Red Marine Expanding Test Site – Again

Two months after announcing the launch of its expanded test facilities, Hexham-based Red Marine has announced another expansion of its testing capabilities with the development of a new high capacity Test Rig.

The 200t capacity Cable and Umbilical Test Rig, the CTR200, is currently under construction and will enable testing of subsea power cables and umbilicals prior to installation offshore.

Speaking on the expansion, Steve Pocock, Test Services Manager at Red Marine said, “Testing is becoming an increasingly important part of our client’s requirements as the industry continues to develop new products for harsher and deeper water environments whilst facing pressure from low oil prices. As such, we’re seeing an increased demand for intelligent testing services.” 

Red Marine’s new Cable and Umbilical Test Rig offers a range of capabilities and features rarely seen in the industry. These include being able to configure the rig in a number of ways in order to allow the accurate assessment of cable strength, torque balance, stiffness and fatigue properties.

These features combined with an internal bed length of 11 meters will allow testing of samples up to 7 meters in length (including pull heads) with a maximum axial load of 200 metric tons. Longer samples can also be tested as the rig design allows the pull heads to be held outside the test frame if required.

Together with Red Marine’s existing thermal chamber and friction test rigs, the new rig will allow the provision of a full range of cable qualification tests against industry standards or client specific requirements. The CTR-200 rig will be operational toward the end quarter of 2015.