The Lancelin rope factory is a Mayenne company that is on the rise: this company, created in 1907 and which employs 40 people in Ernée, has just invested 2.5 million euros in offshore wind power. The company specializes in the manufacture of technical ropes in the nautical or defense fields and is now expanding its field of expertise. The rope factory will work in the next four years on a wind turbine project “placed on floats“, while continuing its activities “for yachting, and a lot for racing at boat level“.”We cannot say that wind power is the company’s only project. We have other industries that are demanding, so it’s hard to put all your eggs in one basket“, underlines Nicolas Lancelin, the director of the Lancelin rope factory.
Ropes made in France for wind turbines
Wind turbines placed on floats must be anchored to the bottom of the water using ropes. The Lancelin rope factory will work on the manufacture of “big ropes“, “over relatively long distances“.”You need big ropes because there is a lot of power and we will certainly exceed the thousands of tons of resistance”, explains Nicolas Lancelin, the director of the Lancelin rope factory.
We are currently talking about ropes of 2000 to 2500 tons of resistance to anchor wind turbines.
Nicolas Lancelin, director of the Lancelin rope factory
The director of this Ernean company is delighted to be able to produce ropes made in France. “On many projects in France, the big ropes had left France in terms of manufacturing. So we have long asked ourselves the question with certain industrial and military partners of redoing these types of manufacturing in France to recover independence from foreign countries and above all national sovereignty.“, specifies Nicolas Lancelin. According to him, the Mayenne rope factory should again invest around 2.5 million euros “in the next three or four years” in this offshore wind sector. “It’s huge for a structure like ours, but it can go through associations, industrial groups, why not?“, he launches.
The annual turnover of the Lancelin rope factory is 6 million euros.