Fresh from the SMM exhibition in Hamburg last month, Doris Schulze, Group Marketing Manager, Hatlapa told MJ, ‘SMM went very well for us. Over 100 shipyards visited our booth, and over 60 ship owners. We presented one of our latest product developments – our rotary vane type steering gear TRITON. Its main advantage over conventional ram type steering gear is its efficient steering angle. TRITON has now been around for two years and has been sold to over 40 customers world wide, it is getting established nicely in the market.’
But Hatlapa has been producing all manner of different types of winches and deck equipment for many years. In addition to the standard winches manufactured day in and day out in Hatlapa’s production facility in Northern Germany, newly developed, more specialised winches have been added to the portfolio. ‘Hatlapa prides itself in being able to offer its customers the widest possible range of winches’, said the company’s offshore sales manager Uwe Nickschat.
A customer can either take a pick from Hatlapa’s off the shelf product range, or speak to the engineering team to have a winch tailor made to their specific requirements.
In the offshore industry, automatic tension and control systems are especially important for supply and support vessels, allowing them to carry out their activities in all kinds of weather conditions. These winches also work together with the tidal cycle, meaning that at low tide, the rope will automatically slacken and at high tide the rope will be pulled taught again, ensuring that the landing ship will be held in the same position at all times.
Hatlapa has already delivered several orders for specialist offshore winches, one of which is for the vessel WindLift I. The company designed winches that the wind farm construction vessel used when it operated as a multi-functional working platform. Far offshore, the ship is able to raise itself up to 10m above the sea surface on its four 72m long legs. From its 100m long and 36m wide platform it is able to erect the wind turbine foundations up to 90m high and weighing f 1,500 tons, securely fixed 30m deep into the seabed.
Hatlapa’s involvement in the Norwegian market has grown substantially over the past few years and to meet demand the company has now opened a regional office in Oslo.
