Portable Webtool softline deck emergency cutter (photo: Webtool)

Hydraulic cutting tools specialist, Webtool, announces a portable softline emergency deck cutter for tugs, barges and offshore vessels. Easily deployed, and operated remotely, the cutter provides an instant cut of fibre ropes up to 80-mm diameter in the event the vessel gets into difficulties.

Fibre ropes are widely used in offshore applications where ease of handling and deployment compared with steel wire, and the rope’s ability to float are important. The fibre rope deck emergency cutter is intended as a last resort when other measures to prevent damage to the vessel have failed.

The Webtool portable softline emergency cutter is transported in a self-contained “sack truck” containing a hydraulic accumulator and manifold with lockable control panel and a removable cutter. It is connected to the cutter’s control panel via a hose.

When deployed, the cutter and its frame are lifted off the sack truck and placed over the fibre rope. The lightweight frame allows the cutter to slide on the deck without getting damaged.

In the event of an emergency, the cutter connected to the control panel is activated severing the rope instantly.

“The fibre rope emergency cutter gives vessel operators a last resort should other measures fail to alleviate the situation,” says Keith Elliot, engineering director, Allspeeds Ltd. “It provides an instant cut allowing the vessel to quickly recover.”

In addition to the fibre rope cutter, Webtool also supplies a portable, emergency tow rope cutter for oil tankers to eliminate the risk of the pull-back tug capsizing. Attached to the steel wire tow line on the tanker’s deck, the cutter, once activated, cuts a 60-70 mm steel wire tow line within 3 seconds to prevent tug capsize.

The Webtool range of high performance cutting tools is designed and manufactured exclusively by Allspeeds Ltd.

Tags: Allspeeds Ltd, Webtool