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torpedo anchors

Maersk Wins 4-Year Contract from Petrobras to Launch Some Badass Anchors

Rob Almeida
Total Views: 493
March 6, 2012

Maersk Supply Service has won three new contracts with the Brazilian state owned oil company Petrobras (SAO:PETR3) for anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) services offshore Brazil. These 4-year contracts commencing in December 2012 are valued at approximately DKK 1.6 billion (USD $285 million) and have been assigned to Maerk’s L-type vessels, MÆRSK LEADER, MÆRSK LANCER and MÆRSK LAUNCHER. The vessels will be involved in ultra deep water anchor handling with both conventional and torpedo anchors.

“Brazil is a strategically important growth market for Maersk Supply Service, and these contracts reinforce our strong relationship with one of the industry leaders in deepwater exploration and production,” says Carsten Plougmann Andersen, CEO of Maersk Supply Service.
Maersk Supply Service has a significant position in the Brazilian market with currently 11 vessels operating offshore Brazil for Petrobras and 5 vessels for International Oil Companies.
Petrobras is Maersk Supply Service’s biggest customer:
“We have been working with Petrobras since 1977 in ever increasing water depths requiring high safety, environmental, specialized operational performance and the most advanced and powerful vessels. We look forward to continue the deepwater-journey together,” Carsten Plougmann Andersen says.
During a phone call with Mr. Anderson this morning, he mentioned that oil operators such as Petrobras are particularly interested in large, highly capable, and technologically advanced vessels, especially in the wake of recent oil spills.  Maersk Supply’s fleet is particularly well suited for such demands.
Two Maersk newbuilds are currently under construction in Chile and destined for the Canadian market in 2014 and 2015.
Classed by Lloyd’s Register, Maersk’s L-type DP2 AHTS vessels are 90 meters long with a 268 ton bollard pull capacity via 4  Caterpillar/MAK 9M32 engines.
maersk leader AHTS
Image courtesy Maersk
Never heard of a torpedo anchor?  Here’s what it looks like, courtesy Deep Sea Anchors
torpedo anchor
Two fullsize 75 ton Deep Penetrating Anchors™ were fabricated at the Western Shipyard in Klaipeda, Lithuania and delivered at the Central Coastal Base in Ã…gotnes near Bergen, Norway.
These anchors are 13m in length with four meter wide fins. Maximum pullout capacity is approximately 700tons.
 The anchors were designed to take larger loads than what will be realized by the present drilling unit, the Transocean Searcher, which may be operating on the field in the future where 84mm chain is manditory with MBL in excess of 700tons.

torpedo anchors

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