MacGregor's Offshore division is expanding its equipment testing capabilities in Kristiansand, Norway, to handle a large number of active heave-compensated (AHC) offshore cranes and other subsea load-handling equipment.
The site's need for increased testing capabilities will be met by a multi-testbed barge called MacBarge, which was ordered in 2008 and scheduled to arrive and be fully-operational by the end of February. The 76-metre by 23-metre MacBarge is designed to test two large AHC offshore cranes simultaneously, as well as winches, ROV systems and other subsea load-handling technology. It carries its own 2,000kVA power unit.
MacBarge will enable full scale testing of various MacGregor products to be conducted prior to installation on board vessels, improving the total efficiency of the test process.
The Kristiansand plant is the manufacturing and testing hub for MacGregor's offshore load-handling equipment, and alongside AHC offshore and deck cranes, it also produces winches, A-frames, module-handling systems, launch-and-rescue systems (LARS) and rescue davits.
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