Sparrows, an offshore lifting and mechanical handling services, has entered a first-of-its-kind global master services agreement for worldwide operations offshore with Transocean.

The Aberdeen-headquartered business has developed a strategic approach to the management and servicing of Transocean's offshore cranes on all of its mobile offshore drilling units outside of Norway. The crane inspection contract commences in August and covers condition evaluation of and potential remedial work for 432 deck cranes.

Sparrows has developed a comprehensive crane condition evaluation service that meets Transocean's global needs. Under the agreement, Sparrows will perform the planned 360 day annual crane condition evaluation on 121 of Transocean's mobile offshore drilling units across six continents.

“Regular planned crane inspection is the only way to assess integrity and ensure the equipment is fit-for-purpose, safe, reliable and, compliant,” said Mark Beveridge, Sparrows' drilling business unit leader. “Thorough assessments eliminate potential failure which can lead to costly break-downs and down-time, or more importantly injury to personnel. Regular monitoring also helps when making major decisions about crane replacement, heavy lifts or modifications, and upgrades.”

The contract will be managed globally from Aberdeen by the Sparrows drilling business unit who provide a focused delivery team to coordinate activities around the world. The regional Sparrow's teams then deal with each individual rig's management at a local level.