‘Pieter Schelte’ gets Sonardyne’s Ranger 2

The Swiss-based Allseas Group has selected Sonardyne’s Ranger 2 Ultra-Short Baseline (USBL) acoustic positioning system for the world’s largest pipelay and platform installation/decommissioning vessel, Pieter Schelte.

Built by Daewoo Heavy Industries in South Korea, at 382 metres long and 124 metres wide, Pieter Schelte is almost as long as the Empire State Building and as wide as London’s Big Ben is tall. When complete early next year, the vessel will be able to lift loads of 48,000 tonnes and has sufficient deck space to deliver or remove a complete topside module and jacket in one trip.

According to Sonardyne, the Ranger 2 USBL system will be used as a high precision independent acoustic reference for the vessel’s Kongsberg dynamic positioning (DP) system during structure installation or pipelay operations when maintaining a steady position is a critical requirement. The Sonardyne system measures the range and bearing from a vessel-mounted acoustic transceiver to a transponder deployed on the seabed or attached to a pipe as it is lowered from the surface. Furthermore, the vessel’s relative position to the transponder is continuously reported to the DP system in order that the vessel can be manoeuvred to remain in the required location.

Alan MacDonald, Sales Manager for Sonardyne in Aberdeen commented, “Allseas are a major user of Sonardyne technology and we are delighted that our Ranger 2 system has been chosen for their flagship vessel, Pieter Schelte. This investment reaffirms the robustness, versatility and ease of use that 6G products such as Ranger 2 brings to Allseas’ offshore operations.”

As recently reported by Offshore Energy Today, Pieter Schelte lost its contract to lay the second line of the South Stream offshore pipeline due to cancellation of the South Stream project.

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