Thunderhorse Towout

The Thunder Horse platform, with a displacement of 130,000t, was towed from the Kiewit Offshore fabrication yard in Ingleside, Texas to it’s location 150 miles southeast of New Orleans in the Gulf of Mexico. It will bemoored in 6,200 ft of water.

The main towlines, sternlines and springlines were 2-5/8”diameter AmSteel® Blue, outfitted with SWOS custom designed urethane chafe sleeves, and the bowlines were 1-1/8”diameter AmSteel® Blue, also with urethane chafing gear. Each individual line was spliced and proof loaded at the SWOS facility in Houston,TX.

The choice of AmSteel® Blue was required due to the light weight and ease of handling. The weight of the AmSteel® Blue was approximately 4,000 lbs versus the equivalent wire rope at 32,000 lbs.

Speaking with the Tow master after the completion of the job, he expressed his utmost satisfaction in the performance of the Samson lines. “They performed flawlessly. There was no way we could have performed this job in the safe and timely fashion that we did if we had used wire rope. Just the rigging time alone, not to mention the cost savings in hardware and the winches that would have been required if we had used wire rope, was a benefit."