away where it can be safely detonated.”

It is a similar process for salvage. “Divers will take our parachute-shaped lift bags and fill them up with air and that raises salvage items to the surface of the water.”

Seabed salvage was how JWA started in 1972 under John Wise, a hobby diver who started to make bags to help people who wanted to lift things up from the seabed.

The principle hasn’t changed much since then. The waterproof PVC or PU material is bought in on huge reels then computer cut into panels to make the bags. The panels are then radio frequency welded together to form the shape of the bag being made.

Making bags for load-testing cranes is a core part of the business, Steve said, adding that they can make bags up to 100-tonne capacity.

“If a crane has a 20-tonne capacity, a bag with 25-tonne capacity will be used, filled with water to test that the crane measures correctly and alarms come up at the pre-set load levels.”

Design engineer Steve Bell (Image: JWA) Animal rescue is another market for JWA, which has led to the design and manufacture of some of its more unusual products or repurposing of its standard products.

Its whale stretchers consist of a tarpaulin in between two cylindrical inflated tubes that are eased under stranded and stricken whales, seals and dolphins.

“If it’s in the Thames, rescuers will recover the stranded animal using our stretchers, attach it to their boat and tow it back out to freedom,” explained Steve. “We get a lot of demand from Canada and export 10-12 whale stretchers a year for them.”

Young orangutans are also kept safe by an ingenious use of its inflatable buoyancy bags.

“When forests are chopped down for hardwood furniture and palm oil plantations where the orangutans live, the orangutans sometimes flee and leave their babies behind. Charities go in to rescue them and raise them in captivity until they are independent enough to look after themselves.”

When they are mature enough to be released back into the wild, the orangutans are driven deep into the forest in 4x4s and then loaded onto small boats on the river. The boats are narrow and there is concern they could capsize, so two of JWA’s inflatable tubular bags are fitted either side of the orangutan cage to ensure they float.

“It’s a bit like a life jacket for the orangutan,” said Steve.

Lift bags have a number of uses, including bringing up unexploded bombs and equipment from the seabed (Image: JWA) Buoyancy solutions for vessels are also a market for JWA’s products. It made 50-tonne tubular bags to put under the hull of a boat in a dry dock so it could be moved out without any damage to the hull.

Its huge gas bags are used to store helium and oxygen in factories, with 300,000 litre bags supplied to blue chip companies, including BOC and Siemens.

JWA bags have even been used to create dams.

In developing countries, JWA products offer the ideal solution to store fresh water for Oxfam and other charities, and any remote locations where fresh water is scarce.

Customers include the army, fire service and other emergency services.

JWA also offers solutions for collecting methane gas in remote places for cooking and heating.

“We were approached by a company for biogas storage,” said Steve. “They were looking at using 20ft shipping containers and fitting them with our bags to help with methane collection in remote African villages. Our bags would collect and store the methane generated from their cesspits via a pipe for subsequent use.”