VIDEO: Vryhof's Mooring Solution Eliminates Need for Winches

Vryhof, a provider of anchoring and mooring solutions for the offshore energy industry, has developed a mooring solution called Stevadjuster which promises to eliminate the need for winches on the platform being moored.

Targeted for deployment on floating wind turbines, FPSOs, rigs, and fish farms, the solution - recently featured in Offshore Engineer Magazine - promises to cut cost and improve safety.

Earlier this year, Stevadjuster was one of eight technologies to receive Scottish Government funding and developer support as part of the Floating Wind Technology Acceleration Competition run by the Carbon Trust's Floating Wind Joint Industry Project.

CarbonTrust described the tech as an adjustable lock on the seabed used to manipulate the tension of the mooring lines, and an alternative to a winch sitting on the turbine platform, enabling vessels to adjust the tension of mooring lines at a safe distance from the platform.

With the solution named Stevadjuster, Vryhof has now come up with a verb "stevadjusting" to describe what the tech does: "chain adjustment, pre-tensioning of moorings and easy connection or disconnection of anchor lines."

The entire operation takes place subsea and does not require the use of winches or other heavy equipment on the platform being moored, Vryhof said, meaning that the bollard pull of the vessels involved in the operation does not need to be prohibitively high. 

"Modest installation or maintenance vessels have sufficient capacity to get the job done. The use of this subsea chain adjustment offers significant safety benefits, as the tensioning operation is performed away from the floater," the company said.

Watch Vryhof's video below, explaining in detail how the technology works: