International award for Sea Anchor system from small town NZ

International award for Sea Anchor system from small town New Zealand

A family business from a small town at the top of New Zealand’s South Island has just taken out a top award from the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) at their recent expo in North Carolina, USA.

The association’s International Achievement Award for design excellence in advanced textiles went to Coppins Sea Anchors for the innovative marine safety steerage and control system, which they designed, manufactured and delivered to Korea on time, under urgency.

Managing Director Bill Coppins says the system allowed the massive oil processing vessel Glen Lyon to be safely towed from Korea to the North Sea. In July the company won the New Zealand textile industry’s supreme award for the fifth time, with this system.

Coppins says the IFAI award is a real triumph for the firm. This is also the fifth time the company has won the International Achievement Award.

“For more than six decades, these awards have recognized excellence in design and innovation,” he said. “For our family business in Motueka to win this once again is very special.”

The IFAI website says the award highlights ‘truly spectacular work in the specialty fabrics and technical textiles industry. IFAI’s goal is to promote awareness of the specialty fabrics used in thousands of products and applications in the growing, $130 billion-plus dollar global fabrics marketplace. A total of 296 entries were received from 10 countries in 42 categories for this year’s competition. Winners were selected based on complexity, design, workmanship, uniqueness and function.’

Coppins said there were unique challenges with the safety system for the Glen Lyon, including the massive size and the odd shape of the vessel, which was not designed for easy towing.

“This meant that an entirely new system had to be developed and delivered, with crew trained in its use prior to sailing from Korea,” he said. “The stakes were high, with any mishap potentially costing lives and causing environmental damage.”

Coppins said the system was unlike anything the company had designed before.

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“The vessel, the Glen Lyon, is 270 metres long (that’s two and half football fields) and 52 metres wide. It can be connected to 100 oil wells at a time, and can process up to 130,000 barrels of oil a day,” he said. “They had to prepare it for the massive storms and seas it could face on the journey from Korea to the North Sea. And they needed the solution urgently – the vessel was going to sail in less than three months from signing the contract.”

“As well as the bulk of the vessel, we had to prove the benefits of the radical new design of the system to a customer on the other side of the world, and work under time pressures,” Coppins says. “Fortunately we are well prepared for this kind of challenge.”

Sea anchors are “underwater parachutes” made of light nylon fabric and rope, designed to keep vessels safe in stormy seas. Coppins products are now used on some very large vessels and by some major international customers, including the US Navy.

Meanwhile back in Motueka, there is another growing challenge. Some of the sea anchors being manufactured are massive, and the company is running out of space. Coppins said the current workshop had been great but they have outgrown it.

“We need more space, we’re happy to build it ourselves, and we want to stay in the area if possible. We’d love to hear from anyone who can help.”

Ends

Further technical specs:
The Steerage and Control system was designed with a number of unique features.

• The system had to be able to control and steer this massive vessel in rough weather and storms. A key component was an 8.3m diameter fabric sea anchor, a radical new design using an eccentric/conical shape, quite different from the traditional hemispheric shape. This design reduced lateral movement in tests from as much as 20 - 45, to only 2.5, greatly increasing control and efficiency when a vessel is under tow. Seven different prototypes were manufactured and tested locally at sea, with data and videos relayed to the overseas customer, BP, to ensure their commitment to the new design.

• For deployment, the system had to be dropped about 37m into the sea, about the height of a 10-storey building. Coppins developed an innovative stainless-steel delivery system for this. The steerage/control system had to open flawlessly, with ropes and components in the right sequence, without tangling or snagging on the vessel or at sea.

• The steerage system had to work from a range of positions along the stern of the vessel, depending on the nature and extent of damage to the vessel, and the direction of wind or currents. It was designed for recovery and redeployment, perhaps multiple times en route.

• Details of the IFAI award scheme can be found at http://iaa.ifai.com/award/technical-miscellaneous/ The awards were presented in Charlotte, North Carolina on 20 October.

• Further details on Coppins Sea Anchors are available at: www.paraseaanchor.com

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