ESSEX-based air movement equipment manufacturer Fl�kt Woods is celebrating after landing its largest ever single contract.

The company has won a €7million (�5.9m) order to supply ventilation fans for the massive Marmaray rail tunnel project in Turkey.

The equipment to be supplied under the contract will meet the air movement needs of one of the world’s biggest transportation infrastructure schemes, the 13.6 kilometres (8.5 miles) Bosphorus crossing.

Valued at a total €1.9billion (�1.6bn), the scheme has been described as the project of the century, with the tunnel running deep beneath the Bosphorus Straits to connect the continents of Europe and Asia.

The tunnel consists of a series of earthquake-proofed immersed tubes, assembled from 11 sections, each as long as 130 metres and weighing up to 18,000 tons.

These will be installed a levels as much as 60 metres below sea level, making it the new link the world’s deepest undersea immersed tunnel tube.

Additional underground stations will be constructed at three locations, and 37 new above-ground stations will be rebuilt or refurbished as part of the project.

Once it is operational, the new transport link is likely to result in more than 1.5million passengers a day using the tunnel.

Colchester-based Fl�kt Woods is supplying a range of its super-powerful jet fans for eight shafts ventilating the new crossing.

Measuring up to 2.8 metres in diameter, the fans will be capable of providing emergency ventilation in the worst-case scenario – a fire on a freight train more than a kilometre long.

Paul Wenden, the company’s engineering and marketing director, said: “We export half of what the Colchester factory produces, and our ability to diversify, sourcing business in both the building and infrastructure and industry markets, has helped us to find new business and this contract is a great example of this.”