JD Neuhaus, a German manufacturer of air and hydraulic powered lifting equipment, provided a hydraulic overhead crane when Bardex Corp., Goleta, Calif., was contracted to design and custom-build a mooring system for a FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) vessel ordered by Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd. (EPNL), a Nigerian subsidiary of French Oil company Total S.A., and contracted through Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI).
Instead of procuring 16 separate chain jack tensioning systems (four per corner of the FPSO and each rated at 18 tons), it was determined that one unit per corner could be used and a system of four overhead cranes was used to move one chain jack tensioning system for use in all four corners of the FPSO. Additionally, the specially designed mooring system included 16 fairlead stoppers each weighing almost 25 tons.
The system comprised a hydraulically powered overhead crane with a hoist lift capacity of 18 tons, designed to withstand daily ocean environmental conditions with high atmospheric moisture content.
The FPSO vessel was transported by a self-propelled vessel to be used as a temporary storage unit for oil or gas from offshore production platforms before it is subsequently transported by a pipeline or oil tanker to the store depot. The hoists are used to move equipment both on and around the vessel.
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