Anchor Industries, leading supplier of quality, innovative products and services to the marine and offshore mooring, as well as lifting and rigging industries has successfully completed an emergency socketing job for the Anchor Handling Vessel Kamarina off the coast of Port Elizabeth.
Journeying through bad weather conditions and rough seas caused one of the two Anchor Handling Tugs (AHT’s), Kamarina’s tow wire to break while towing the FSO Palanca from Angola to Singapore. With no time to spare the AHT’s owner urgently commissioned Anchor Industries to speedily repair the tow wire.
As a result of Anchor Industries well stocked resources and technical expertise, they mobilised, executed and completed the repair project within less than 24 hours of the order. This task was coordinated by an experienced rigger from the Cape Town branch who was flown to Port Elizabeth and transported 7.5 miles offshore by a pilot boat to the vessel where the re-socketing of the tow wire was carried out.
Logistical challenges aside; and as the damaged wire was cut back by the vessel’s crew, the resocketing, which was inspected and then approved by a surveyor as it met all the safety requirements, was completed within two hours. The project faced many challenges with the most obstructive being the stormy weather and rough sea conditions. This made it difficult for the pilot boat to transport the rigger and necessary equipment to and from the vessel, postponing its return to shore, and delaying the completion of the job until the next morning.
The project was implemented successfully within the allocated time and budget. “The completion of this activity within this extremely tight time frame displays our flexibility and the lengths we will go to ensure that we deliver the best and most reliable service and results to our clients,” says David Pratt coordinator of the socketing job and Anchor Industries Marine & Offshore National Sales Manager. He concludes: “The Palanca was able to continue her journey to Singapore where she will undergo major repairs and upgrading.”
The Palanca is a Floating Storage and Offloading vessel used for storage and offloading of oil produced from Angola’s Block 3.
The 256 meter long and 60 meter wide storage vessel PALANCA is being towed by the two AHT’s – BLUSTER of 12000 bhp and KAMARINA of 8000 bhp – around the Cape of Good Hope from Angola to Sembcorp Marine’s Sembawang Shipyard in the Far East for repairs and upgrading estimated at around $130 Miliion. The voyage is expected to take about 65 days.
Alan Straton
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