Sparrows Offshore : Contract award for design and manufacture of industry first 500-tonne under-rollers

Sparrows Group is pleased to announce that we have been awarded with a contract to design and manufacture two 500-tonne powered and jack-able under-rollers, which are believed to be the first of their design and capacity, for Oceaneering International Inc.

Sparrows Group is pleased to announce that we have been awarded with a contract to design and manufacture two 500-tonne powered and jack-able under-rollers, which are believed to be the first of their design and capacity, for Oceaneering International Inc.

The new under-roller system, through its versatility and mobility, offers a wide range of features and benefits. Suitable for use with reels of up to 11.4m outer diameter, it provides up to 10 tonnes of line pull at the outer reel diameter which is particularly beneficial for steel-tubed umbilicals - a more rigid product that requires greater effort to spool around the reel.

The under-rollers will be delivered to Oceaneering in Panama City where we will perform the assembly and site acceptance testing. Local after-care support for the under-rollers will be supplied by Sparrows Group's service centre in Slidell, Louisiana, where we have a number of specialist technicians with the capability to maintain and repair this type of equipment.

Stewart Mitchell, Sparrows Group CEO, said, 'This contract award marks a significant milestone for Sparrows Group in that not only are the under-rollers believed to be the first of the design and capacity in the marketplace but it underlines the added value we bring through our integrated services, responsiveness and after-care support.'

The system can be used for different reel cradles which enables the unit to be versatile in terms of the reel dimensions it can be used with. Both the drive and idler units can also be unbolted and easily moved for use on other reels and cradles on site.

The under-roller design results in a cost-effective system which improves the efficiency of operations. The flexibility in design enables the user to reduce the number of heavy lifting operations on site by moving the under-roller to the reel instead of moving the reel to the location of and onto the under-roller, maximising the efficiency of spooling operations.

The wheel drive and idler units can also be transported by forklift pockets built into the wheel unit frames - from either the side or the end of the unit - to allow forklifts to position the wheel units in more confined spaces at the client's facility as well as for speed of relocation without the use of a crane.