Flexible Cutting Spread

MDL was requested to look into increasing efficiency of decommissioning cables, umbilicals and flowlines on the back deck of a vessel - increasing recovery speed and safely preparing the product for dispatch offshore.

Specialists in conversion of bare back vessels into comprehensive solutions, MDL set out to identify an automated process that would incorporate proven elements from the company's equipment portfolio into a new disposal practice.

MDL Engineering developed a modular pipe handling, cutting and storage spread, which could be mobilised onto any vessel of opportunity and scaled to the available back deck space. Depending on the specifications of the decommissioned product, the spread can facilitate either vertical or horizontal retrieval, enabling cleaning of the product before entering the back deck. MDL's innovative basket concept with an actuated arm enables automatic sorting of the pipe lengths into standard sized / flat rack containers, making them ready for road-transport to recycling or disposal site directly on return to port.