[INDUSTRY NEWS]


and the SC&RA Foundation through active participation,” said Stramer. “He has contributed time, sponsorships, energy, passion, humor and, perhaps most importantly, he has influenced and inspired many of us in this room in many positive ways.” Thomsen and his family remained active


in the company after selling it to Carlisle Companies, Inc., in 1995. The company was purchased by CC Industries, Inc., the holding and management firm of Henry Crown and Company, in 2010. Many long-time Trail King employees continue to work within the company, operating with the same sense of pride and quality commitment that Gordon Thomsen instilled in them years back. Among the other honors Thomsen


has earned over the years are Small Business Person of the Year, Small Business Administration’s Exporter of the Year and South Dakotan of the Year. His son, Jerry, served as SC&RA President in 2005-2006. Also During the Specialized Carriers


& Rigging Association (SC&RA) Annual Conference, David Lowry, Bennett International Group, McDonough, Ga. was elected as President.


Samson And SWOS Work With Technip to De- velop a Synthetic Heavy Lift Sling Solution


FPSO in U.S. waters. While formulating installation procedures, Southwest Ocean Services (SWOS) and Samson’s offshore technical sales team were in contact with the operations and installation team at Technip, who intended to use the wet handshake technique to transfer loads from Deep Blue’s overboard crane to the A&R winch in the moonpool to the seafloor. Since the handshake was to be accomplished with ROV’s, the use of wire rope slings would have presented many rigging and handling issues due to the weight and stiffness of the wire. SWOS worked with Technip’s design


team to develop a synthetic solution, not only for the sling, but also for the custom chafing gear and the project specific ROV handling slings. Samson’s AmSteel-Blue, a high-strength,


lightweight Dyneema fiber rope was used to fabricate the slings. AmSteel-Blue is as strong as wire ropes the same size, yet is neutrally buoyant or slightly positive in seawater, making handling by ROV a simple matter requiring a minimum of power. Southwest Ocean Services, a Samson


Samson high-performance synthetic slings helped Technip install subsea hardware at Petrobras’ Cascade & Chinook project. Installing two pumping stations and


two manifolds at Petrobras’s Cascade and Chinook fields in the Gulf of Mexico at depths in excess of 2,500m was accomplished with a “wet handshake” and the assistance of Samson’s AmSteel-Blue fabricated into lifting slings for the operation. Technip was the contractor, and Deep Blue was the installation vessel used during the deepwater installation. The project is among the deepest subsea installations in the Gulf of Mexico, and marks the first use of an


12 MAY-JUNE 2011 WIRE ROPE EXCHANGE


master distributor located in Houston, Texas, fabricated the slings to Technip’s specifications from existing stock. The 3.625-in. (88-mm) diameter AmSteel-Blue was spliced into grommets 50m in length. Both eyes of each sling were fitted with Samson’s DC Gard high-performance chafe gear, equipped with two small-diameter ROV handling grommets made from .5-in. Samson Quik-Splice, and a polypropylene rod inserted into the eye section of each small grommet. This resulted in a rigid eye section with positive buoyancy perfect for capture by the manipulation arms of an ROV. At total of 16 slings rated at 190-metric-ton working loads were fabricated and tested for the installation of four hardware packages and four suction piles. At the time of the installation, the subsea


hardware arrived via barge, with each of the hardware packages and suction piles pre- fitted with two high-performance synthetic slings. Deep Blue’s 400-metric-ton outboard crane was used to lift the hardware packages using one of the two attached slings. The hardware was lowered to 100m, where an ROV captured a special grommet attached to the second lifting sling and ferried the eye of the sling to the hook of Deep Blue’s moonpool A&R winch. With the load transferred to the A&R winch, the sling was freed from the hook of the outboard crane and the hardware


lowered to the seafloor for installation. The wet handshake was complete.


Kito Corporation Assists Japan Japanese crane manufacturer Kito Corpora- tion is donating JPY20m to a relief fund for victims of the earthquake that devastated northeast of Japan last month. Employees of the firm, who were all


fortunately unharmed, have also contributed to the JPY20m sum. The donation will be used by the


Japanese Red Cross Society to fund relief efforts by charity organisations at work in the country. Kito Corporation expects the disaster


to have a minimal effect on its business performance this year, despite disruption caused by the rolling energy blackouts imposed by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in the aftermath of the tragedy. The company reports that operations at


its headquarters and main production facility in Yamanashi are largely unaffected.


OTC Reaches Highest Attendance and Largest Exhibition Since 1982 Attendance at the 2011 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) reached a 29-year high of 78,150, up 8% from last year, as offshore en- ergy industry experts from around the world came together at the world’s largest event for offshore resources development. OTC was held 2-5 May at Reliant Park in Houston. Attendance surpassed the 2010 total of


72,025, and the sold-out exhibition was the largest since 1982 at 603,000 square feet, up from 568,000 square feet in 2010. New this year was the OTC Parkway spanning from Reliant Center to Reliant Arena, which increased the outdoor exhibition space. The event had 2,520 companies from 40 countries, including 306 new exhibitors in 2011, and added exhibitors from Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Philippines. “The outstanding attendance underscores


that OTC is the show to attend, and reflects the economic recovery as well as the importance of global offshore resource development in meeting world energy demand. This is an industry that rises to and meets incredible challenges, and the best minds from around the world come together at OTC to share our knowledge, to learn about technological advances and innovative approaches, to solve problems and to discuss important issues that affect the entire planet,” said Susan Cunningham,


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