Richard Benzie
‘Validity of rope discard criteria: Cost reduction within assured limits’ is the theme of the seventh Rope Forum Workshop organised by the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA). The full day event (09:00-17:30) will be held at the Novotel Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Wednesday 22 June.
“During the day we will be focusing on wire rope assurance, practical experience on rope degradation and will discuss the clarity on discard criteria for high value subsea construction wire ropes, ” explains IMCA’s Technical Director, Richard Benzie.
“The forum attracts on average around a hundred delegates who include subsea contractors, wire rope manufacturers, system designers and suppliers, equipment suppliers and representatives of academic institutions.
“A welcome feature of the Forum is that everyone is open, all are there to learn from each other’s’ experience. We have a competition law policy; this means that conversation is not commercially angled. Ours is a genuine forum for discussion, debate and knowledge sharing in order to identify requirements, opportunities and highlight future developments.”
Down to detail
The day, and the initial scene setting session, will be introduced by David Cannell of Technip, Charman of IMCA’s Rope Forum. Topics being covered in that session include ‘Established codes and guidance’ (DNV GL); the ‘Post it challenge! Over conservatism in discard criteria’; ‘Rope fatigue: bending and tension under twisting’ (University of Stuttgart); ‘Corrosion and effective lubrication’ (Bridon); and ‘Strain age control’.
After a networking break attention turns to ‘Theory of Rope Decay’ with two presentations – the first on ‘Handing, wear and torsional disturbance’ and the second on ‘Experience in the field’ (Subsea 7) – with the first 40-minute Workshop of the day bringing the session to a conclusion for the networking lunch.
‘Reality of Rope Decay’ is the post-lunch session with three ‘Experience in the field’ presentations including Technip, and Saipem; and ‘Equipment interface design issues and experience’ (Huisman); followed by the second 40-minute Workshop.
The packed day concludes with the ‘Holistic Assessment Requirements’ session after the tea break with its presentations on ‘Enhanced information package generation for severity matrix – combined inspection systems’ (Usha Martin/ VisionTek); and David Cannell speaking on ‘The CRMS toolbox: summary of previous Rope Forum’. The third and final 40-minute Workshop will be held, followed by closing statements from the Workshop by David Cannell.
The IMCA Rope Forum Workshop is free to attend for members and non-members alike, but all must register in advance via the IMCA website or by emailing events@imca-int.com
About IMCA
- IMCA is an international association with over a thousand members in more than 60 countries representing offshore, marine and underwater engineering companies. IMCA has four technical divisions, covering marine/specialist vessel operations, offshore diving, hydrographic survey and remote systems and ROVs, plus geographic sections for the Asia-Pacific, Central & North America, Europe & Africa, Middle East & India and South America regions. As well as a core focus on safety, the environment, competence and training, IMCA seeks to promote its members’ common interests, to resolve industry-wide issues and to provide an authoritative voice for its members.
- IMCA publishes some 200 guidance notes and technical reports – many are available for free downloading by members and non-members alike. These have been developed over the years and are extensively distributed. They are a definition of what IMCA stands for, including widely recognised diving code of practice, DP documentation, marine and ROV good practice guidance, the Common Marine Inspection Document (CMID) – now available electronically as eCMID, safety recommendations, outline training syllabi and the IMCA competence scheme guidance. In addition to the range of printed guidance documents, IMCA also produces safety promotional materials, circulates information notes and distributes safety flashes.
