Access system providers turn their attention to cargo and equipment

摘要

One of the few bright spots in the offshore vessel supply chain at the moment is offshore access systems and the 'walk-to-work' market, as representatives of Ampelmann in The Netherlands and Uptime in Norway told the 2016 Annual Offshore Support Journal Conference, Awards & Exhibition. Having mastered the art of transferring personnel from a moving vessel to fixed platforms using motion compensated gangways, access system manufacturers have turned their attention to transferring people and equipment and cargo. "In the past," said a spokesperson for Ampelmann, "it was possible to transfer people but not the heavy equipment and cargo they needed once they were on the platform. Now we can do both." Interestingly, Ampelmann also has a system that can lift a standard container from the deck of a vessel to a platform.