KEY contracts for the Royal Navy’s new supercarriers, worth £233m, have been awarded to three North-East companies.

AEI Cables, based in Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, and Imtech Marine and Offshore, based in Hebburn, South Tyneside, will provide vital equipment to equip the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers, while Ship Support Services, part-owned by Pyeroy in Gateshead, will be responsible for painting the ships with a protective coating.

The £4bn carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, are due to enter service in 2016 and 2018, respectively.

The contracts have been awarded by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), a consortium of BAE Systems and Thales UK, alongside the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

AEI Cables will design and make the 2,500km of cabling to be installed on the ships, in an £8m contract.

The cables will be used for key functions such as power, lighting and communications, and a fire protection cable for which the company won an innovation award from BAE Systems will also be installed.

AEI chief executive Jim Duffy said: “We are absolutely delighted to win this major contract and contribute to such an innovative project.

“We design and manufacture all these cables ourselves, and this is a substantial contract.

This award recognises our technical expertise in manufacturing and our capability to produce products that will operate in extremely arduous conditions.”

Last year, the company completed a contract to provide the cabling for six of the Royal Navy’s new Type 45 destroyers.

Imtech Marine and Offshore, has been awarded a £120m contract to design the climate technology systems for the carriers, which will be responsible for heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Managing director Tom Simpson said he was absolutely ecstatic that the company, employing 58 in the region, had been chosen, adding: “We have worked for some time on this and we are absolutely delighted to be awarded the contract and be part of the most prestigious naval contract in this country for some time.

“It is huge just to be part of it, there is a lot of kudos attached.”

Ship Support Services, jointly owned by Pyeroy in Gateshead and Cape in Wakefield, will provide paint and scaffolding for the build process, in a contract worth £105m.

Hugh Pelham, managing director of Ship Support Services and Pyeroy, said: “Securing this contract represents the culmination of more than two years of planning and detailed contract negotiations, and is fantastic news for us.

“Our collective experience in the marine sector is second to none, and we are looking forward with confidence to working on the largest ships ever constructed by the Royal Navy.”

The 280m-long carriers which, at 65,000 tonnes, will be the largest warships ever built in the UK, will each be capable of carrying up to 40 aircraft.

ACA programme director Geoff Searle said: “Most of these contracts, placed for the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, will support local economies and jobs throughout the UK regions.”

In total, five contracts worth a total of £333m were awarded yesterday, with Tyco in Manchester providing fire fighting systems and Henry Adams in Glasgow transporting sections of the ships from yards across the UK, including A&P Tyne, at Hebburn, for final assembly at Rosyth.