Phase one completed safely and successfully on a platform crane changeout project in Angola.
On any offshore platform, the pedestal crane is not incidental equipment — it is the asset’s primary means of material handling, and its replacement requires a 3rd party crane to provide the critical lifts for the removal of the decommissioned crane and placement of the new unit. A modular crane rigs directly on the platform — no vessel day rates, no weather-window dependency, no DP standby costs. It eliminates lift-boat scheduling conflicts, reduces offshore personnel exposure, and stays in place for the full scope – including providing a temporary replacement crane to bridge the gap between old crane removal and new crane commissioning, keeping your platform’s lifting capability online throughout the project. For remote or weather-exposed assets, that translates to lower cost and tighter schedule control.
Thunder Cranes is the world’s leading provider of API-compliant modular cranes used to execute offshore platform crane replacement projects. Our modular crane is mechanically installed and requires no welding — in this case the rig-up of the TC20 was completed in just 2 days including the load test. Rig up crew, crane operators and engineering support is included for the full scope of work.
Every Thunder Cranes project is supported by a team of offshore lifting experts planning specific safety aspects, rigging up strategies, load paths, structural and space constraints. Each project is executed by experienced superintendents, crane operators and onshore engineering backup for the duration of the project. The objective each time is straightforward: safe, successful, and timely execution.
This approach is built on more than 30 years of offshore lifting experience, over 100,000 completed lifts across our fleet, and zero LTI in over 1.8 million consecutive man-hours — the kind of track record that comes from treating every project with a tailor-made approach, not a routine procedure.
If a pedestal crane changeout is on your project horizon, we’re glad to walk through the scope with you. Contact us today to discuss your changeout scope.
Pictured above, the Thunder Cranes Angola rig up team and the lifting operations for phase 1 of the project – the platform crane removal.
