Floatable spoolbase with intermediate carousel storage

摘要

A floatable spoolbase (10) for supplying rigid pipe (20) to a reel-lay pipelaying vessel (58) comprises a storage reel (18) with an upright rotational axis (22) for interim storage of a continuous length of pipe (20). Welding stations (30) upstream of the storage reel (18) add pipe elements (26) to the pipe (20 to be stored on the storage reel (18). When a pipelaying vessel (58) visits the spoolbase (10), the pipe (20) is unwound from the storage reel (18) and fed to a pipelay reel (60) of the pipelaying vessel (58). Where the pipelay reel (60) turns about a substantially horizontal rotational axis (62), winding the pipe (20) onto the pipelay reel (60) reduces ovalisation of the pipe (20) imparted by previously winding the pipe (20) onto the storage reel (18).