Rugged rope for tug bollard pull testing

The rope was used recently to test the company’s most powerful tug to date, with a bollard pull of 220 metric tonnes.

Based in Ravenna, Rosetti Marino specialises in PSVs designed to provide assistance to offshore oil platforms and safely transport equipment and material to and from the platforms, even those located in very rough waters such as in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.

Since 2010, bollard pull testing has become standard practice for newly built steel tugs. The test provides a good measure of the tugboat’s maximum pulling load. Contacted to supply a bollard pull test rope at short notice, Lankhorst supplied a 88mm diameter, 300m LankoForce rope made from high modulus polyethylene (HMPE) Dyneema. The rope has an actual breaking load of 4806kN (490 mT) spliced.

“Lankhorst was able to supply the new rope within two and a half weeks, ensuring we were able to meet our scheduled bollard test date, said Luca Mazzotti of Rosetti Marino. “The increasing power of today’s tugs makes bollard pull testing vital. In this case the LankoForce rope was needed to test a multifunctional anchor handling, tug, supply and service vessel with a bollard pull of 220 tonnes, the most powerful vessel we have built in this class.”