Crane Storage, Mobilization and Installation for Offshore Transporter Vessels

Core was commissioned by Hornbeck Offshore, a leading provider of marine transportation services, to receive, store and install heavy-lift cranes for use on newly constructed offshore supply and installation vessels. This is an ongoing project and required Core’s team to engineer specific solutions for receiving and transporting the cranes to storage as well as moving them dockside for installation.

The first crane was received in January 2015. Each crane weighs approximately 550 tons and has a lifting capacity of 250 tons. We first have to use our heavy-lift capabilities to lift and position Hornbeck’s cranes onto a remote-controlled transporter — specifically, the transporter has 44 lines (set doublewide at two lines by 22 lines), creating an overall bed size of 101 feet by 17.5 feet. Once loaded onto the transporter, the cranes must be moved to storage where they are positioned on custom stands that work in concert with the vertical mobility of the transporter. With the vertical mobility of the transporters, we are able to first jack up and then lower each crane onto the stand for storage.

As of April 2017, Core has received two of Hornbeck’s new vessels for crane installation. When each vessel is received, our team loads the crane back onto the transporter, which is then brought dockside for vessel installation. This primarily involves lifting, placing and welding each crane on the vessel’s pedestal. Once complete, Hornbeck is able to deploy these offshore supply and installation vessels for subsea installation work and for use in supplying offshore oil and gas installations.