THE ROLE OF STEELWORK IN OFFSHORE UNITS: MAINTENANCE, REPAIR AND UPGRADES
Offshore projects call for different approaches depending on whether an existing unit needs maintenance, repairs or structural modifications. Cartubi works across these different scenarios, applying its steelwork expertise to the specific requirements of each intervention.
In the offshore sector, steelwork is a broad term encompassing activities that can address very different needs. Hull repairs, steelwork carried out as part of a maintenance programme, and the construction of a new structure designed to accommodate equipment all rely on the same core expertise, but apply it to different technical and execution challenges. The ability to adapt steelwork expertise to the function required by the asset turns a specialist activity into an industrial capability. On large offshore units, hulls, decks and structural elements are part of complex systems in which plants, equipment and activities from different disciplines coexist.
Maintenance and repair: two distinct functions
Steelwork can form part of maintenance programmes aimed at preserving the condition and functionality of a unit over time. This was the case on Scarabeo 9, a Saipem drilling unit, where Cartubi carried out steelwork as part of a broader scope that also included mechanical and piping works, testing and underwater activities. Repair work serves a different purpose. In this case, steelwork is performed on existing elements affected, for example, by wear, deterioration or damage, with the aim of restoring the conditions required for operation.
One example is the five-year Special Survey of Saipem 10000, a deepwater drillship. During its dry-docking in Palermo, Cartubi carried out hull steel repairs, while other teams were engaged in hull washing, surface preparation and painting, as well as maintenance of the sea valves and the six steering columns of the thrusters. These two contexts highlight the multidisciplinary nature of such projects: steelwork must be integrated into a programme in which different activities are carried out simultaneously on the same unit. When steelwork transforms the asset In upgrade projects, the purpose of the work changes. Steelwork no longer contributes to maintaining or restoring the existing configuration but becomes one of the means through which that configuration is modified to meet new operational requirements.
On the Deep Value Driller drillship, Cartubi carried out a structural and plant upgrade that included heavy steelwork for the construction of an additional deck designed to accommodate new machinery. In this context, steelwork becomes part of the engineering solution itself: it does not simply produce new structural elements, but enables the asset to accommodate new equipment and functions. This represents a change not only in scale, but above all in function. Building a new structure on an existing unit means working within the constraints of available geometries and spaces, existing structures and systems, accessibility, tolerances, work sequences and potential interferences. Steelwork must translate the planned modification into a solution that can be effectively integrated into the asset.
From specialist work to industrial capability Maintenance, repair and upgrade therefore require different contributions from steelwork: integration within multidisciplinary projects, intervention on existing structures, or support for their transformation and the integration of new elements. The experience gained by Cartubi across different offshore units enables the company to apply this expertise to requirements that vary in purpose, scope and complexity. Working with steel thus takes on a broader meaning: not an end in itself, but a capability applied according to the specific intervention and the asset involved.
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