UK: Aquatic Achieves Efficiency at Sea with Maréchal Electric Connectors

Aquatic Engineering & Construction Ltd., an Acteon company, is crediting its strategic partnerships with suppliers as an integral part of its successful solution approach to customer projects.

Its latest agreement is with partner supplier, Maréchal Electric, to use the company’s DSN and PN12C multi-contact decontactor plugs and socket outlets with its equipment to help reduce downtime at sea for customers.

Laying undersea lines for oil, gas, renewable energy and telecommunications means that Aquatic’s crews and equipment may face storm-force gales and even hurricanes while at sea. Generally, the crews work in sea states up to 2.5–3 m swells, but, by hurricane force 10, the ships generally head to port. Such extreme conditions also challenge the reliability of the electrical connectors on the deck-based tensioners and modular drive systems, and make connecting and disconnecting difficult.

Aquatic discussed these electrical challenges with partner Maréchal Electric; their understanding of Aquatic’s business operations and years of experience in manufacturing electrical connectors for use in industrial, marine and explosive environments led to Aquatic replacing the existing electrical connectors with its DSN and PN12C multi-contact Decontactor™ plugs and socket outlets.

 “We invest substantially to build positive supplier relationships to ensure that they understand our customer needs,” explains Aquatic’s Electrical Manager, Brian McRitchie. “As an independent supplier of carousels, modular powered drive and tensioner systems, worldwide, Aquatic’s equipment is hired out for projects lasting from a couple of days to a few months. With this particular solution, the faster connection and disconnection times provided by Marechal’s plugs and socket outlets on our electrical systems, mean that we get more profitable operating time and less set-up and tear-down time between projects. In turn, this helps to deliver strategic time advantages for Aquatic’s customers. ”

Aquatic is globally renowned for laying and retrieving flexible and semi-rigid products on the seabed and has proven ability in shallow and deep water, and extensive experience of off- and onshore installations, transpooling, recovery and decommissioning. This kit is modular in design, making it highly flexible, able to be dismantled and easily transported by road or sea in standard containers to anywhere in the world; for clients this means faster, more cost-effective mobilisation and demobilisation, an essential component of success for any commercial project.

Aquatic is part of the Acteon’s wider risers, conductors and flowlines offering and joins the other Acteon companies in linking subsea services across a range of interconnected disciplines. Combining the strengths of a major global organisation with those of independent market specialists, all Acteon companies have complementary skills, experience and technologies that link seabed to surface across a range of interconnected disciplines.

[mappress]

Press release, June 20, 2013; Image: aquatic