Havyard Orders MacGregor Cranes for Subsea IMR Ship

Two MacGregor cranes will feature on a new subsea IMR vessel being built by Havyard in Norway for diverse deepwater operations off the west coast of Africa

In April, MacGregor, part of Cargotec, signed an order with Norwegian shipyard, Havyard Ship Technology AS, for two MacGregor offshore cranes. Both will be installed on a new Havyard 857 subsea inspection maintenance and repair (IMR) vessel being built for Nigerian offshore oil and gas company, Marine Platforms Limited (MPL).

MPL is headquartered in Lagos and specialises in a wide range of deepwater operations. The contract calls for one 250-tonne MacGregor active heave-compensated (AHC) subsea crane and one 20-tonne MacGregor AHC subsea crane. These will be delivered in July 2014 and the vessel is scheduled to be handed over in August the same year.

“The offshore market in west Africa is recognised worldwide as an area with very promising future prospects,” says Frode Grøvan, Sales and Marketing Director for MacGregor Advanced Load Handling. “It is therefore a significant advantage for us to participate in the expansion into this region. For their part, our cranes will deliver reliable, proven load-handling technology to MPL.”

Havyard has been developing its series of subsea vessel designs since 2005. This particular Havyard 857 for MPL will have a larger deck area than previous designs – comprising a main deck of 1,200m2 and a mezzanine deck of 225m2 – along with a larger offshore crane and an extra auxiliary crane. Other specific changes to the 113m vessel include an extended moonpool and larger accommodation areas, designed for 120 personnel.