The last remaining shipyard on the Tees, Aveco, is expecting to celebrate the winning of two new contracts.
Tenders for a £500,000 80m pontoon for the mooring jetty at Cowes, Isle of Wight, were due to be submitted at the weekend and the result known by the end of the month.
And this week yard owner Dennis Aveling is also hoping to hear that Aveco has won the contract for a pontoon for a new lifeboat station at Whitby.
This news came as the yard waved bon voyage to its latest contract - the hull of a 26m tug - as it was towed down the coast for refinishing work at Hepworth's shipyard at Hull.
From there it will sail to Ukraine to help tankers in and out of the Caspian oilfield.
The contract was worth around £200,000 to Aveco, and Mr Aveling said the work had been rather specialised because, with so much pull at the back of these tugs every frame spacing had to be a continuous floor.
He added that Aveco was currently in talks with Hepworths about building a tanker with seven tanks. That contract would be worth about £250,000.
And while the contracts have not yet been signed, Mr Aveling is quietly confident, proud that in the company's 25-year history he has not lost a customer.
Aveco - which employs between 20 and 30 staff, depending on the amount of work - is expecting to double its regular £1m turnover mark.
Mr Aveling is expecting a contract, also worth around £250,00, for a new river tanker.
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