Samson Celebrates Offshore Expansion

Samson, specializing in performance cordage, held a ribbon cutting ceremony on February 10, 2009, to celebrate its recent business expansion that will enable the production of a broad range of products for the offshore oil and gas industry.

The multi-million dollar expansion includes the addition of new technical engineering staff and sales staff, as well as adding more than 35,000 sq ft to Samson’s Lafayette, La., synthetic-rope manufacturing plant. The new space accommodates new braiding and take-up equipment specifically tailored to produce very long, large-diameter synthetic ropes.

The expansion adds enough floor space to accommodate two new rope braiders and support equipment: a Herzog 48-strand horizontal braider, a Herzog 2000 12-strand single braider, and 65-ton capacity take-up equipment. With the new capacity, Samson is producing a broad array of high-performance synthetic ropes, including tethers, long lifting winch lines and specialty working lines.

The new Herzog horizontal braider and take-up equipment are capable of producing synthetic mooring tethers in very long lengths, with strengths of 2000 metric tons or greater. This braider produces both traditional polyester tethers and Samson’s MoorLite tethers made from Dyneema SK-78 HMPE fiber. Samson MoorLite tethers offer the lightweight flexibility and stiffness for deepwater and ultra-deepwater mooring applications that translate into significant installation efficiencies and operational cost savings.

The Herzog 2000 single braider produces very long continuous lengths of 12-strand torque-free braided high-performance ropes. These products are targeted for replacement of wire rope in heavy lift-sling and winch-line applications. Samson high-performance non-jacketed single braids will now be available in sizes up to 200mm in diameter with strengths exceeding 2050 metric tons. With Samson’s recent development of cyclic bend-over sheave (CBOS) enhancing Deep Cool Technology, Samson ropes can outperform the wire and other conventional synthetic fiber ropes already in use in winch-line applications. These ropes will be an enabling technology for a variety of ultra-deepwater offshore subsea applications where wire rope cannot be used because of its breaking length.

In addition to increasing capacity, Samson is adding new staff to support the offshore industry. The Samson’s technically trained sales team is being expanded in both Europe and Asia; new applications engineers and field support staff are joining the team in Europe, Asia, and Lafayette, Louisiana; and the Research & Development team is expanding with new experts in high-performance rope systems.

The Samson team also includes master-distributor partners who provide innovative design and fabrication of high-performance synthetic rope systems: Southwest Ocean Services (SWOS), located in Houston, TX; Gaylin International PTE Ltd, located in Singapore; and Endenburg BV, located in The Netherlands.

(www.samsonrope.co)