Plant hire company grows Capes marine offshore services capacity

Plant-hire company Rand-Air is seeing an increase in the demand for its air and power service supplies from Cape Town's marine and offshore facilities, says Rand-Air GM Louwrens Erasmus.

He comments that the company's equipment is being deployed in the refurbishment and maintenance shutdowns of offshore drilling rigs that are docking locally.

Rand-Air sales consultant for Cape Town Cindy Ross says that the company's most recent project involves a hire to engineering service company Algoa Oil and Pipeline Services.

Rand-Air has a range of equipment on-site, which is required to run 24 hours a day, without any downtime or equipment failure. There is a 300 kVa generator, four 17 kVa generators with lightsets, and a D300 compressor on the berth site, and a 200 kVa machine running on the yard site.

The power demands of this project are to supply both the lighting for the night work, and the heat treatment on the piping for the trans-ocean rig, Deepwater Expedition.
Algoa Oil and Pipeline Services GM, Oliver Romer, comments, "Rand-Air is providing 100% of the power needs on site, and it understands the imperative of seamless supply with no downtime."

In another hire to the marine and offshore industry, Rand-Air's Cape Town branch was engaged in a hire for the complete general air supply to an oil drill rig that was in the harbour. This required a D800 cfm compressor for a full 60 days, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"It was crucial that the air supply was kept running consistently and without any breakdowns or interruptions," says Ross.

Erasmus comments that the company is committed to the ongoing process of assessing and improving its performance. In 2007, the company became a member of the South African Oil and Gas Alliance. The company has also been included as one of the operations in its parent company Atlas Copco's global Specialty Rental Division, that was awarded a Triple Certification for quality, environmental, and occupational health and safety management.

Further to this, Rand-Air's ISO 9001 certificate indicates that the internationally approved quality system is in place, while the ISO 14001 certificate confirms efforts to reduce the environmental impact of the company's operations. In addition, the Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems 18001 certificate endorses the system, and demonstrates a systematic approach of identifying hazards and eliminating or reducing risks.

With the competition and demand for oil, there is increasing pressure to reduce downtime and increase efficiency. This in turn, places increasing pressure on the suppliers to the oil and gas industry. In order to safeguard the quality of service and ensure that standards are being adhered to, companies are having to demonstrate their commitment to safe work practices and quality says Erasmus.

In June, Rand-Air was recognised by synthetic fuels producer Sasol as a top supplier for the role it played in the Sasol Synfuels shutdown. Only one other company out of 1 200 suppliers received a similar acknowledgement.

Erasmus comments that it is rewarding to receive this kind of acknowledgement from a satisfied customer.

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article.php?a_id=141133

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Plant hire company grows Capes marine offshore services capacity