<$>ONE of the worlds biggest marine pipe-laying machines set sail from Teesside on Monday.

<$>It was built by IHC Engineering Business (IHC EB) at its assembly facilities at Port Clarence where it was loaded on to a ship bound for South Korea.

<$>It will then be mounted on a specially-made vessel for Saipem, the part Italian state-owned oil giant which lays deep sea oil, gas and water pipes for companies such as Shell, Exxon and BP.

<$>IHC EB designed and built the machine, which put £25m into the North-East economy and supported more than 500 jobs, either directly or in supply chain companies.

<$>The company has now won a further order for a similarly-sized system for a different client. <$>Toby Bailey, IHC EBs managing director, said: "As one of only a handful of companies in the world active in the design and building of large capacity, complex J-Lay systems, we are immensely proud of this innovative system.

<$>"We won the contract in the third quarter of 2007, and have worked closely with Saipem throughout every stage of development.

<$>"This contract has certainly strengthened our reputation as a leading supplier of pipelay systems. To deliver it, we have made maximum use of our expanded resources together with the talents of the North of England supply chain."

<$>The machine is 65 metres tall taller than the Tyne Bridge and 14 metres wide and, with all the pipe handling equipment, weighs 2,500 tonnes.

<$>The maximum weight of pipe that can be hung off the tower is equivalent to suspending 266 double-decker buses; there are 25km of cable; 60,000 lines of software code; and more than 5km of welding.

<$>Alex Cunningham, MP, whose Stockton North constituency contains the IHC Merwede facility at Port Clarence, congratulated all those involved.

<$>He said: "Our area is renowned for its world class engineering expertise, design and highly skilled workforce and it is this kind of project that has to be the future of manufacturing here and across the North East."

<$>Lord Bates of Langbaurgh said: "The current awful oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico highlights the need for robust modern pipe systems when transporting materials such as oil and gas along deep seabeds.

<$>"The North-East should be proud that it is among only a handful of places in the world with the skills and facilities to build such an amazing bit of kit."

<$>IHC EBs is based at Riding Mill, Northumberland, with more offices at nearby Stocksfield Hall. Its main construction and support services are at the Port of Tyne.