OTHER CONNECTORS

Connectors or links are used for heavy lifting as well as mooring applications and are considered critical accessory from a safety point of view because they are one of the major hardware links between the crane and the load and regularly works fix together with the chain or non-steel fittings as textile slings and similar terminals. For heavy lifting applications, connectors are considered as rigging accessories, consequently, the links do not belong to the crane itself, but as a separate and temporary crane accessory. For mooring, links and connectors are considered part of the long-term mooring line for floating platforms. Regularly floating platforms are in deep water seas. Subsea deep-water application is considered one of the most critical offshore installations because of the poor accessibility of the products, harsh environment, and high costs to get the products back to the top site. Consequently, maintenance jobs are difficult to manage, and long lifetimes are required.

Under these conditions, forged material is the preferred and valued technology to guarantee long lifetimes with low maintenance costs. For high safety factors during a long lifetime, super alloy steels are the preferred steel grades to guarantee a safe functional long-life product. Surface protection and coatings also have a key role in keeping designed lifetimes. Irizar Forge is approved by DNV and ABS to produce, test and certify offshore mooring accessories in material R4 according to “DNV-OS-E302 Offshore Mooring Chain” and “ABS Guide for Offshore Mooring Chain”.