Ampelmann Cuts Gangway Conversion Time

Ampelmann has enhanced its E1000 gangway transfer system to speed up conversion from personnel to cargo mode from at least ten minutes to less than one minute, providing greater operational efficiencies.

The adaptable E1000 motion compensated access system can transform from a gangway into a crane boom. It is 30 metres in length and is capable of safely transferring people and up to 1,000kg of cargo in rough sea states in wave heights up to 4.5 metres.

Diederick Nierstrasz, Ampelmann’s offshore wind product development manager said: “Building on the success of the existing E1000, we recognised an opportunity to enhance the current system to reduce the time and physical effort taken to change the gangway work mode from personnel to cargo. With this safe and efficient innovation it now takes less than one minute. This is a huge time saving for our clients, resulting in a more efficient use of their valuable assets and increase of the overall project performance.”

The system now employs remote-controlled hydraulic pin pushers to fixate the gangway booms in less than one minute with a single button. To switch from cargo to personnel transfer mode, the crane hoisting cable is placed in a freewheel mode to allow the booms to telescope, significantly increasing the available working time. Pins were previously manually deployed and the entire conversion process took at least ten minutes to complete.

According to Ampelmann, future development of the E1000 will focus on increasing its lifting capacity.

The company has also been working on developing a new full scale balanced gangway prototype to be tested offshore, and has thus recently established a partnership with Seaqualize.