UTRECHT, The Netherlands —Subsea cables provide critical communications and power links for offshore assets, but handling and installing these giant lifelines can be anything but simple, as in the case of a new subsea cable for an offshore project in Saudi Arabia. This in particular with marine engineering challenges to load in the 1,300-t cable basket for transpooling of the cable onto the offshore service vessel required specialist support from Mammoet if it was to be ready in time for installation.
The cable basket arrived on a barge to Jubail Commercial Port, where it then needed to be loaded in for transpooling and the empty basket loaded back out on the barge. However, the height difference between the barge and the quay meant thorough engineering across disciplines (e.g., marine engineering and transport) was needed to ensure a smooth, efficient load in operation.
Mammoet Project Manager Munawar Khan explained, “The cable basket needed to be loaded in for transpooling from the quay, as it could not be done safely from the barge. The spooling then is performed by rotating the cable basket on SPMTs in a circular motion.
“However, we were presented with a task to overcome the height difference between the deck of the barge and the quay for load-in and loadout operations. Our experience in handling large and heavy components—often weighing in excess of 1,000 t—proved critical in doing this effectively.”
