Breakthrough in Ease of Deepwater Mooring Line Connectivity and Deployment
Lankhorst Ropes Offshore Division (LROD), part of the Royal Lankhorst Euronete Group BV, announces the LankoFirst range of fibre rope connectors for deepwater mooring systems. Developed by subsea mooring connector specialist, First Subsea and LROD worldwide agent, Offspring International, the new connectors will revolutionise the ease with which deepwater fibre mooring lines are connected and deployed offshore. The LankoFirst range includes rope-rope, rope-wire and rope-chain connectors. Traditional fibre rope mooring connectors are often cumbersome to handle and time-consuming to complete during deepwater mooring operations offshore. LankoFirst is developed specifically for deepwater fibre connections. The connectors are smaller, lighter, stronger and more efficient than current plate links and thimbles. Moreover, they are easier to make-up and the rope splice is slimmer, and therefore lighter, for the same MBL.
Importantly the LankoFirst fibre connector has been designed to be safer and easier to assemble offshore, whether vertically or horizontal. LankoFirst sub-connectors are integrated with the spliced rope during rope manufacture, ensuring the quality of the splice and saving time when assembling the connectors on the vessel.
LankoFirst – dedicated deepwater fibre connector
Dave Rowley, director, Offspring International, says, “LankoFirst gives naval architects and installation contractors a dedicated deepwater fibre mooring connector that is smaller, lighter, easier and quicker to make-up than traditional rope connectors. Moreover, as offshore projects move to deeper waters the number of fibre rope connectors needed will increase, and so the ease of assembly and time saving benefits with LankoFirst will make a substantial impact of reducing mooring line installation times.”
Manufactured from the same materials, and to the same high quality standard, as First Subsea’s subsea mooring connectors, the LankoFirst is designed to easily run and retrieve across the mooring vessel's stern rollers and on anchor handling ships. “Our world leading metals forging research has been important in providing us with the technical know-how to optimise the design to make the LankoFirst connector small, light and easy to assemble, yet able to withstand the rigours of deployment over the stern roller,” comments Brian Green, general manager, First Subsea.
Range of Flexible Fibre Rope Connections
For maximum installation flexibility, the LankoFirst connector is available as three types of connection: Clam, Snap and Link. The Clam connector is where the sub-connector is spliced with the rope during manufacture and enclosed within clam shell case during deployment for fibre rope to fibre rope (R2R) and fibre rope to chain (R2C) connections.
The Snap connector is for fibre rope to fibre rope (R2R) connections where the spliced rope is integrated with the connector during rope manufacture and simply snapped together offshore.
The Link connector is for fibre rope to fibre rope (R2R) where spliced ropes integrated with connectors (female clevis head and male padeye) during rope manufacture and a pin connection made offshore.
“LankoFirst brings a level of flexibility and ease of installation to fibre deepwater connections that simply hasn't existed before. They can now choose the connector that best suits their requirements in terms of the type of connection and how they want to deploy it offshore. In all cases the LankoFirst connectors share the same high quality engineering and design needed to meet mechanical and fatigue demands of their mooring system,” says Chris Johnson, sales director, Lankhorst Ropes Offshore Division.
