Hansa Heavy Lift moves subsea equipment for oil project off Ghana coast

April 18, 2018: Hansa Heavy Lift has moved subsea equipment to assist with the development of the Offshore Cape Three Points (OCTP) Integrated Oil & Gas Development Project off the coast of Ghana.

The voyages took place onboard the heavy-lift vessels HHL Rhine and HHL Richards Bay, which transported the cargo between the ports of Panama City, Florida; Nymo, Norway; and Takoradi, Ghana.

“This was a challenging operation that required meticulous planning as well as operational flexibility by our marine crews,” said Steven Neuendorff, Director, Head of Americas, HANSA HEAVY LIFT.

“We had to accommodate changes in the loading and discharge sequence, and to the offshore installation sequence in order to meet the customer’s specific requirements.

“To achieve this level of flexibility, efficient communication between key project personnel and marine crews was required throughout the project; from pre-planning to execution.”

The consignment included vertical reels, a horizontal carousel loaded with flexible products, Steel Flying Leads (SFL) loaded on cassettes, a Flowline End Termination (FLET) sled, Subsea Isolation Valves (SSIV), and a variety of other subsea equipment.

The first voyage included multiple reels and a carousel, all loaded with umbilicals and flying leads, which were transported from Panama City, Florida to Takoradi on-board HHL Richards Bay.

The second voyage took place on-board HHL Rhine, with subsea hardware transported from a facility in Eydehavn, Norway with the cargo discharged in Takoradi.

The third voyage involved HHL Richards Bay returning empty reels and other miscellaneous equipment from Takoradi to Panama City, Florida.

The fourth voyage included more reels loaded with umbilical products transported on board the HHL Richards Bay from Panama City, Florida to Takoradi.

“Due to the high amount of cargo units, crews had to overcome very tight stowage with precise positioning,” said Tom Kroeger, Project Engineer, HANSA HEAVY LIFT.

“This was particularly the case for the 500-metric tonne carousel on deck, which needed to be stored in a specific position to cover all supporting girders of the hatch cover to ensure sufficient load spreading."

Kroeger added as everything had been prepared well in advance and due to strong cooperation with all parties, all engineering operations had run “particularly smoothly”.