Offshore staff
LA ROCHELLE, France – IMECA has supplied a new fast-traveling pipe loading crane to Allseas’ multi-purpose construction vessel Pioneering Spirit.
This is designed to keep up with the vessel’s lay rate as it is integrated into the pipelay system.
The crane directly inserts single or double joint steel pipes into the firing line supply line, as well as stacking pipes supplied to the vessel. ThePioneering Spirit can lay more than 6 km/d (3.7 mi/d) of pipes which the crane needs to support.
Allseas package manager Caspar van Strijp said: “Multiple parties were invited to tender, but ultimately we had most confidence in the cycle time calculations provided by IMECA.”
The contract was awarded last December, and the crane needed to be operational by mid-September 2018 at the latest.
Originally the plan had been to assemble and install the crane in Rotterdam, but due to the vessel’s early arrival in port, the schedule was revised, and the assembly, installation, and commissioning were performed onboard, in co-operation with Allseas and under IMECA’s supervision.
IMECA project manager Bart Burger said: “We had to be creative to meet the tight schedule. Parts of the crane could be loaded onto thePioneering Spirit prior to departure, but the crane beams had to be loaded from a supply vessel at sea in the English Channel.”
Crane type: Marine Overhead Crane
Loose gear: 1x 30 t and 1x 60 t spreader bars integrated in the crane control system
Crane/trolley travel: Rack and Pinion type
Capacity: 130 t, 2 x 65 t trolleys
Travel speed: 90 m/min (295 ft/min)
Hoisting speed: 34 m/min (111.5 ft/min)
Crane span: 32.5 m (106 ft)
11/15/2018
