Oceanteam's converted cable lay barge unveiled
  by: OilOnline
  Thursday, April 24, 2008

Oceanteam ASA has unveiled its newly converted offshore cable installation barge.

The company, which has an office in Aberdeen, specialises in subsea cable installation and associated services.

The CLB Explorer is a Lloyds 100 A1 Pontoon class vessel built in 1985 and measuring just under 92 metres.

It recently underwent a major upgrade in Rotterdam, involving the installation of new accommodation modules for up to 64 people.

Other preparatory work was carried out to enable the second stage of the conversion to take place in the North-east of England.

During this second phase the barge was equipped with a new 24 metre diameter carousel and the new OceanPlough01 trenching tool.

The vessel is now fully equipped to carry out cable installation work in coastal areas and shallow water.

The OceanPlough01 is designed to trench large diameter flexible products in a wide range of soils. It is able to continuously vary its trench depth down to its maximum depth of 3 metres. This provides greater safety to the product as it moves through the full range of trench depths.

The CLB Explorer is also fully equipped with a crane and tow and pull winches.

The barge requires towing and anchor handling support vessels when under tow and when carrying out operations but is otherwise self sufficient for continuous installation operations.

A group of invited guests were given an exclusive tour of the CLB Explorer at the Port of Liverpool, where the barge is currently docked while it is working on projects in the Irish Sea.

Guests were invited to attend a business breakfast at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Liverpool on Monday, April 14, when they were shown a presentation about the barge and its new capabilities.

They were then taken by coach to the Port of Liverpool for a guided tour of the CLB Explorer.

Jon Mears, Oceanteam Chief Operating Officer, said: "We are pleased to have had the opportunity to officially unveil our converted CLB Explorer barge to our clients. This upgrade will allow us to provide an enhanced service and reinforces our commitment to being the market leader in the provision of cable laying services."

Oceanteam is a niche services provider for the global oil and gas, power transmission and offshore renewable industries, servicing, installing, trenching, maintaining and repairing flexible pipelines, umbilicals and power cables.

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