Rolls Royce Awards Fiber Rope Contract to Cortland
Cortland’s BOB rope helps reduce operating costs and improve installation time
Cortland announce the recent award of a patented BOB 12x12 Fiber Rope by Rolls Royce for use on its next Fiber Rope Deployment System (FRDS), which is based on their patented Cable Traction Control Unit (CTCU) technology. The FRDS system, which will have a single fall capacity of 150t, is being built for AKOFS Offshore (AKOFS) and will be deployed on the Aker Wayfarer working on a five year contract for Petrobras.
This is the fourth FRDS that will be utilizing Cortland’s BOB 12x12 Fiber Rope since 2006. It will be the second system for AKOFS Offshore who has been using the system successfully since 2010 on the Skandi Santos, also for Petrobras. Both systems for AKOFS are the highest load rated systems using fiber rope commercially available globally.
John Knudsen, Rolls-Royce President Commercial Marine, said in an earlier press release regarding the AKOFS award for the FRDS: "This a very important contract for Rolls-Royce and it shows that the offshore industry has taken yet another step in accepting the superior performance of synthetic fiber ropes for lifting operations in deep and ultra-deep waters."
Stuart Janke, VP of Global Sales for Cortland, stated, “This order is the culmination of many years of development work by both Rolls Royce and Cortland, which have been followed by nearly 10 years of successful operations for both the Rolls Royce CTCU and Cortland’s BOB 12x12 fiber rope working in deep water. This order proves that the reliability of BOB rope in daily operations in deep water have been a huge success for our clients and is unmatched in the industry.”
Luiz Ranieri Bazzo, General Manager, AKOFS Offshore Ltda, stated, “We’ve been using Cortland’s fiber rope technology for the last five years. This was one element, among others, that contributed to being able to use a subsea equipment support vessel (SESV) to perform deep water installations rather than a traditional drilling ship.
“Cortland’s technology, service, and support have exceeded performance and our expectations; and the resulting benefits allow us to create more value for our customer.”
In a press release in February 2015, Petrobras credited the speed of using an SESV and corresponding technology which include both the Rolls Royce CTCU and Cortland’s BOB Fiber Rope with saving approximately $5 million dollars, per well, over the life of the contract.
Cortland’s BOB rope is a patented blend of high performance fibers, which feature high strength, low stretch and ultra-low creep to maximize durability in bending situations. These features translate into less downtime and cost efficiencies.
The combination of BOB synthetic fiber in a 12x12 construction provides long term reliability and performance in an offshore environment. The 12x12 construction allows for a number of operational advantages, including being easy to inspect and repair even offshore.
