Pipe reel mobilization and transportation costs can be kept down using technology from Modular Reel. The M-Reel system, which has type approval and ILO lifting gear approvals from DNV, is a modular reel intended mainly for spooling flexible pipe up to 6-in. diameter. When dismantled, it fits into two standard open-top 40-ft containers and can be shipped quickly to the customer’s location. On arrival, it takes a maximum of two day-shifts to assemble.
Korean company Daekwang will fabricate the M-Reel. Given the lengthy delivery periods for high-grade steel, Daekwang has procured a stock for reel fabrication. The M-Reel is built of Posten 80, equivalent to Weldox 700, for the bolted connection areas and areas where lifting forces are applied, and standard high-grade steel for the non critical areas.
The payload for a reel with a standard 5 m core is 302 tons, sufficient capacity for most requirements. The reel can also be configured with 6 m and 7 m cores depending on the bending radius of the pipe and in a wide range of combinations of core diameters.
According to the company’s sales and marketing director Ken S. Pettersen, shipping costs for a standard empty 9.2 m reel from the Far East are typically around $75,000. The comparative rate for containerized shipment of an M-Reel is about $12,000. Even after factoring in the cost of transporting specialist assembly crew and equipment, the overall price for a M-Reel is still normally significantly lower.
The M-Reel can also be transported by truck, train, or plane, and with rapid mobilization possible in emergency situations, Modular Reel can offer a lump-sum price for delivery to the customer quayside and return. A day rate is charged for the period the reel is in use.
The M-Reel is designed to bring savings in reel mobilization and transportation.
The M-Reel is only available on a rental basis. Due to DNV’s strict requirements on reel assembly and the correct positioning of each component, only trained personnel may undertake assembly. Modular Reel offers this service to all customers, dispatching teams to assemble and dismantle the M-Reels and ready them for use or shipment.
The company has an agreement with Hytech Personell, based outside Stavanger, to provide crews for this purpose. Dismantling, a one-day operation, can be handled even by an untrained local crew supervised by a Modular Reel specialist.•
