For HATLAPA Uetersener Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG it wasn’t the performance of long term well known supermajor’s papers from NYSE market, but it sure was the yet largest, heaviest and strongest Anchor Handling and Towing Winch for the last almost 20 years to leave the company facility. Impressive size, huge measures and great performance data of the triple drum waterfall winch: Low pressure hydraulic drive, 325 t line pull, 21 feet long, 23 feet wide and almost 15 feet high add up to a total of almost 180 t weight. This truly highlights the usual deliveries of standard deck machinery, steering gear and compressors from Uetersen. Almost a thou-sand winches per year are produced by HATLAPA. But these deliveries in general serve the merchant marine customers with competitive pricing and high output in a price sensitive mass market. In terms of reliability and cost effective business most surely a blue chip, but not the innovative, technologically interesting area the offshore industry is all about. Together with their American partner “Oil States Industries Inc.” HATLAPA combined their experience in powering large towing winches with the expertise of Oil States in terms of strength in design and construction. For an offshore service company this first AHTS winch in a series of six was delivered heading towards Singapore.
Figure 1:Mounting of an 325 t AHTS Towing Winch
The so called AHTS (Anchor Handling Tug and Supply Vessels) are in service for the offshore industry, operating at oil and gas ex-ploration and production platforms. These operations in terms of anchor handling, assis-tance and safety tasks as well as ocean towage make up their core duties. They reach a bollard pull of 250 t and sometimes even more.
The delivered winch has a line pull of above 300 t and is driven by four low pressure hydraulic motors from the HATLAPA LPH 440 series, which add up to 1600 kW of power.
HATLAPA is one of the just two manufacturers of low pressure hydraulic motors in the world for such a high power output.
In the late ‘70ies and ’80 HATLAPA equipped many many AHTS vessels under German flag –at that time the largest fleet in the world– with their anchor handling and towing winches of up to 250 t line pull. A broad and deep expertise, from a large number of tug boat contracts over the last decades, preserved the company’s know how and experience in that area. These contracts last not least, kept things going in terms of innovation and modernisation.
Nowadays one might assume –since winches still look the same– there can’t have been much innovation in this area. But just because the arrangement and the design still look alike, this doesn’t mean, times stood still. Innovation simply took place in the inside. All ar-eas experienced significant progress. Construction and design techniques, calculation and FEA, monitoring, control and automation have made incredible steps forward. Not to mention new materials and advanced production methods.
Uetersen, July 2007