Wagenborg Foxdrill’s Innovative Solution to Replace Two 14t Cylinders on Knuckle Boom Cranes With No Downtime

Wagenborg Foxdrill’s rope access team recently completed a challenging project on a large drilling vessel off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire.

The mission? Replacing the heavy main boom cylinders of two knuckle boom cranes.

This was quite a challenge, as these cylinders weigh almost 14t each and replacing them would require the drillship to go into port interrupting drilling operations and expensive.

But the Foxdrill team had other plans, developing a safe and innovative offshore lifting solution using rope access techniques that allowed the replacement to be carried out without interrupting drilling operations.

 

This was an extraordinary job, because with a length of 7.5m and a weight of almost 14t, these cylinders are not easy to handle. Foxdrill’s team of engineers and rope access specialists developed a safe lifting solution. This involved using the upper arm of each knuckle boom crane. To this, the rope access team attached the necessary rigging, consisting of an ingenious combination of chain hoists.

After disconnecting the hydraulic hoses and removing the fixing pins, the rope access team carefully lowered the cylinder several meters to a position where it could be picked up by one of the other knuckle boom cranes.

The installation of the new cylinders involved carrying out the operation in reverse order.

Result? Zero downtime, uninterrupted drilling, and substantial cost savings.

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