To complete the initial tandem lift, Mammoet employed a 450t Grove GMK7450 all terrain as the lead crane and a 200t Liebherr LTM1200-5.1 all terrain as the tailing crane.

The cranes and support vehicles arrived on site at seven in the morning and were ready to lift by ten.

Mammoet lifted the capstan from the transport, rotated it as required, and loaded it back on to the transport.

Mammoet supplied the 250t Multi Lift Point Beam for other installers to use on the next part of the lift, leading into the building.

The rope machine is being installed at Bridon’s new production facility in Newcastle, UK, Bridon Neptune Quay to make ropes for improved deep water lifting.

The giant orange capstan, which weighs 65t, is the first element of the rope machine being installed at the plant.

The capstan will pull massive multistrand ropes through the closer machine, with a tension of up to 110t, forming rope from dozens of strands.

The rope machine’s closer, provided by German engineering company SKET, will spin the world’s largest and most complex ropes. Bridon’s closer will allow it to produce far more complex large ropes, with package weights of up to 650t, than has been possible to date.

Supporting the closer will be a new stranding machine that winds dozens of wires together into individual strands.

To move 650t rope reels onto vessels moored at the factory’s deepwater quayside, Bridon is also installing a take-up stand that will automatically move reeled ropes from the closer to the Quay side. This allows the company to easily unload reels of all sizes onto vessels moored in the Quay alongside the plant.

All of the new machinery will help provide the oil and gas industry with specifically engineered, customised, resistant ropes, including ropes for deep water lifting. Most of the ropes will be made entirely of galvanized steel cable, with an organic lubricant, although some ropes may have a hessian fibre core or have polymer fillers or sheathing. The ropes will have massive breaking loads, optimised bend fatigue performance, and minimal rotation under load, Bridon said.

Specifically, the new ropes will help the offshore sector meet the challenge of deep water lifting beyond historical upper limits of 300t in 3000m of water. The industry is increasingly demanding lifting systems that deploy weights between 300-600t at depths of up to 4000m, Bridon said.

Bridon’s group chief executive, Jon Templeman, said, "The closer, strander, and takeup stand at Bridon Neptune Quay are not only the largest rope making machines in existence; they also have the capacity to make the most complex and highly engineered ropes ever conceived."