Jessica Tippee
Assistant Editor
As deepwater operating companies move further offshore, they are ramping up their needs and demands for lifting and hoisting services, and equipment providers and service companies are answering the call with a new range of crane, hoist, and winch offerings.
TSC Offshore says it has developed a new family of value engineered (VE) cranes to service the lifting needs of jackups, semisubmersibles, drillships, FPSOs, and production platforms. The company says that the new king post cranes offer several cost-effective features, including:
- A newly designed lower bearing assembly built around an easily field-serviced, non-metallic slide pad system
- A redesigned slew drive system that offers high torque and is suitable for barge, semisubmersible and drillship applications
- Heavy duty booms for lifting in high capacity applications
- Cranes equipped with long booms for operating in harsh sea conditions.
This new family of cranes has found homes on the recently completedSoratu Pantanal semisubmersible drilling rig and on the soon to be completed Baerfield Amazonia semisubmersible. These newbuild semis were manufactured at CIMC Raffles shipyard in Yantai, China. The Series 240 VE crane has a 140-ft boom and can lift loads up to 60 metric tons at a long reach. The Soratu Pantanal drilling rig is offshore Brazil undergoing final testing before going to work for Petrobras.
Huisman successfully installed what it says is the world’s largest offshore mast crane onboard theSeven Borealis in four days. The 5,000-m ton (approx. 5,500 tons) crane’s installation is considered the heaviest and most logistically complex activity conducted by the Dutch-based lifting, drilling, and subsea solutions company to date.
BigLift’s heavy lift cargo vessel,Happy Buccaneer, transported the crane from the Huisman production facility in Zhangzhou, China, to the Sembawang shipyard in Singapore. In early March, the four crane pieces were installed sequentially – mast base, slewing section, boom, and mast. The crane’s reeving and commissioning are ongoing.
Besides the two 2,500-m ton (2,750 ton) main hoisting blocks, the crane has a 1,200-m ton (1,322 ton) auxiliary hoist capable of storing up to 6,000 m (approx. 20,000 ft) of hoisting wire. The tip of the fly jib has an additional 110-m ton (121-ton) auxiliary hoist. The offshore mast crane is accompanied by four load tuggers and five block tuggers.
After final load testing, theSeven Borealis will depart for the Huisman production facility in Schiedam, Netherlands, where a complete 600-m ton (600-ton) S-lay system will be finalized.
Huisman has started the fabrication of a similar mast crane with a revolving lift capacity of 4,000 m tons (4,409 tons). Delivery is planned for 2012.
Elsewhere, Cargotec has won an order to supply two active heave-compensated (AHC) cranes for Volstad Maritime’s new offshore construction vessel. The company will supply a 250-m ton (275-ton) MacGregor AHC subsea crane and a 15-metric ton (16.5-ton) MacGregor AHC offshore crane.
The Skipsteknisk, ST-259-CD designed vessel will be 125 m (410 ft) long and 25 m (82 ft) wide, and will be classed to Ice-1A. It is on order at the Bergen Group Fosen shipyard in Norway (hull 89), and is scheduled for delivery in spring 2012.
SBM Offshore has contracted Keppel Singmarine for detailed design and construction of a multi-purpose diving support and construction vessel. The ship – a MT-6024 design from Marin Teknikk in Norway – will be built to DNV rules and international regulations. It will have a DP-3 system and a 12-man saturation diving system operable in up to 300 m (984 ft) water depth. It will also feature a large storage/construction area on the upper deck, while the main deck is kept unobstructed for anchor handling equipment.
A 250-metric ton (275-ton) knuckle boom crane and an AHC 150-metric ton (165-ton) winch will facilitate offshore construction and installations in water depths up to 1,500 m (4,921 ft). Operations will be supported by one work-class and one observation-class ROV. The vessel should be delivered during 2Q 2013. Since 2000, sister company Keppel Shipyard has completed 13 FPSO and FSO projects for SBM Offshore, with another four FPSO conversion projects currently under way.
Industry participants interested in the crane, hoists, and winches market will be attending the upcoming 2011 American Petroleum Institute Offshore Safe Lifting Conference & Expo, scheduled for July 19-20, 2011, in Houston. According to API, the conference is expected to host more than 300 offshore lifting professionals, management and safety personnel. The event’s major theme will be “SEMS and OCS Lift Operations – Minimizing the Risk Offshore,” covering how lifting operations fit into the overall philosophy of an operators Safety and Environmental Management System, now required by the BOEMRE.
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