Bibby HydroMap Received Scantrol AHC Retrofit In Only 3 Weeks
In order to fulfill its contractual obligations M/V Bibby Athena had its ROV winch upgraded with Scantrol AHC while in operation. The AHC control system was delivered and tested in only 3 weeks this summer, and the vessel is now running AHC operations up to 24 hours a day.
“Scantrol`s rapid delivery was essential for us in order to fulfill the contract that we had been awarded”, ROV Engineer Christopher Rogers on M/V Bibby Athena says. In June he received his vessel`s new Scantrol AHC system. In order to perform continuous mapping of the seabed and cables while they are still operational, Bibby HydroMap needed to heave compensate its d`ROP Survey ROV winch. The solution was an AHC upgrade from Scantrol, a cost effective and proven system with short lead time.
The winch, made by Lawson Engineers in UK, was already installed onboard the vessel, whereby the Director of the company, Robert Lawson, recommended Scantrol to supply the controls for Active Heave Compensation. Scantrol assembled the system after receiving hydraulics analysis from its British hydraulic expert, Derek Walker. The system was shipped to the vessel and Steven McKay, Scantrol`s UK service engineer commissioned and tested the system together with Scantrol`s own engineers. The testing and fine-tuning was done both on board the vessel and via remote support while the M/V Bibby Athena was in operation. The feedback from the operators confirms the successful combination of a Lawson winch with a Scantrol AHC control system.
Together with EBI’s experienced engineers and Bosch Rexroth hydraulics, Scantrol completed a successful project by good teamwork, smart solutions and open communication between the parties.
This is the first US built AHC crane of this kind and also the first AHC control system delivered by Scantrol to a US customer. Scantrol is convinced that this is first US project makes state of the art technology available also for other American customers with AHC needs.
Satisfied with delivery, installation and support
-“Scantrol`s service engineer Steve was structured and made the commissioning straight forward. Also the software engineer was good with what he was doing”, Christopher Rogers says.
Although the system was delivered and commissioned on very short notice in the middle of the summer holidays, Rogers is satisfied with the process from first contact with Scantrol to the control system was ready for use.
-“As an ROV-operator I like that the system is intuitive and accurate. The user interface is easy on the eye,” Rogers emphasizes. He is also very satisfied with the iSYM Online function, a remote support tool connecting the AHC system to Scantrol`s service engineers via the ship`s internet connection whenever needed.
-“If Scantrol AHC fails, the job stops. That is why the iSYM online is an absolutely essential security measure”, Rogers says.
Successful delivery: ROV Engineer, Chris Rogers, at Bibby Hydromap is happy with the delivery, explaining Scantrol’s UK representative, Derek Walker, and Business Developer at Scantrol, Lars Thomas Sønningdal, how the vessel now can run AHC operations up tp 24 hours a day.
AHC increases the vessels` competitiveness
-“As the offshore markets slow down due to lower oil prices, we experience that more ship owners are looking at the opportunity to upgrade their existing deck equipment with AHC instead of buying new. Retrofitting of existing equipment to AHC is often a very cost-effective way to putting the vessel in a better position in order to get the limited number of new subsea operation contracts in the market,” Helge Hammersland, managing director of Scantrol, says.
Scantrol is currently analyzing several existing winches in order to determine their AHC potential.
–“Often, an acceptable heave compensation capacity can be achieved by just replacing the control system with an AHC control system”, Hammersland says, finding himself confident that this market trend is going to contribute to reduce the costs in the offshore industry.
-“We are very happy that Bibby HydroMap have chosen us for their AHC upgrade. The job has given us the opportunity to show what we are good for when it comes to retrofitting. I think we succeeded”, Hammersland concludes.