Cargotec’s MacGREGOR has developed technology for handling lightweight fibre rope that offers several advantages compared with traditional steel wire rope, and is about to install the world’s first subsea crane to use fibre rope. The knuckle-jib crane equipped with a system for fibre rope handling will be installed on the subsea vessel Havila Phoenix. The 250-tonne Hydramarine active heave-compensated (AHC) offshore crane is designed with a 250-tonne/3,000m single-line winch and is prepared for a 250-tonne single-line fibre rope.

“MacGREGOR’s technology for handling lightweight fibre rope rather than traditional steel wire rope offers several advantages that will meet the ever-increasing demands of the offshore industry as operators move further into deeper and more remote territories,” says Øystein Bondevik, sales director in MacGREGOR’s Offshore division. “For example, due to the neutralisation of the weight of the fibre rope in the water, much heavier loads can be handled without strain to the crane at unlimited depths. Consequently, overall safety is improved due to the lighter equipment, which can still carry out heavy work operations.”

As world demand for energy increases while current oil resources of oil-producing countries are depleting, the offshore industry is forced to unlock access to the untapped sources of world oil supply. The renewed focus of the offshore industry on exploration and exploitation due to the decrease in current oil supply deposits has resulted in the rapid development of subsea technology for both oil and gas procurement.