Targeting Offshore Installation Efficiency: An Innovative Tool for a Safer Offshore Lifting & Handling of Pipes Without Human Intervention

Abstract

Offshore pipelay due to several factors such as weather condition, cranes performances, relative motions between vessels, human errors, to name a few, implies that the risks of injuries for the personnel involved in such operation is not negligible with potential of severe consequences for their health and safety. Riggers are usually employed during offshore lifting of pipes from PSV (Pipe Supply Vessel) or Cargo Barge to the PLV (Pipe Lay Vessel), see Figure 1. Such type of operations are repeated thousands of times, especially during the offshore laying of long trunklines, increasing the probability of possible incidents. As an example, in (Monacchi et al., 2023) are mentioned some events recorded and published by IMCA (International Marine Contractors Association), related to pipe lifting operations and involving injuries to the riggers or resulting in a high potential near miss. To reduce such risks, in the last years Saipem promoted and funded Research and Development (R&D) activities to develop innovative solutions to minimize or even eliminate the human intervention during offshore lifting of pipes. Different disciplines were engaged to set the requirements for a remotely operated system for pipes lifting, handling and landing: expertise in offshore operations, interfaces with vessel equipment, installation analysis, design and construction of lifting devices and control systems. The result is the development of the Hands-Free Lifting Beam (HFLB), a tool able to automatically lift a single pipe or a pair of pipes from any type of Cargo Barge or PSV cargo hold/loading platform and delivering them to the PLV, allowing the personnel involved in the rigging operation to be out from the Line of Fire (LOF). This paper presents an overview of the Hands-Free Lifting Beam, the working principle, main components, functions and its control system. The construction and testing of a prototype, which is planned to be completed and tested at the factory by the third quarter of 2023, will be also described. Most of the concepts included in this paper are patent pending.