The Kerala Minister for Ports and Excise, Mr K. Babu, will on Friday dedicate to nation the 500-tonne ‘bollard pull test' facility installed by Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) at Vizhinjam near here.

The Minister will also lay the foundation stone for the water supply and sanitation facility at the site. Mr K. Mohandas, Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, will also take part in the dedication event, a spokesman for CSL said.

STATIC PULL

Bollard pull test is conducted to determine the static pull that a tug/ship is capable of exerting under practical operating conditions with its own propulsion system.

This is a physical test typically performed by tying a hawser (thick rope) from a ship to a fixed bollard at shore and measuring the pull of the ship in tonnes under maximum operating conditions by means of a load cell (dynamometer) arranged between the hawser and bollard.

All newly constructed tugs and special offshore ships such as anchor-handling tug supply vessels need to carry out this test prior to delivery in presence of ship owners and classification society for practically proving the pulling power.

HIGHEST CAPACITY

Further, existing ships undergoing extensive repairs also have to undergo this test, the spokesman said.

The bollard pull test facility has been installed in association with the State Port Department and shall be used for testing ships up to 500-tonne pulling capacity. This is the highest capacity pull test facility in the country and amongst the highest in the world, the spokesman said. The maximum currently available in the country is 200 tonnes.

This facility can cater to the requirements of the Port Department, Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and also ships calling at India ports in addition to those built at CSL.

VIZHINJAM ADVANTAGE

Vizhinjam was selected for basing the facility due to its inherent advantage of higher water depth close to shore. Pre-engineering surveys such as bathymetry, soil test analysis and petrographic studies were carried out by CSL in partnership with the Kerala Ports Department. The bathymetry survey conducted around the location by the Chennai-based Indomer Coastal Hydraulics revealed water depth up to 20 metres at a distance of up to 750 metres from the shore, which is ideal for conduct of bollard pull test.

The soil test and petrographic studies of the rock at the location was carried out by the LBS Centre for Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, which confirmed the suitability of installing the 500-tonne bollard at the site.

FUTURE NEEDS

Based on the above, the design of the bollard was carried out by the CSL, duly vetted and approved by the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras.

The facility has been equipped to deal with the future requirement of construction of high bollard pull offshore vessels by CSL to meet the market demand for deep-sea drilling operations.

Currently, four anchor handling tug supply vessels with a bollard pull of 120 tonnes are under construction at CSL for Shipping Corporation of India under the dual classification of the American Bureau of Shipping and the Indian Register of Shipping.

The first of the series of vessels is undergoing acceptance trials at CSL and shall be tested at the Vizhinjam facility later this month, the spokesman said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW