CURRICULUM VITAE

NAME: Anton Wessels Wale
ADDRESS: 2 Beaumont Avenue, Constantia, 7806, South Africa
BUSINESSES: Managing member of Anton Wale and Associates CC (trading also as Walemarine).
Director and shareholder of Rhino Marine (Pty) Ltd.
TELEPHONE: +27 21 794 8612
FAX: +27 21 794 1978
MOBILE: +27 82 775 4040
EMAIL: anton@walemarine.com
WEBSITE: www.walemarine.com
DATE OF BIRTH: 16 August 1952
NATIONALITY: South African
PASSPORT No: M00118197

QUALIFICATIONS: 

  • Pr Eng (Reg. No 8000290)
  • B Sc Civil Engineering – UCT 1974 (with Honours)
  • M Sc Engineering   UCT 1978

TRAINING: 

  • Basic Offshore Safety Induction & Emergency Training (RGIT Montrose) exp. 21/09/2008
  • Certified Permit Signatory and PICWS for Shell offshore PTW system

AWARDS:

  • 1990 – SAICE Southern Cape Regional Award for excellence in Civil Engineering for the Mossgas Project Pipelines Beach Crossing (Anton Wale performed the full conceptual and detailed design for Offshore Design Services and acted as resident project manager for Shore Crossings Ltd on the drilled installation)
  • 2003 – Concrete Society of Southern Africa – Fulton Commendation for Design Aspects for excellence in the use of concrete on the Polaris Dry Dock Blocks
  • 2004 – Concrete Manufacturers Association Premier Award for Excellence for Innovative Products on the Polaris Dry Dock Blocks

SPHERES OF WORK EXPERIENCE

DESIGN:

  • General Structural Steelwork (including formwork, floating plant and barges, subsea plant and frames, mooring and flotation structural systems, bridges, heavy lifting frames and equipment);
  • Rigging Equipment (general and heavy lifting and handling systems, spreader beams and frames, towing rigging systems, specialised mooring systems and hydraulic quick release systems);
  • Reinforced & Pre-stressed Concrete Work (including building, precast, jetty, quaywall, slipway, and breakwater capping designs);
  • Mechanical and Hydraulic System and Component Design (including winches, sheave systems, marine cranes and launch and recovery systems, reel winders, jack-up barges, piling plant, dredging plant, drilling equipment, marine thrusters, lifting bridges and ro-ro ramps, and sub-sea remote hydraulic quick release systems);
  • Coastal Engineering (including cofferdams, breakwaters, revetments, quay-walls, jetties, and pipeline landfalls and outfalls);
  • Geotechnical Design (including lateral support systems, bearing footings, bearing piles, sheet piles, retaining walls and passive anchor design);
  • Offshore personnel transfer structures as well as high density poly-ethylene (HDPE) work and personnel transfer boats; and
  • Design Management.

CIVIL & COASTAL ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTION:

  • General Civil and Bridge Works;
  • Concrete Buildings;
  • De-watering;
  • Bearing Piles (pre-cast driven, cased insitu and large diameter oscillated piles);
  • Sheet Piled Walls (prestressed concrete, reinforced concrete and steel sheet piles  cantilevered, ground anchored, and dead man anchored);
  • Brattice Walls (anchored and cantilever systems);
  • Harbour Construction (quay-wall, jetty, breakwater, slipway, reclamation and dredging);
  • Marine and Land Based Pipeline Installation (especially employing Directional Drilling techniques);
  • Diving;
  • Structural Steelwork;
  • Plant Fabrication (barges, winches, piling rigs and equipment, formwork, hydraulic equipment, and subsea handling frames and equipment); and
  • Construction Plant Management, Costing, and Adaptation.

OFFSHORE & SUBSEA CONSTRUCTION:

  • Diving (especially development of installation procedures for sub-sea hoses, spool-pieces, CALM buoy installations, and sub-sea pipeline installations);
  • Marine Structural Steelwork and Plant Fabrication (Gravity bases, barges, winches, piling rigs and equipment, anchorage and mooring systems, hydraulic equipment, and subsea handling frames and equipment);
  • Off-shore pipeline pre-commissioning (pigging, pressure testing, flooding, cleaning, evacuating, drying and nitrogen packing);
  • CALM buoy chain replacement; and
  • Fabrication and installation of offshore personnel transfer boat-landing bow-catchers.

MECHANICAL FABRICATION:

  • Winches and Powered Storage Reels (with and without level wind systems);
  • Marine Cranes;
  • Marine Handling and Launch and Recovery Systems;
  • Hydraulic Quick Release Systems;
  • Jack-Up Barges;
  • Horizontal Drilling Rigs;
  • Horizontal Drilling Reaming Tools;
  • Dredgers and Dredging Cutter Drives;
  • Submersible Pumps;
  • Propeller Drives and Tunnel Thrusters;
  • Lifting Bridges;
  • Hydraulic Presses;
  • Self-propelled transport bogeys for jetty and rubble groyne fabrication; and
  • Piling Rigs.

ESTIMATING:

  • General Civil Engineering;
  • Earthworks;
  • Piling;
  • Harbour Works;
  • Marine Pipeline Installations;
  • Mechanical Fabrication;
  • Structural Steel Fabrication; and
  • Construction Plant & Equipment Fabrication.

CONTRACTS:

  • Compilation of Contract Documentation;
  • Contract Law;
  • Contract Management;
  • Contract Negotiation;
  • Contract and Professional Indemnity Insurance;
  • Arbitration;
  • Litigation; and
  • Purchasing and Sale.

SUMMARY OF EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

1960  1969:
Schooling at Bishops (Diocesan College), Cape Town.  Passed (1st Class) the Joint Matriculation Board examination.

1970:
Performed National Service with the SA Navy, qualifying in Torpedoes and Antisubmarine Weapons (TAS).  Served as a seaman aboard the Hydrographical Survey Frigate the SAS Natal.

1971  1974:
Studied B Sc Civil Engineering at University of Cape Town.  Degree was awarded with Honours.

1975  1977:
Studied M Sc Engineering at University of Cape Town while being employed by Department of Civil Engineering as Graduate Assistant in Structural Design.

1978:
Awarded M Sc Engineering specialising in Coastal Engineering.  Thesis topic: “A Computer Program for the Analysis and Plotting of Ocean Wave Refraction.”  This computer program was subsequently employed by the National Research Institute for Oceanology (CSIR) for commercial wave refraction studies.

1977  1986:
Employed by Underwater Construction, a Cape Town based Civil Engineering Contracting Company specialising in the design and construction of marine, harbour and piling works.  After initial work on site, transferred to the head office to run the design office.  Ultimately appointed as an executive director of the company managing the design office, contracting division and plant division, before resigning to establish own practice.  During this period executed several harbour structure and piling designs/constructions including the design and fabrication of various piling rigs, floating derricks, jack-up barges, winching systems and dredging systems.

1988:
Co-founded Wale Spiers Manufacturing CC – a management contracting corporation in the mechanical/hydraulic industry.  This corporation was formed to manufacture, for subsequent export, the horizontal drilling rig that was used for the Mossgas Pipeline Landfall Installations.

2005:
Co-founded Rhino Marine Products (Pty) Ltd – a company set up to fabricate and supply high-density poly-ethylene (HDPE) offshore work-boats and personnel transfer boats.

2007:
Co-founded Wale Marine Australia Pty Ltd based in Perth.

1986  2015:
Established Engineering Management Practice – Wale Marine CC (formerly Anton Wale & Associates CC).  Wale Marine CC is a Professional Engineering corporation providing equipment and services in Civil, Coastal, Structural, Hydraulic and Mechanical Engineering, and carrying professional indemnity insurance cover (R 20 million excess) for the design and fabrication of these services and equipment.  An inventory of major works undertaken by Wale Marine CC is given below.

Inventory of Major Projects undertaken as Wale Marine CC include:

2005 – 2015:
Commissioned by Rhino Marine Products (see www.rhinomarineboats.com ) to perform all of the designs of their Rhino Craft HDPE (high density polyethylene) offshore workboats.

2015:
Contracted with Franki geotechnical to design and supply two self-propelled 20 tonne capacity jetty bogeys for fabrication of a jetty in Port Elizabeth.  These bogeys were an upgraded system relative to the two 20 tonne bogeys that we supplied Esorfranki for the Ada jetties for the beach replenishment groynes in Ghana in 2012.

2014:
Commissioned by PetroSA via Cape Diving to design, detail for fabrication, and commission a friction riser clamp for removing the damaged flexible flow line MEG riser on the FA (using a rolled vastrap checker plate to partially penetrate the outer HDPE sheath to achieve suitable friction) plus to engineer, detail for fabrication, and prepare method statements for the FA platform side works for the removal of the damaged riser plus the installation of the new replacement riser from the construction vessel through the platform J Tube.  The pulling was done using one of the two 10 Te hydraulic winches that we had supplied PetroSA in 2011 (see below) but owing to the congestion on the platform it was necessary to route the pulling cable via two suitably anchored horizontally mounted snatch block to a custom built sheave frame with a horizontal and adjustable vertical deflector sheave (to ensure accurate alignment through a very limited access “window”) to a snatch block suspended above the J tube via a snatch block suspended from one of the roof-beams and restrained laterally via two tirfor jacks.

2014:
Commissioned by PetroSA via Cape Diving to design and detail for fabrication a system for installing the flexible risers for the Orca FPSO flow-lines and control umbilicals in case the main rig crane that serviced the riser balconies could not be repaired timeously.  This system needed to be installed without the use of an overhead crane (only for lifting onto the platform deck from where everything was to be man-handled) and included a 25 Te pull-in winch with erection davit plus two self erecting gantry systems with movable deflector sheaves for locating above each of the riser bell mouths.

2014:
Contracted with Frankipile Ghana Ltd to design and supply two “Mk2” 40 Tonne Bogeys for the Jetty Phase 2 Contract for the ADA Ghana beach replenishment groyne contract.  There were a heavy duty upgrade of the bogeys that we had supplied to Esorfranki Geotechnical in 2012

2013:
Contracted with OIS Congo and Gabon to design, fabricate and supply another offshore platform 21 Te Scotch Derrick Crane as had been supplied in 2012 (below) as well as the design, fabricate and supply of a new 6 Te Scotch Derrick.

2013:
Contracted with LL Namibian Phosphates (LLNP) to design and fabricate a 4 Te capacity and a 2.5 Te capacity single line sub-sea mining grab together with a discharge hopper platform and stabilizer system for subsea phosphate mining of Sakawe Surveyor using the launch and recovery system that we had previously supplied to them in 2011.

2012 – 2013:
Contracted with Concrete Units to design and manufacture a 6 Te capacity hydraulically powered man riding crane and manned placing platform system for use on the placing of precast concrete cladding units on the Allan Gray building in the Cape Town.

2012:
Contracted with Esorfranki Construction – Geotechnical for the design, fabrication and commissioning of 2 no 40 Te capacity rock carrying bogeys and 2 no 20 Te capacity bogeys.  These bogeys were self-propelled diesel-hydraulically driven units for use on the Ada jetty construction and beach replenishment groyne construction contract in Ghana.

2012:
Commissioned by Concrete Units to reinstall the dry-dock blocking line for the 25,000 tonne “Seaway Polaris” thruster inspection and refit in the Cape Town Sturrock dry dock (a repeat of the installation we had initially performed in 2002 as main contractor and  then again in 2008 – 2009 in joint venture with Concrete Units).  Our obligations on this contract were to take full design responsibility for the blocking line and effect the full management (using Concrete Units labour) of the repair where necessary of existing blocks, the placing and removal of blocks.

2012:
Contracted with Oil Integrated Services OIS (Gabon) to design, fabricate and supply one 21 Te Lifting Capacity and one 4 Te capacity modular Scotch Derrick Cranes for use on offshore platform structures as an easily installed and removed temporary hire crane.

2011 – 2012:
Contracted with SMIT Subsea in Cape Town to design and fabricate a 9.5 metre HDPE Scuba Replacement Boat and by SMIT Lamnalco in Sharja to design and fabricate a 6.9 metre HDPE work-boat each powered by an inboard diesel and jet drive.

2011:
Contracted with LL Namibian Phosphates (LLNP) to design and fabricate a 10 Te SWL launch and recovery A frame for their vessel Sakawe Surveyor plus a hydraulic winch system and sampling tools for sampling of subsea surface phosphates.  The winch system was designed as a free fall winch employing Dyneema polyester ropes (weightless in water) such that the winch operator could identify when the sampling tools hit bottom.

2011:
Contracted with Petro SA via Cape Diving to design and supply two 10 tonne capacity offshore winches compatible with the hydraulic power unit supplied for the EM buoy tether repair (below) to assist in general offshore subsea works from supply vessels.

2010:
Commissioned by PetroSA via Cape Diving to engineer and manage the repair works on the EM control buoy tether system.  This unmanned control buoy is a semi submersed buoy that controls the flow of oil and gas from the EM field to the FA platform.  The buoy has a main submersed body of 8 metres diameter and 15 metres height with a 2m diameter “snorkel” projecting above sea-level and is situated in 90 metres water depth on the Augulus Bank being anchored to a 3000 Te gravity base on the sea-bed via three nominal 200 Te vertical tethers.  Each tether is connected at about 20 m water depth via a 300 Te SWL D shackle that is engaged into an inverted rocking pad-eye resting in a U cup situated on an outrigger projecting from the buoy base in order to give a universal articulated-joint.  It was identified that on one tether the inverted rocker pad-eye had a fatigue crack and needed replacing, and on a second tether the upstand retaining head on the 300 Te shackle pin had sheared off and the pin was cocked inside the D shackle.  Our brief was to engineer and manage a solution to replace the damaged rocker pad-eye and to replace the damaged shackle pin without interrupting production of the EM field.  Wale Marine had been extensively involved in the original installation of the EM Buoy in 1999-2000 (see below).

The remedial work involved designing, manufacturing and installing a retractable auxiliary tether which incorporated a 5 m stroke 200 Te pulling hydraulic cylinder which could be used to relieve the load on the main tether to enable the replacement of the rocker pad-eye on the one outrigger and the shackle pin on the second outrigger.  In order to facilitate the diving works we designed a sub-sea slewing davit with hydraulic winch that could be mounted onto the outrigger.  As a work-boat to do the works we supplied a Rhino Craft.

The works were executed without any loss of production during winter (including adverse weather conditions) and was completed from inception to completion in just over 3 months.

2010:
Contracted with Bourbon Offshore Greenmar to design, fabricate and supply a 2 tonne track tensioner for use in offshore laying of flexible flow-lines and umbilicals.

2009 – 2010:
Commissioned by Murray and Roberts Marine to design hydraulically powered self-propelled bogey systems for use on the sheet piled cofferdam construction for the marine intake works and brine discharge for Trekkopje desalination plant in Namibia.  Also contacted with them for the design, manufacture and supply of two number, 300 ton rope pull 90 degree deflector sheaves (for mounting on the offshore caisson) as well as roller fairleads for use with the 300 Te linear winch that we had supplied to them in 2007.  Also designed, fabricated and supplied two 10 Te capacity sub-sea winch for installation works on the intake caisson.

2009:
Contracted with Endenburg Holland to design and fabricate a 100 Te capacity traction winch tensioner for the back tensioning of heavy duty steel wire ropes being wound onto large winches.  The tensioner had two grooved drums of 2 m diameter capable of taking steel wire ropes of up to 125 mm diameter.

2009:
Commissioned by Technical Procurement Services CC to design an HDPE motorised catamaran transport barge for the Calshot harbour rehabilitation in Tristan du Chuna.  This barge was a shallow draft barge used for transporting precast dollosse and construction materials from the supply vessel into the harbour. We supplied the HDPE pontoons and designed and managed the steel superstructure, decking and powering of the barge.

2008 – 2009:  
Commissioned by Acergy (in joint venture with Concrete Units) to reinstall the dry-dock blocking line (including the fabrication of extra blocks) for the 29,000  tonne “Seaway Polaris” thruster inspection and refit in the Cape Town Sturrock dry dock (a repeat of the installation we had initially performed in 2002 – with the barge weight being increased because of the addition of a J lay tower).

2008:
Contracted with Leighton India for the Design, Fabricate and Supply ex-works Cape Town of a hydraulically powered 300 Te Capacity Linear Pulling Winch for Pipeline Pulling, plus ancillary equipment including 300 Te swivel, hold back anchorage system with articulated balancing mechanism and three hydraulically powered steel wire rope drum reelers for the pulling cable.

2008:
Contracted with Leighton India to design, fabricate and supply a Grout Mixing and Pumping Plant for offshore use (sub-sea placement).

2007:
Contracted with Murray and Roberts Marine to design, fabricate, supply and commission a 300 Te Linear Winch for use on pulled installation of pipeline landfalls/outfalls or river crossings.

2007:
Contracted with SMIT Subsea for the Design and Fabrication and of a structural Raft System for the handling and installation on offshore barges of their “SAT 3” Saturation Diving System.

2007:
Commissioned by Wale Marine Australia to design and manage the fabrication of four Pneumatically Powered Umbilical Reelers for Well Ops (2 for Well Ops South East Asia and 2 for Well Ops UK).

2006:
Contracted with SMIT Amandla Marine (Pty) Ltd to design, fabricate and supply a 350 tonne SWL capacity floating double hawser connector for the tanker mooring for the PetroSA Orca offloading CALM Buoy.

Essentially the problem was that owing to the severe sea conditions (80 km south of Augulus) the mooring chains between the tanker and the double hawser were wearing excessively and needing frequent replacement, as well as there being extremely high loads during bad weather requiring frequent disconnection.  The purpose of the hawser connector was to dampen the loading by doubling the hawser length from 80 to 170 metres as well as providing a mass dampening requiring the lifting of the 7 tonne connector out of the water during extreme pulls.  The 7.5 metre long connector had a body fabricated from 1.9m diameter spirally wound X65 pipe terminating in a 350 tonne pad-eye either end, which was clevis connected onto an articulated balancing beam with two female clevis connections for the hawsers.

2006:
Commissioned by SMIT Terminals West Africa Ltd to develop and produce the methods and procedures for the installation of the Tie-in Spools for the Hess Okume Field Development in Equatorial Guinea, as well as the 12” oil export pipeline rigid to flexible connection, and the 20” hose change out for the off-loading system for the Senje Ceiba FPSO.

The works were primarily saturation diving works to be carried out from a DP DSV without a stern roller so for the 20” hose make-up (and break-down) an over-boarding 110 degree hose sheave with a hydraulic hose clamp was designed to allow the hose to be made up on deck and launched over the side.

2006:
Commissioned by SMIT Terminals West Africa Ltd to develop and produce the methods and procedures for the 12” flexible water injection riser and the 20” sub-sea hose installations for the Fred Olsen Addax Antan FPSO offloading system in Nigeria.

The works involved the installation in a lazy S of two 20” hoses and one 12” flexible from the FPSO riser balcony down to a sub-sea PLEM and then two 20” hoses from a PLEM to a CALM buoy.  As both PLEM’s were in 40 metres water depth and as the work was all done with air diving (about 30 minutes bottom time per diver per day) streamlining of all operations was mandatory.  All works were performed from an anchor handling tug operating on a four point mooring system as a dive support vessel.

2006:
Contracted with Hydra Marine (Pty) Ltd to design, fabricate and supply a modular Launch and Recovery System (LARS) for the SMIT “SAT3” saturation diving system 15 Tonne Hyperbaric Rescue Craft (HRC).  The system needed to fit into a standard 40’ container.

2005-2006:
Commissioned by PetroSA (via Cape Diving) to design the necessary systems, procedures and equipment, as well as undertake the on platform management of the pigging of the 3 “J” tubes on the PetroSA FA Platform to be used for riser and umbilical pull-ins for the South Sea Gas project.  The pigs were SAT diver installed on the sea-bed, and were then winched from the sea bed to the top of J tube via a winch on the cellar deck, whilst concurrently pulling in a following draw cable from a payout winch mounted on the side of the platform.  Owing to the congested nature of the existing system this required the use of horizontal and vertical cable deflector snatch block and sheaves which were flange mounted atop the J tubes, as well as flange mounted fairleaders on the bottom of the J tube to deflect the trailing cable to the payout winch on the surface.

2005:
Commissioned by Hydron Hydraulics to design and manufacture a removable 10 tonne luffing “A” frame to be installed on the aft deck of the Swire AHT “Pacific Warrior” for use with one of its main winches.  The “A” frame had a 5 metre width, 10 metre height and a 10 metre horizontal luffing travel, such that it could pick up a load 6 metres inboard of the stern and deploy it 4 metres outboard.

2005:
Commissioned by SMIT Marine South Africa (Pty) Ltd to prepare the procedures and  undertake the offshore management of the replacement of the six chains for the ORCA CALM buoy using air diving and two anchor handler tugs (12,200 BHP Pacific Buccaneer and 4,500 BHP SMIT Lloyd 33).  This CALM Buoy is situated in 100 metre water depth about 80 km south of Aughulas and is exposed to severe seas, especially in the winter months when the work was executed.  The reason for the emergency status was that two of the 6 legs had broken and all production on the well had stopped until the chains could be replaced.

Each of the six catenary anchor legs had a 16 Tonne Stevpris anchor and 700 metres of 3-¼ ” chain with a required 30 tonne tensile load at the buoy, and a minimum anchor setting force of 150 tonnes.

For the chain re-installation, as the CALM buoy winch only had a 10 tonne line pull it was necessary to use the anchor handler tug (AHT) to provide the pull on a clamp situated 30 metres from the end of the chain such that the CALM buoy winch could pull the “loose” end into the spider’s chain locks.  This necessitated installation of a hawser bight round the spider such that the buoy could be pulled towards the AHT via one of the winches, while the other AHT winch pulled the chain bight up close to the stern roller to allow the CALM buoy winch to pull in the chain end.

Significant features of this project included:

  • The grappling of the broken chains to recover the two broken anchor legs
  • The J hooking and chasing of the other chains to recover the other anchors (once anchor recovered on deck, chain was recovered and cut off close to the buoy to allow diver removal of short tail)
  • The collection of new chain and connection to anchor in port
  • The placement of each anchor and then the tensioning thereof using a tandem in line pull (SMIT Lloyd 33 connected to SMIT bracket on Buccaneers bow) to achieve the required pull
  • The design and fabrication of quick release 50 Te SWL chain clamps and hydraulic double end “shackles” which could pass over the stern roller and thereafter be easily released by divers
  • The need to set the anchor, survey its position (with ROV) and directly calculate the necessary catenary length required and cut the chain to suit before installing the chain

2005:
Commissioned by Frankipile (Africa) to design and manage the fabrication of a 20 Tonne carrying capacity modular jack-up barge from which to undertake a geotechnical investigation drilling project in 15 metres water depth in Lobito Angola.

The 35 tonne basic barge is modular with a maximum module mass of 6 tonnes.  It comprises two 12 m long by 1.9 m diameter steel pipe pontoons flange connected in a T configuration and fitted out with modular decking, leg-guides and ancillary components such that the full system can be transported in a 12 metre open top containers.

2004-2005:
Commissioned by Globestar (Nigeria division of Stolt Offshore ) to represent Stolt as resident off-shore engineer on the semi-submersible “Safe-Caledonia” and the FPSO “BONGA” for the pre-commissioning of the SNEPCO BONGA field 12” and 10” production flowlines and risers (10 PFL’s in number) as well as the 12” water injection flowlines and risers (3 WFL’s in number).  The BONGA is moored on a fixed 12 point mooring system in the Gulf of Benin in about 1000 metres water depth and was at that stage the biggest FPSO in the world.

Responsibilities included the planning and supervision for Stolt of the pre-commissioning operation, including the management of their specialist sub-contractors, BJPPS, relating to the flooding, pressurising, pressure monitoring, and pigging operations required for the testing of the flow-lines and associated manifolds and risers.

The work essentially comprised the pressure strength-testing of the individual flowlines (400 bar for the PFL’s and 310 bar for the WFL’s), the cleaning of the PFL loops using bi-directional brushing pigs, and hydrotesting of the PFL loops (including manifolds, well jumpers and boarding valves) to 330 bar.

Complications to the pre-commisioning works included:

  • Severe temperature stabilisation problems for pressure monitoring owing to the insulated nature of the flow-lines;
  • Identification and rectification of leaks on the manifold well jumper plug systems;
  • Identification and monitoring of leak rates through loop pigging isolation valves and header isolation valves;
  • The need to perform “hydrodynamic” strength testing of PFL’s when leaking construction valves were encountered – owing to the lower design pressure of the manifolds;
  • Constraints imposed by the Shell BONGA permit to work system, coupled with interface problems relating to other concurrent works on the FPSO.

2004:
Commissioned by Globestar (Nigeria division of Stolt Offshore ) to represent Stolt as resident off-shore engineer on the “Seaworker” for the pre-commissioning of the 16″ Gas Export Pipeline from the Bonga FPSO (in 1 km water depth) to the RPA live gas platform 87 km away in 20 m water depth.  The client for the project was SNEPCO (Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company).

Responsibilities included supervision of the operation for Stolt from the RPA side using a small local sub-contractor team for rigging, pipe-fitting, scaffolding, etc and using BJPPS as sub-contractors for the monitoring, pumping and pigging (pumps, compressors and pig-launcher on the FPSO and pig-receiver on the RPA).

The work comprised the cleaning of the line using bi-directional brushing pigs, the subsequent in-line removal of a spool piece near the pig-receiver and replacement with the 8 Te mass emergency shut down riser isolation valve (ESD-RIV), the hydro-testing of the line to 230 bar, de-watering of the line with air driven bi-directional pigs, drying of the line using multiple foam pigs, and subsequent nitrogen packing of the line.

Ancillary works to the project included the re-design and fabrication in Port Harcourt of the bow-catcher boat landing for the Surfer 140 for easy deployment and recovery from the side of the Seaworker, as well as significant pipe and valve work removal and blinding on the RPA owing to a 10” ball valve casing leak on the top-sides identified during the pressure testing of the pipeline.

2003:
Contracted with Hydrodive Nigeria to design, fabricate and supply three 19 foot offshore work-boats fabricated from High Density Polyethylene (HDPE).  These boats were fitted with pneumatic bow fenders for use on the bow-catcher boat landing on an offshore oil platform.  These were the prototype Rhino Craft now built by Rhino Marine Products.

2003:
Commissioned by Stolt Offshore to review their proposed development of a deep water reel base to be constructed on the Sonamet base in Lobito (Angola).

2003:
Commissioned by Sonamet (Angola) to undertake the management of their investigation study and report on the potential of extending their fabrication yard in Lobito to undertake the fabrication and launching of the proposed 8000 tonne Top Tower Structure (TTS) for the Benguela-Belize compliant tower.

2002:
Contracted with Stolt Offshore to design, fabricate and install the dry-dock blocking line for the 25,000  tonne “Seaway Polaris” thruster inspection and refit in the Cape Town Sturrock dry dock.

The design which allowed the barge to be dry-docked with a 4 metre high clear space between the hull and the floor employed 144 cruciform shaped reinforced concrete blocks, each with a SWL of 200 tonnes and a mass of approximately 8 tonnes.  Owing to the slope of the dry-dock floor and the Polaris hull three individual different types of blocks were employed.

Ancillary works included the design and supply of the 45 tonne spreader frames and associated rigging used for handling the thruster units either as a single lift for a crane or alternatively as a two point lift using gantries.

This project was subsequently awarded the Fulton Commendation for Design Aspects for excellence in the use of concrete by the Concrete Society of Southern Africa.

2001-2002:
Contracted with HydroDive Nigeria Ltd to design and supply four hydraulically operated mooring winches for the DSV “HD Commander”.  Each winch carries 1500m of 28mm SWR and has a bare drum pull capacity of 30 tonnes.  The winches are driven via a final drive planetary gearbox mounted inside the winch drum to minimise the space requirements.  The two bow winches are fitted with automatic spooling.

2001:
Commissioned by African Resources and Development Limited (ARDL) of Nigeria to design the harbour works for a proposed Deepwater Support Base in Lagos Harbour.  The proposed base incorporates about 1 km of quaywalls with a depth of -6m and -10m LAT.  The proposed quaywalls were to be constructed from tied back precast reinforced concrete counterfort units which were to be placed on a screeded stone bed and backfilled with dredged fill.

2001:
Commissioned by Stolt Offshore to design and supply various equipment for use on their contract to perform all sub-sea work on the control umbilicals and flowlines required for the work-over and subsequent abandonment and re-drilling of the Mossgas E-M 02P well.  The work was all executed from the semi submersible drilling unit “South Seas Driller”, and equipment included the following:

  1. Design, fabrication and supply of a surface operated 2 tonne pull capacity sub-sea winching unit for assisting in sub-sea mattress placing, incorporating hinged “T” shaped kentledge frame, sub-sea winch and rope guides;
  2. Design, fabrication and supply of a hydraulically powered umbilical winch and power pack;
  3. Design, fabrication and supply of a surface operated 30 tonne SWL hydraulic pin release system and associated rigging; and
  4. Design, fabrication and supply of Lifting systems for deployment of 32 tonne and 13½ tonne skids; and
  5. Design, fabrication and supply of a Davit Crane to be used for deployment and recovery of equipment to and from the sea-bed via the SSDU moon-pool.

2001:
Commissioned by Horizontal Drilling International (HDI) of Houston to manage the directionally drilled installation of the 48″ replacement gas pipeline underneath the Tecolutla River in Veracruz Mexico and the subsequent tie-ins to the existing gas line.  The drilled crossing involved the reaming of a 900m long 72″ hole, much of it being reamed through a stiff boulder clay layer – being the largest “hard crossing” ever installed.  Prior to our mobilisation onto this contract, the first three attempts to ream the 72” hole using a conventional reamer had failed.  Designed and supervised on site fabrication of a modified “floating reamer” which would not cut downward into the boulder clay – this type of system had not been employed previously, and successfully completed the installation.

2001:
Commissioned by HDI as Resident Marine Manager on the directionally drilled installation of the landfall for a 14″ gas pipeline being installed for Saibos near Abidjan in Ivory Coast.  Responsibilities included the planning and supervision of all diving and off-shore lifting, winching, pulling and connecting operations executed from the 8000 HP AHT Smit “Curacao”.

2000-2001:
Contracted with boat builders Sachel and Stevens to design and supply a set of hydraulic winches for a new 75′ fishing trawler.  These winches included a pair of opposite handed high speed warp winches with automatic spooling for 1600m of 16mm wire rope, a powered net drum, and an eight ton gilson winch.

2000-2001:
Contracted with Stolt Offshore to design and supply a high speed utility winch (14 Te bare drum pull) for use on the deep water Girasol Project in Luanda.  The winch has a capacity of 2000 m of 26mm rope and was fitted with a level wind spooling system and was supplied with a dedicated closed loop power pack (140 kW).

2000:
Commissioned by TEC engineering to design a hydraulic reel winder for Afrisud/Swire.  The drum was 2.8m diameter by 2.5m wide, and was driven by a hinged pneumatic wheel friction drive dolly running on the drum rim which was engaged by a constant pressure hydraulic cylinder.

2000:
Contracted with Stolt Offshore to upgrade the hydraulically powered reel which we had previously supplied to American International Divers in 1998 for the installation of sub-sea flexible pipelines and umbilicals (up to 3000m of 150mm φ flexible pipeline weighing up to 120 tonnes).  This upgrade was undertaken in order for Stolt to use the reel for the installation of the 6″ flexible flowline for the Mossgas EM satellite field development with the line flooded with MEG.  The upgrade entailed incorporating a 2nd pinion drive unit in order to double the drum torque and to supply a new hydraulic power unit to drive the system.

2000:
Commissioned (in 50/50 Joint Venture with Concrete Units) by Stolt Comex Seaway (SCS) to design, fabricate and supply various items for the Soekor “Oryx” EB-T extension works including:

  1. Steel Fabrication and filling with dense concrete (4 tonnes per cubic metre) of the 100 tonne gravity base to anchor the mid-water arch for the flexible flow line and umbilical (steel design by others);
  2. Design, construction and supply of reinforced concrete clump-weights for anchoring umbilical and flexible, flow line;
  3. Design, fabrication and supply of 16 tonne removable steel dead weight structure for facilitating installation of the mid-water arch;
  4. Design, fabrication and supply of 45 tonne SWL remotely operated hydraulic release system for installation of mid-water arch; and
  5. Design and construction of four reinforced concrete foundation mat structures each for receiving 200 tonne reels of flexible flowlines and umbilicals onto the pier side in Cape Town Harbour.

2000:
Commissioned by SCS to design, fabricate and supply various items for the Mossgas EM extension works including:

  1. 120 Tonne snatch block, chain fork stopper and divers work platform for installation of control buoy onto gravity base;
  2. Trans-spooling of 500 m of 48 mm cable from supply drum onto 80 tonne trenching winch under maintained 12 tonnes tension using custom designed braked friction drum; and
  3. 15 tonne full drum capacity (400 m of 32 mm cable) 2 speed hydraulic winch for installing flexible riser to FA Platform plus associated deflector sheave and anchorages.

1999-2000:
Commissioned by SCS to design, fabricate and supply a 100 cubic metre 65 tonne uplift submersible buoy to facilitate the placing of the gravity base anchorage of the control buoy for the Mossgas EM extension.  This buoy was multi-compartmented to allow for controlled flooding and evacuation of the 11 compartments, with each compartment and separating bulkhead being capable of resisting 100 m of submergence pressure.  Associated design and supply obligations included:

  1. Ancillary piping and valving for flooding and evacuating;
  2. Tripod structure and rigging between gravity base and buoy, including 100 tonne swivel;
  3. 50 tonne deflector sheave and Umbiliblock structure for overboarding the lowering cable and flooding umbilicals from the support DSV; and
  4. Handling rigging for the buoy including a 30 tonne remotely operated hydraulic release system.

1999-2000:
Commissioned by SCS to design, fabricate, supply and install a 19 metre reach 75 tonne metre Knuckle-boom ships crane (12 T lift capacity) with detachable fly-jib for their DSV “American Pride” based in Lagos Nigeria.

1999:
Commissioned by Saibos to design the anchorage structures on the Mossgas FA platform required for the two riser installation of their flexible pipeline riser through the existing “J Tubes”.  The work scope included the design, fabrication and supply of the 25 Te deflector roller and 10 Te deflector sheave for guiding the installation cables into the J tubes and the spooling system (level winder) for  their 10 tonne installation winch.

1999:
Commissioned by TEC Engineering to design a hydraulic reel winder and power pack for Namco for powering cable and umbilical supply drums (up to 3.5m φ and 2.8 m width) for trans-spooling onto or off-of vessel’s winch drums

1998 – 1999:
Contracted with Sea Harvest to design and fabricate a hydraulically operated combination trawl and net drum winch with ancillary hydraulic system for a new 60′ trawler they were building.  The tripple-drum winch had a common drive shaft with each drum being individually braked and clutched.

1998 – 1999:
Commissioned by LAMA International Contractors Ltd to assist in the development of the installation methods for the SAPREF SBM replacement 36″ pipeline beach-crossing in Durban.  Our responsibility included the development of a hydraulically operated submersible dredging pump, and preparation of method-statements for the subsea installation of the pipeline manifold, the installation of pulling cables, and contingency auxiliary pull system for using an anchor handling tug to assist the pull barge.  On this project we were also commissioned to redesign the design vertical alignment of the pipeline through the surf-zone to justify a reduced burial depth..

1998:
Commissioned by Angola Diamond Projects to co-design a 25 m long modular cutter suction dredger to be used for diamond dredging in fast flowing rivers.  Our responsibility included the design of the operating winches; the articulated ladder with lifting and support works; the cutter drive; and the overall barge stability and connector forces.

1998:
Commissioned by American International Divers to design subsea caisson guide and support structures on the CMS Nomeco Yombo A & B Platforms off the Congo.

1998:
Contracted by American International Divers on a turn-key basis to design, fabricate, and supply a hydraulically powered reel for the installation of sub-sea flexible pipelines and umbilicals.  The reel has three separate compartments and can accommodate up to 3000m of 150mm φ flexible pipeline weighing up to 120 tonnes.

1998:
Commissioned by Hydron Hydraulics to design a submersible hydraulic thruster unit for ODM to be used for manoeuvring an airlift head for use in subsea diamond mining operations.

1998:
Commissioned by LAMA International Contractors Ltd to review their proposed winching and pipe-tensioning systems for their lay-barge operations on their Joint-venture (Leighton-LAMA) Cabot marine pipelay contract near Port Dixon in Malaysia.

1997:
Commissioned by Fregate Island Limited to design a self propelled dredging barge for effecting beach replenishment dredging off the island.  The hydraulic thruster units for powering and steering the barge were designed, fabricated and supplied by ourselves in joint venture with Hydron Hydraulics.

1997:
Commissioned by Schlumberger to design the towing system for the wet-tow of the CALM Buoy Tanker Loading Terminal for the Orca FPSO on the Soekor “Oribi” offshore Oil Field installation, and to source the local rigging and fabrication required therefor.

1996-1997:
Commissioned by Indian Ocean Construction to perform the Detailed Design and Supervision of a New Small Craft Harbour on Fregate Island in the Seychelles.  Works include an inshore dredged basin with a dredged access channel protected by rubble mound breakwaters.  Harbour works include quay-walls, slipway, floating moorings, revetments and anti-rat measures.

1996-1997:
Commissioned by Stolt Comex Seaway to act as their local representative for the sub-sea subcontract for the Soekor EB-T (“Oribi”) Oil Field offshore floating platform (Orca FPSO) and CALM buoy loading terminal installation.  Our works included the design and fabrication management of the ROV launch and recovery handling frame, concrete filling of the Linklok stability mattresses, design and construction of the reinforced concrete dead weight anchors for the production risers and umbilicals and for the temporary installation works, and the local sourcing of the tools, rigging slings and equipment required for the installation works.

1995-1997:
Commissioned by B&E Quarries (Pty) Ltd to assist in developing a Marine Contracting division and to project manage their construction of a new harbour development in St Francis Bay for Port St Francis (Pty) Ltd.  This project incorporating extensive hard rock blasting and excavation, breakwater construction, and harbour structures including 200 metres of precast-concrete counterfort unit quaywalls.  Our obligations included the design of the quaywalls, slipway, and hydraulically operated lifting bridge.

1995:
Sub-contracted to provide a turn-key design, fabrication and installation of the mechanical replacement drive system for the conversion of the Alwyn Vincent steam tug to hydraulic powering.  Hytec undertook the main contract supplying the hydraulic power pack and motor with us sub-contracting the transmission from hydraulic motor to propeller including all shafting, bearings and torque-arms.

1995:
Commissioned by Hytec (Cape) Pty Ltd to assist in the tendering and project management of the New Bascule Bridge for the New Basin Precinct Project at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.  After award we undertook the full Mechanical Design responsibility for this bridge as a sub-contract to Hytec.  The Basin Project was awarded the SAICE annual regional Award for Excellence in Civil Engineering.

1994:
Commissioned by Stolt Comex Seaway (SCS) of Marseilles to act as local representatives and to give technical assistance for the tender and execution of the subsea Inspection, Repair and Maintenance Programme for the Mossgas F-A Offshore Platform.

1994:
Commissioned by the Leighton-Lama joint venture installation contractors to develop an alternative design and method for the installation of the submarine pipeline channel crossing of the raw water supply main for the construction of the replacement airport on Chek Lap Kok island in Hong Kong.

1993:
Commissioned by Namibian West Coast Diamond Company (Pty) Ltd to produce a report on “Proposals for the Preliminary Mining of the Surface Gravel Deposits in the Mid-water Range of the Luderitz Sea Concession”

19921994:
Commissioned by M F Haroun to design and manage the construction of a 2000 square metre triple story reinforced concrete house, with ancillary elevated access way, foundation, retaining wall and elevated swimming pool, koi pond and waterfall.

1991:
Commissioned by Richards Bay Minerals to perform the feasibility report and conceptual design for a directionally drilled slurry pipeline bundle and electric cable crossing of the St Lucia Narrows Estuary.

1991:
The design of a 130m long jetty and dolphin structure at Luderitz (Namibia) for Pescanova as subconsultants to Ove Arup Inc.

1990:
Commissioned by Spie Horizontal Drilling as Resident Marine Manager and Assistant Project Manager on the directionally drilled installation of the landfall for the Merluza Gas Pipeline near Santos in Brazil.  Responsibilities included the planning and supervision of all diving and off-shore lifting, winching, pipe pulling and connecting operations executed from the 8 point mooring barge 150t lifting capacity derrick barge Superpesa II.

1989:
Design and Construction management of the 300 ton capacity Directional Drilling Rig for Inarc Drilling for the above Mossgas project.  This rig was fabricated for export by sister company Wale Spiers Manufacturing CC.

1988  1990:
Commissioned by Inarc Drilling as Resident Project Manager for Shore Crossings’ directionally drilled installation of the three Mossgas pipeline landfall crossings at Mossel Bay.  This project was the largest valued Directionally Drilled Pipeline Installation Contract yet installed internationally.

1987  1988:
Commissioned as sub consultants to Offshore Design Services to perform conceptual and subsequent detailed design of the pipeline landfall for the three pipelines for the Mossel Bay Gas Development Project. This project was subsequently awarded the SAICE regional award for excellence in Civil Engineering.  Also involved in the stability assessment of the offshore pipelines for the two product lines from the EA platform.

1986  1987:
The design and fabrication (in joint venture with Denith Engineering) of various mechanical items and equipment, including:

  • 40 ton capacity hydraulically powered self propelled modular mobile ferry for the National Transport Commission, complete with powered ro-ro ramps and winches;
  • Three hydraulically powered explosive cable winches for Soekor for exploding sub-sea well heads;
  • A pneumatic/hydraulic inclinometer cable winch (with electronics slip ring) for Sopelog for use on the offshore drilling semi submersible units;
  • A 1000 ton hydraulic press for pressing steel plates of 6m length by 1,5m width and 30mm thickness into a 1,8m radius for use in the Sasol project.