MacGregor Introduces First Offshore Fibre-Rope Crane
MacGregor has completed the construction of FibreTrac, the first fibre-rope offshore crane to enter the market. The crane’s full potential is being validated and its capabilities have recently been demonstrated at an event in Kristiansand, Norway.
“The project to build, certify and validate the MacGregor FibreTrac crane is the result of our confidence in its potential”, says Høye Høyesen, Vice President, Advanced Offshore Solutions of MacGregor. “We strongly believe in the advantages that it will deliver to our customers.” FibreTrac uses existing, proven technologies combined in a new application that offers deep-water load handling operators a simple pathway to some of the most significant cost-saving advantages seen in decades. It is able to exploit its full lifting capacity because fibre-rope weighs virtually nothing in water, so no additional load is experienced by the crane, regardless of the length of rope used during load handling operations. This is in complete contrast to steel wire-rope cranes.
“In practical terms, this means that a smaller crane and vessel can be used for more assignments, and owners are able to bid on a wider range of contracts”, Mr Høyesen highlights. “The ability to use smaller vessels for deep-water projects will also drive down the cost of these operations and give our customers a stronger competitive edge.” He continues: “Feedback from the event was extremely positive. We were able to present the finished crane to demonstrate how the shift from steel-rope to fibre-rope in offshore cranes is technologically possible and how the crane delivers substantial cost benefits to owners, particularly for deep-water projects.”
“Questions were answered and we could show that although the crane is new, the technology is tested, combining decades of MacGregor’s load handling expertise with the fibre-rope tensioning and handling skills of Parkburn Precision Handling Systems.” Designed to comply with rigorous DNV GL regulations, the FibreTrac crane has a 150t safe working load (SWL) capacity and features an advanced rope monitoring and management system that maximises rope lifespan and provides clear lift line status information for the operator at all times.
OTC Booth 4239