Handling & deployment
Pipe handling systems – the full deck spread, designed and integrated as one
Gantry crane, breakout unit, pipe racks and a radio-remote handling crane, a complete deck pipe handling system, engineered, built, integrated and commissioned as one accountable package.
Moving drill pipe, collars and BHAs safely around a working deck, from rack to well centre and back, made up and broken out, with people kept clear, takes more than a single machine. It takes a coordinated system of handling, racking and breakout equipment that fits the vessel, the pipe and the drilling spread it serves. We design, build, integrate and commission complete pipe handling systems and we do it under single-party accountability: one team responsible for the equipment, its controls, its structural interface to the deck and its commissioning.
We delivered a full deck pipe handling system of this kind for an offshore geotechnical drilling vessel, designed, manufactured, assembled, function-tested and seafastened into the vessel as part of a rig upgrade.
What’s in the system
- Gantry crane – a travelling hoist module running on a gantry beam over the pipe deck, with a mast-mounted sheave arrangement, drive chain and winch, to move pipe along the rig and present it to well centre. Built with end-of-travel limits, interlock zones, E-stops and guarding for a busy deck.
- Breakout unit – a sliding-frame breakout station with a breakout ‘V’ to make up and break out pipe connections, mounted on a powered sliding frame with its own access, energy-chain service management and travel limits.
- Pipe racks – port and starboard, forward and aft racking for drill pipe, collars and BHAs, with infill and access platforms, all engineered for the deck loads and the vessel’s motions.
- Radio-remote pipe handling crane – a compact knuckle/pedestal handling crane with a pipe grab, operated by radio remote so the operator stays clear of the load, for transferring pipe between rack, catwalk and handling line.
- Access platforms, guarding and controls – forward access platforms, self-closing gates, interlocks, lighting and E-stop coverage, with hydraulic power and control engineered to suit.
- Seafastening and structural interface – the whole system is seafastened to the deck and its loads carried into the vessel structure, with the seafastening and under-deck interface analysed for head, beam and oblique sea load cases.
Designed, built and commissioned as one
The value isn’t in any single component, it’s in making the gantry, breakout, racking, crane, controls and seafastening work together as one system on a real deck, then proving it. We design the equipment and its structural interface together, manage fabrication through our supplier network and assemble, integrate and function-test in-house before it goes to the vessel, so what arrives is a commissioned system, not a kit of parts for someone else to make work. The radio-remote handling crane is factory-acceptance load-tested before delivery, and the deck system is integrated and seafastened under the same single point of accountability.
It’s the same handling-and-controls engineering behind our wider geotechnical drilling and deck-spread work – iron roughneck, remote tool handler and the handling systems on our automated geotechnical marine drill, applied to complete pipe handling.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| System | Gantry crane · breakout unit · pipe racks · radio-remote handling crane · access & controls |
| Pipe handled | Range-2 drill pipe (single lengths of ~9 m), collars and BHAs |
| Handling crane | 1 t SWL · ~170 bar working pressure · 10 mm hoist wire · radio-remote operation |
| Breakout | Sliding-frame breakout station with breakout ‘V’ for make-up / break-out |
| Structural | Seafastened to deck; interface analysed for head / beam / oblique sea load cases |
| Delivery | Designed, built, assembled, function-tested and commissioned under single-party accountability |
| Availability | Engineered to order – designed to the vessel and drilling spread; supply |