Rolls-Royce has been assigned by the Brazilian ship owning company CBO to equip an existing offshore platform supply vessel (PSV) with a new dual draglink (DDC) subsea crane.
It will be the first installation of a subsea crane designed to be able to use either fibre or steel wire[ds_preview] rope the manufacturer stated. The hybrid DDC subsea crane will be installed on the vessel »CBO Manoella«, which is currently being retrofitted from PSV into a ROV Support Vessel (RSV). According to Rolls-Royce the active heave compensated crane is designed for continuous operation in a tough and corrosive offshore environment with focus on efficient and safe load handling.
»CBO Manoella« can operate in a depth of up to 3,000 m
The crane to be installed on »CBO Manoella« is a hybrid dual draglink crane with a lifting capacity of up to 50 t and an operating depth of up to 3,000 m. It will be equipped with wire rope when it embarks on its first subsea assignment off the coast of Brazil. Because of the low weight of the fibre rope, the vessel’s deck load capacity can be increased by approximately 100 t. Another benefit of using a low weight fibre rope instead of steel wire is increased lifting capacity at large depths Rolls-Royce said.
The cable tractions control unit (CTCU) forms the crane winch and is located at the crane’s main boom. The horizontal elbow derrick movements provide Active Heave Compensation (AHC). This significantly reduces wear and build-up of heat in the lifting line compared to when the AHC is part of the winch the manufacturer stated.
The »CBO Manoella« is 76.70 m long, 17 m wide and has a 2,668 gt. It has a Rolls-Royce UT 715 L design and first went into service in 2009. It was then number two in a series of nine UT 715 L-designs ordered by CBO. Today the vessel is part of CBO’s current fleet of in total 27 offshore vessels.
The delivery from Rolls-Royce will take place in Q3 this year. It comprises a complete DDC crane system including the CTCU, cabin and control system.
