Spotlight on New Technology Awards
Versabar, Inc.
Booth #1467
Bottom Feeder
Deployed for the first time in June 2007, a new heavy lift system designed, built, and operated by Versabuild, an affiliate of Versabar, completed the task of retrieving six hurricane toppled platform topsides from the seabed. Each of the eight-leg topsides was retrieved as single lifts with peak lift weights of up to 1,600 tons. The decks were set onto cargo barges and scrapped onshore. This approach compared to small-piece removal, results in reduced personnel exposure offshore and is extremely cost-effective.
This new lift system, nicknamed the “Bottom Feeder,” has a rated lifting capacity of 4,000 tons and was designed, built, and commissioned within a period of 12 months. The Bottom 
Feeder has a number of unique features that make it well suited to heavy lift salvage operations. Four independent lift blocks provide an excellent degree of control during lifting operations, an essential requirement when lifting large unbalanced structures where accurate weight data is not available, as well as structures resting on the seabed at varying degrees of out-of-level. As an example, some of the lifts for the system included topsides sitting upside down on the seabed.