MDL’s Reel Drive System Concludes Its First Assignment

The latest addition to Maritime Developments’ hire fleet has completed its first mission, two years since delivery to its original client.

The equipment in question is a 400-tonne reel drive system (RDS), originally purchased by Ceona Offshore. Although delivered to client in mid-2014, the system remained on MDL’s premises, where it awaited mobilisation onboard the client’s new-build deepwater field development vessel.

When Ceona went into administration in late 2015, MDL submitted a bid for the system in an auction conducted by the subsea contractor’s administrators, and secured the purchase in March this year.

Shortly afterwards, the RDS was deployed on its first ever mission to install flexible risers and umbilicals in the UKCS.

The project concluded at the end of June, at which point the RDS moved onto its next job, offshore Canada.