Leading deepwater rope manufacturer, Lankhorst Ropes Offshore Division has invested Euro 2M in a synthetic fibre rope test machine that, for the first time, will enable naval architects to run 'what if' scenarios to simulate the effects of storms and hurricanes on deepwater mooring lines. Located at Lankhorst Ropes’ fibre rope production facility in Portugal, the rope test machine will be used to test the mechanical performance and fatigue behaviour for a range of new materials and rope constructions for deepwater mooring and single point mooring (SPM) systems. The machine can test 20m ropes with loads up to 1,200 tonnes and a stroke length up to 4.5 m.