Magellan Strait Pipeline Agentina
800 ton linear winch KTC 800

  • Client

    Boskalis

  • Location

    Agentina

Used Products in this project

Magellan Strait Pipeline Agentina
800 ton linear winch KTC 800

Project description

In the southernmost reaches of Argentina, lies the Magellan Strait or Estrecho de Magallanes. A region known for its beauty of glacial and mountainous scenery. In 2009 and 2010 this extraordinary location became the site of the construction of a new 24″ natural gas pipeline spanning the strait. Bezemer Dordrecht was awarded the scope of providing a linear winch for one landfall and one outfall of the pipeline and provided the 800-tonne linear winch.  

 Unpredictable high tide 

 The Magellan Strait is also known for its high tidal range, which presents unique challenges. The provided winch, the KTC 800 one of the most powerful linear winches in the world, was placed about one kilometre inshore. The pulls were restricted to when it was high tide, when the pipe would float, and the winch would be close to the water.  

 The 800 metric tonne winch was provided with its two power units and 1000-meter steel wire rope with a diameter of 127 mm. The pull was according to Bezemer’s usual landfall procedure. First, the messenger wire was laid. When this wire is in position, the pulling wire can be pulled into place. The end of the pulling wire will be connected to the pipeline’s pulling head. The pipelaying vessel, the Solitaire, carefully gives out the pipe, which is pulled onshore by Bezemers linear winch.  

 After the landfall was completed, the Solitaire laid about 30 km pipeline towards Cabo Espíritu Santo. In the meantime, the winch was mobilised to Cabo Espíritu Santo as well. Here the 800 tonnes winch was used for an outfall. The winch was installed on a work barge and the pipeline was pulled from the beach into the water. Buoyancy tanks were used to prevent the pipeline from digging into the sand and to lower the required pull-out forces. In addition, 40 rollers were placed on the flood zone, to extend the duration of the pull windows at low tide.  

 Winches and penguins 

The project took place at the southern tip of South America, connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. This location is a breeding place for Pinguins. For the safety of the animals, a fence was placed around the construction site, and Guarda Fauna carefully relocated thousands of penguins to minimize disturbance. 

 Around the fenced area and surrounding the barge, a vibrant display of marine life unfolded. Our operators were working in an environment surrounded by penguins, dolphins and seals. It was a captivating sight, a reminder of the delicate balance between human progress and the beauty of nature as can be seen in the photos below.