Allseas orders offshore giant

Huisman has secured a contract from Allseas to design and manufacture an 850 tonne capacity offshore mast crane.

The crane will replace the current 300 tonne offshore mast crane onboard Allseas' pipelaying vessel Solitaire. The delivery is scheduled for October 2012 at the Huisman production facility in Fujian, China.

The 850 tonne crane will offer up to1,600 m single fall hook depth and is equipped with an active heave compensation system on the main and whip hoist for landing a load on the seabed. The use of a splittable block on the main hoist allows the number of falls to be adjusted from 8 to 4 falls without re-reeving, said Huisman.

The adjustment of falls allows the lift to be carried out at an optimum load and speed configuration. "These features will make the crane an efficient tool for the installation of heavy loads required for deepwater subsea production systems," said a company spokesman.

Offshore mast cranes currently under construction by Huisman include a 400 tonne capacity unit for Subsea 7; two 1,800 tonne cranes for Yantai's SSCV#2; a 1,800 tonne unit for Seatruck's Jascon 18; a 3,000 tonner for Ezra's Constellation; and a 4,000 tonne unit for Heerema's Aegir. The recently completed 5,000 crane for Subsea 7's Seven Borealis was also manufactured at Huisman China.