SHIPLOADING equipment specialist Cleveland Cascades expects turnover to increase by a quarter this year after securing £1m worth of contracts in the first six months.

The Teesside-based company already has its patented dust-free loading chutes at docks, terminals and other sites in 39 countries around the world, including Russia, Australia, Saudi Arabia and the US.

Most recently, the firm secured a deal with Danish engineering company Videbaek to supply five systems to handle fertiliser at a new ship-loading terminal being built on the Black Sea.

The company's managing director, Ian Barnard, said: "This is a particularly impressive and prestigious contract to win because the parent company of Videbaek actually owns a loading chute manufacturer that is a big competitor."

The company, based at Middlesbrough's Tees Dock, was a division of Cleveland Potash before being bought in January last year by Mr Barnard, one of the two original inventors of the Cleveland Cascade system.

In its first year to January this year, the company, which employs 12 people at its Middlesbrough base, had a turnover of £1.28m, and Mr Barnard expects the figure to increase to £1.6m by next January.

"Our business plan is to maximise profitability and then we may well look into other areas of expansion in the future," he said.

"There is no doubt that Cleveland Cascades is now increasingly recognised worldwide.

"Exports account for 95 per cent of our business, and this year I have travelled to Australia on two occasions, along with visits to Austria, Germany, Norway and Denmark."

The Cascade chute system allows more than 30 different materials, from the finest mineral powder to coal, to be loaded into ships without the need for fan-assisted dust extraction.

It has helped control the damaging effect of dust on environmentally-sensitive sites, including the coral reefs at Eilat, in Israel.