PALFINGER MARINE Enters Market for Subsea Cranes

PALFINGER MARINE is proud to announce the receipt of a prestigious contract signed with Norside for delivery of a 100 tons active heave compensated (AHC) crane to be installed on the vessel Vestland Cygnus, a VS485 MKIII vessel designed by Wärtsila Ship Design. The vessel was delivered from Fjellstrand to Norside earlier this year but will now undergo a conversion program at Fjellstrand yard in Norway. After the rebuild, the vessel will be upgraded with an accommodation unit to raise the total capacity to 134 persons, a motion compensated gangway and a 100 tons AHC knuckle boom crane. PALFINGER MARINE’s range of AHC cranes is developed in close co-operation between PALFINGER DREGGEN and Norwegian Deck Machinery (NDM). NDM was earlier this year acquired by PALFINGER MARINE and their technology for AHC winches has been fully utilized in order to develop the range of AHC cranes. PALFINGER DREGGEN is a well-known supplier of offshore cranes and NDM is well known for their winches for offshore vessels. 
  
AHC Knuckle Boom Crane with highest safety performance 
The crane to be installed onboard Vestland Cygnus is a knuckle boom crane with 100 tons single fall capacity, 100 tons @ 12 meter and 20 tons @ 37 meter. The main winch will be delivered with 1000 meters of wire but is designed and prepared for a capacity up to 3000 meters of wire. In addition to the main winch, the crane is also equipped with an AHC auxiliary winch, 10 tons @ 40 meter, with 500 meter wire. Main benefits for the crane is the high AHC performance and user friendly interface for operation. The crane has been designed with full focus on safety for cargo, equipment, personnel and environment and has systems for both storing and recovery of energy. In addition, the crane fulfills all requirements from DNV 2.22 for a vessel with “crane” notation. The crane will be built and tested at the PALFINGER MARINE facility in Gdynia, Poland, and is scheduled for delivery September 2016.  
  
Main advantage for customers: low weight and center of gravity 
“The main reason we selected the crane from PALFINGER MARINE was the low weight combined with a low center of gravity which made it possible to use a bigger crane than originally planned on the vessel,” says Hans Martin Gravdal, owner of the vessel and owner of Norside. “The flexibility on the technical solutions combined with the commercial terms, and the fact that it is a local company based in Bergen were all part of the reason why we finally ended up signing with PALFINGER DREGGEN.”  
“This order is an important milestone for PALFINGER MARINE to set foot in the marked for high end AHC offshore cranes, and we highly appreciate this contract from Norside. The contract proves that the close co-operation between PALFINGER DREGGEN and NDM in order to develop a range of highly effective and cost effective AHC cranes is a success“, says Halldor Rongve, general manager in PALFINGER DREGGEN.