Seaflex will this year have a stand at the LiftEx Exhibition and the venue is the Saviles Hall, adjacent to the Royal Armouries complex in Leeds.

See Seaflex water test weights at Liftex 2011

Now in its 7th year, LiftEx has become the leading event for the lifting industry and Seaflex will be displaying it’s range of water filled load test weights, including the new 50t WaterLoad Weight

LiftEx 2011 will be open to visitors for two days; from 10:00 – 17:00 on Thursday 17th November and from 09:00 – 14:00 on Friday 18th November.

We look forward to seeing you on Stand 23

Client: Insurance company
Contractor: Prodive Monaco
Location: Sete, France
Water depth:  18m

The Jean Ricciardi had suffered a total power loss in the middle of the night and this left her without lights and adrift, she continued to drift until she ran aground under the cliffs near the harbour entrance of Sete.  A merchant vessel who caught sight of the Jean Ricciardi contacted authorities and took 2 crew members aboard who had been in the Jean Ricciardi’s liferaft at the time of the grounding. A lifeboat was dispatched and freed the fishing vessel from the rocks and the Jean Ricciardi was taken under tow bound for Sete.  The vessel’s hull had been severely damaged during the grounding allowing significant water ingress to the vessel and she started to heel.   Without power to operate the pumps the fishing vessel flooded and then sank by the stern just 800 meters from the harbour entrance.

SEAFLEX INVOLVEMENT

Due to the water depth and the close proximity to the harbour entrance the Local harbour authorities insisted that the wreck be remove as soon as possible. The vessel’s insurance company agreed and engaged a salvage company to remove the wreck however they failed in their attempts. PRODIVE were then approached to carry out the removal and contacted SEAFLEX to supply the necessary air lift bags.

PRODIVE required 240t of lift bags, 12 x 20t ALB (Air Lift Bags) for despatch as soon as possible. The bags were packed and despatched from stock the same day from SEAFLEX head quarters on the Isle of Wight and arrived on site two days later.  The salvage was completed by PRODIVE within a week of the call to SEAFLEX and the Jean Ricciardi has now been safely removed from the water to be broken up for scrap.

For more information or quotation contact: Graham Brading – gsb@seaflex.co.uk

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The Seaflex prototype 50t WaterLoad Bag has achieved over 201t (safety factor of 4 to 1) during its independent type test at the TUVNEL test rig Scotland.
Managing Director Graham Braiding said “Ideally we would have liked to achieved a 6 to 1 safety factor (300t) but we were limited by the test rig itself which is only rated to 200t” he also pointed out that, “The bag, including all of its lifting components, has been designed with a 6 to 1 safety factor in mind”.

This photo of the bag on the test rig with an operative in the shot gives some perspective of the size of the bag.

To date no other manufacture of WaterLoad test weights has type tested a 50t WLB.

The 50t Bag is now available for hire or purchase from Seaflex, Unique Maritime Group or any of our agents worldwide.

For further information or a quotation please contact:
Ben Board at Seaflex 01983 290525
bmb@seaflex.co.uk

Unique Maritime Group a leading provider of specialized engineering solutions to the subsea and offshore oil and gas industries worldwide announced the acquisition of Seaflex Ltd today (24th April 2011).  Seaflex Ltd.  is a leading provider of marine buoyancy products and water filled test weights. Seaflex’s product range includes, subsea air lift bags, inflatable buoyancy units, WaterLoad test weights, cable and pipeline buoyancy, lifeboat testing ballast bags, yacht fenders and yacht racing buoys.  Seaflex is a BS EN ISO 9001:2008 company, independently certified by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance and its products comply with current IMCA and EC regulations.

The purchase of Seaflex Ltd., based in Isle of Wight, further strengthens Unique Maritime Group’s strategic goal  to expand its Manufacturing , Sales & Rental operations for specialized products worldwide. “The acquisition is also expected to result in greater efficiencies and significantly increase our market share” said Harry Gandhi CEO of Unique Maritime Group.

Seaflex will continue to operate under the same name & Graham Brading will take over as Managing Director. Mark Board continues to provide valuable support to him as a consultant for next two years.

“The acquisition of Seaflex was a calculated decision and was accomplished through an exclusive negotiation process under the guidance of Pinsent & Masons as legal advisors.” explained  Harry.