Offshore award

A transfer system designed to safely transport personnel to offshore installations recently won the Offshore Technology Conference 2009 Woelfel Best Mechanical Engineering Achievement Award (BMEA), in Houston, Texas.

The Offshore Access System (OAS) marketed by AMEC in the UK is a hydraulically operated heave-compensated telescopic gangway that connects a moving vessel with a rigid offshore installation.

The system is designed to safely transfer personnel in sea states of up to 2.5m wave-height.

The OAS works with a combination of smart electronics, measuring the vessel movements with a patented connection sequence.

Such systems can be used for transporting personnel to offshore structures such as unmanned oil and gas platforms, navigation towers, offloading buoys and offshore wind farms.

The technology is believed to be safer and less expensive than transporting personnel via a helicopter.

The Woelfel BMEA award recognises a product, device or system that best reflects innovation or practical use of mechanical engineering in solving problems, improving design or maximising performance.

‘This is a significant achievement for us and we are delighted to receive such an important award at OTC,’ said Graham Mapes, the business-development manager of Offshore Solutions, a joint venture between AMEC and technical-services provider GTI.

‘It is testament to the expert team at Offshore Solutions, which works hard to continuously develop the OAS, which passes on direct benefits to our customers through improving productivity.

‘Having recently accomplished three years without any lost time incidents, the award proves that our step-changing technology continues to be one of the safest and most efficient methods for accessing offshore installations.’