Even the largest, fastest cargo aircraft, flying to the most convenient locations around the globe, cannot do their job without companies like AmSafe Bridport.

The company is the world’s leading provider of cargo restraint systems including bulk cargo hold nets; 9g main deck barriers; smoke and fire curtains; cargo liners/fire retardant fabrics; and cargo tie-down straps. And it has a heritage stretching back many hundreds of years before the aviation industry was born.

In 1955, one of the present company’s predecessors – Cummings & Sanders – was granted the metal-to-metal buckle patent…and today’s seat restraint industry was born. Meanwhile, in the early 1960s, another AmSafe cornerstone, UK-based company Bridport., then the largest rope and net producer in Europe, began designing and manufacturing nets for the aviation industry.

As a location for the production of nets and ropes for the maritime and fishing industries, the town of Bridport traces its heritage back to the 13th century. The company has continuously occupied the same site on the south coast of England for more than 300 years.

Industry statistics show that AmSafe Bridport customers need to buy only half the quantity of cargo restraint nets as those who buy from other companies thanks to their strength and durability, while Bridport’s ‘knotless’ construction, coupled with the company’s proprietary anti-abrasive process, extends net life and reduces snagging. What’s more, Bridport nets also feature a 25% degradation allowance as recommended by IATA.

Next time you see a cargo aircraft being loaded – or flying overhead – remember that its pallet nets are the only certified form of textile restraint that at any time during their life may be called upon instantly to restrain up to 6.8-tonnes at 3g, protecting the integrity of the aircraft’s structure.

The company also produces Tiger tie-down straps and a range of other cargo restraint systems and equipment from its factories in the UK, Sri Lanka and the USA. Little do today’s cargo handlers realise that the nets and straps they’re using may well be made in a UK factory that has been in continuous use producing ropes and nets since the mid-17th century.

 


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Source: Flight Daily News