System Electrical Equipment News

In two recent incidents, dynamically positioned drillships lost functional thrusters due to an electrical disturbance when attempting to reconnect a faulty thruster after maintenance. When the thruster was reconnected it was not electrically isolated from other thrusters and the thrusters did not "ride through" the disturbance causing loss of thrust. During these incidents the drillship crews were unable to restore all functional thrusters and as a consequence these drillships lost position and had to initiate the emergency disconnect sequence (EDS). In another incident a dynamically positioned drillship encountered severe weather with high, shifting winds that caused it to lose position and initiate the EDS.

Alan C. McClure Associates (ACMA), a naval architecture and engineering firm, announced that the first dry dock for a ferry being built for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has been completed at Conrad Deepwater in Amelia, Louisiana. ACMA and Schuller & Allen provided engineering and design for the new 264-ft vessel, and ACMA is now providing owner’s representation during the construction period until vessel delivery. ACMA Vice President Darrel Harvey said “The ferry’s first dry dock went very smoothly.