The world’s largest heave-compensated subsea crane is now being built by MacGregor in Kristiansand. The cylinder-luffing box-boom crane will lift up to 900 ton and operate loads down to 3500 m below sea level.

– The crane has been designed and engineered by our team here in Kristiansand. We have combined our technical expertise with intelligent use of materials and state-of- the- art components, says Bjørn Fossestøl, Director of Engineering at MacGregor in Kristiansand.

He stands close to the crane’s winch, which is almost 10 meters tall and holds 3.500 meters of cable. The winch will be equipped with 48 motors – 24 on each side – to ensure top precision in all conditions.

The crane will be delivered to Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard by December 2014 and will be installed on a 150m multi-purpose offshore construction vessel ordered by Sealion Shipping, a UK-based offshore support company.

MacGregor in Kristiansand supplies between 20 and 30 large subsea cranes to its global market every year.- This is certainly the biggest crane we have ever engineered and built. However, we are certain that we can set a new record, as we see offshore operations moving to increasingly greater depths, while subsea modules are getting larger and heavier, says Fossestøl.