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OLD - ESTABLISHED Portuguese company Oliveira produced 8000 tonnes of wire ropes and 6000 tonnes of synthetic ropes last year.
"In the last ten years we have
seen an increase in export sales, while the Portuguese market has remained static," says sales director Miguel Oliveira Sá. He is in the sixth generation to work in the family business which is based at Maia.
The Spanish market remains very special for the company, as the Spanish fleet fishes all over the world and carried the Oliveira name for wires with it.
Oliveira is best known in fishing for its steel wire ropes and, recently, the company bought much of the new wire manufacturing machinery that Tycsa in Spain disposed of when its factory ceased production.
Tycsa was Oliveira's main competitor, especially in southern Europe where the two companies were competing strongly in the wire rope markets.
"We know that others would try to buy the Tycsa production machines, so we put in a bid quickly for nine machines and eventually we bought ten. Pieter Jan Pier also came to us from Tycsa as we needed to build up markets.
"He has become our sales manager for northern Europe, reaching markets that we were not touching before. Previously we were never really into the biggest vessels, which was more Tycsa's territory.
"Now we have taken over many of Tycsa's markets and customers, as well as their agents in some countries which are now selling our wire. These are Selstad in Norway, T Ben and Hampidjan in Iceland, North Atlantic in Canada and Maritiem in Holland."
Maritiem recently supplied 40 mm Super Atlantic warps to one of the Jaczon trawlers for the first time. They had tried smaller diameters on their other vessels and, as they were happy with them, they decided to take the large diameter wires as well."
Oliveira also works with dealers Hampidjan in Namibia and in Mauritania through Spanish companies. |
"We have two Moroccan dealers in Agadir. These are Folias, which deals with larger trawlers, and Scanpêche with smaller trawlers and purse seiners.
Oliveira exclusively uses raw material from Bekaert in Belgium as the basis of the high quality steel wire that it pro duces.
"When Tycsa stopped its production, several of their customers went to Bekaert, which then passed them straight on to us," Miguel Oliveira Sá says.
"We are a main customer for Bekaert and quality is the key to our production. We can't compete on price with producers in Korea or Malaysia, but we can compete in producing top quality, high-tech wire."
The company's Zincal Compact compacted wire used by the Spanish NAFO fleet in the North Atlantic has been particularly successful, as the zinc and aluminium content reduces corrosion.
"We have done well with this wire in Spain. The life of the wire depends on its use, but we estimate that it lasts 20 to 30% longer than standard wire, although it is 20% more expensive.
"Spanish trawlers working in the NAFO area used to change their warps after every six-month trip, even though the warps may have had some life left. This avoided having to change warps at sea.
"Now they can manage a year with the same warps," Miguel Oliveira Sá says.
Three rope types
COMBINATION ropes as well as wire and synthetic ropes are all produced by Oliveira in Portugal.
"The customer can get all three products from us," according to Miguel Oliveira Sá.
"We have a great deal of know how in wire and synthetic ropes, so a mixed product is no problem."
They are produced in 3, 4, 6 or 8 strands, but the most popular is the standard six-strand combination rope with its steel core that is used mostly for bridles. |
Latest wire get Star treatment
OLIVEIRA'S flagship Super Atlantic trawl wire, developed for a high breaking strength, is soon to be joined by the new Super Atlantic Star wire in which a plastic core has been introduced.
"The core is a very important part of the wire. We can control the quality on the outside of a wire, but the inside is never seen and most breaks start from the inside. By introducing a plastic core, we can postpone breaks in the wire by reducing abrasion and reducing corrosion from the inside."
He comments that this development is due to the demands from the market, as the company's agents have been asking for wire with a plastic core. This is an upgraded product. We know it will last longer but, at the moment, we do not know how much longer until we have the full feedback from the vessels that are testing it."
Purse rope for smaller seiners
OLIVEIRA produces a special rope that agent Scanpêche in Morocco supplies to the country's smaller purse seiners fishing sardine, mackerel and anchovy.
The same rope is also used instead of wire by many small Portuguese purse seiners in the same type of fishery.
"This is a rope that is leaded inside each strand for extra weight using continuous lead for added consistency. The rope has a very exact, very tight, lay which gives the rope strength without any kinks," Miguel Oliveira Sá says.
"This is because the rope is produced in a special way in one of our special machines."
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