A Midland company has won a £5 million contract to help maintain the flow of supplies to offshore oil rigs in the North Sea.

Cannock based forklight truck supplier Briggs Equipment has secured an agreement with oil and gas logistics company ASCO.

The company, Britain’s sole provider of Yale Europe Materials Handling trucks, will replace an old fleet of forklifts and other tools.

Many of the trucks are working at 12 ASCO sites in north east Scotland, including the company’s Peterhead offshore supply base.

The facility operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and the forklifts have to load and unload up to 60 ships per week - the equivalent of half a million tonnes of supplies a year.

Gordon Hepburn, sales executive at Briggs, said: “ASCO required a very specific handling solution because if a ship is delayed by just an hour, it could cost the company tens of thousands of pounds and so it needed handling equipment that it could rely on.”

To ensure the trucks remain operational, two Briggs engineers will be based at Peterhead and at an ASCO facility in Aberdeen for servicing and maintenance.

Briggs’ chief executive Richard Close added: “The offshore energy industry remains an important part of the Scottish and UK economy and we are delighted to be working with a key player that supports many of the top names in oil and gas production.”

Peterhead’s operations manager Duncan Bell said: “We were impressed by the productivity of the Yale products and the service offered by Briggs.”