Page 48: of Marine Technology Magazine (April 2006)

48 MTR April 2006

Rapp Mareq LLC marked a historic achievement with the signing of a contract for the two largest winches in company history. Rapp's MHW- 200 design for the larger winch han- dles 11,000 ft. of three-in. wire at nearly 300 tons line pull first layer.

The second winch, Rapp's MHW- 140 design accommodates 2.375-in. wire at nearly 200 tons line pull first layer. Both DNV-certified winches will be utilized in deep-sea ROV sup- port and other operations, and will be delivered this year.

Rapp also won two other contracts with another international deepwater firm late last year. A first order in

Houston was closely followed by another deepwater/ROV-related order with the Houston firm's

Norwegian counterpart office.

Rapp winches for the first project are five-speed and designed to make pinpoint stops, with full loads, at great working depths. Rapp's own multi-motor gearboxes provide pow- ering, so that if one motor fails, remaining ones can still operate the winch, albeit at a lower capacity.

Rapp's module-based design allows for substitution of drums, drive units, and braking assemblies, allowing for adaptation to different applications- instead of purchase or rental of a dif- ferent winch. Rapp's PTS Pentagon system, which is proven on VT

Halter's NOAA FRV project, is also to be installed, and Rapp is providing enclosed Hydraulic Power Units (HPUs) for the winches.

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Rapp Mareq Wins Contract for its Two Largest Winches Ever

Compact ROV for Drill

Support in Heavy Seas

Italy's DNT Offshore took delivery of a specially designed compact work

ROV that can perform a wide range of drill support tasks in heavy seas, including AX ring removal. The

Ravenna-based company collaborated with Seaeye, to expand the capability of the Seaeye Cougar into performing a greater range of tasks, and be safe for operating in sea state six.

The solution came from an idea of

DNT's to 'piggy-back' interchange- able tooling skids by mounting one on top of the other. In particular they wanted the capability to perform manipulative and bulls eye cleaning tasks while having their newly designed AX ring-removal tool skid attached. This is the third Cougar delivered to the independent contrac- tor, DNT Offshore whose first con- tract for the system is off West Africa.

DNT also operate two Seaeye Falcon systems and have a third on order.

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BP Selects Telenor for

Global Communications

Telenor Satellite Services signed a three-year communications agree- ment with British Petroleum (BP) for global broadband services over satel- lite. The two-part agreement, includ- ing Telenor land-based and Sealink at-sea broadband communications services, is one of the largest of its kind in terms of numbers of sites, ves- sels and systems included. The con- tract establishes the terms and condi- tions for upgrading the communica- tions systems of ships and production facilities, as determined by BP, and has the potential of providing cost- efficient and highly reliable very small aperture terminal (VSAT) equipment and services to BP's entire fleet, which will surpass 80 deep sea vessels by the end of 2006, and several off- shore rigs and land-based production facilities. Approximately 20 vessels are slated to have Telenor's Sealink services by the end of 2006.

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PetroCom Signs Two-Year

Contract with Cal Dive

PetroCom signed a two-year agree- ment to provide VSAT voice and data communication services to Cal Dive

International, to manage Cal Dive's rapidly changing communication needs across its fleet of 28 vessels. Ken

Wright, COO for PetroCom, said, "instead of introducing an off-the- shelf solution, we carefully specified and selected the best equipment and systems that allow customers unprecedented bandwidth manage- ment capabilities and committed information rates.

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