AHS has been awarded a contract by a leading international subsea technology company for the supply of a HydroTable® cable carousel with a payload capacity of 3,500 tonnes and a diameter of 32 metres. AHS’s scope includes design, manufacture, delivery and installation. The complete HydroTable® system has an approximate total weight of 170 tonnes and is scheduled for completion and delivery in February 2027.

The contract represents a significant milestone for AHS and provides a strong industrial reference for its patented hydrostatic technology for large-scale cable carousels.

HydroTable® introduces a fundamentally different design philosophy for large cable carousels. Rather than relying on conventional mechanical support systems, the technology uses a pressurised water film to support the rotating structure.

REDUCING THE AMOUNT OF STEEL REQUIRED
This approach simplifies the overall design while substantially reducing the amount of steel required. Under comparable design conditions and with the same cable capacity, a HydroTable® can be significantly lighter than a conventional cable carousel.

The HydroTable® design uses approximately 90% fewer rotating components than a comparable conventional carousel. This removes many of the wear points and maintenance-intensive components associated with conventional systems, making HydroTable® simpler to operate, inspect and maintain.

For land-based installations, HydroTable® can substantially reduce foundation requirements, creating opportunities for significant savings in civil works and infrastructure costs. This also opens up possibilities at sites where ground conditions or existing foundations would otherwise constrain carousel capacity.

GREATER FLEXIBILITY
For offshore installation vessels, the lower height between the deck and the cable-supporting surface allows the cable payload to be positioned closer to the deck. This can significantly lower the centre of gravity of the loaded carousel and provide more headroom for cable storage within the same installation height. Combined with reduced structural weight, these advantages give naval architects and vessel designers greater flexibility when developing future cable installation vessels.

“HydroTable® has been developed over more than a decade, and we recognised the technology’s potential at an early stage,” says Ole-Fredrik Semb, CEO of AHS.

“It is particularly rewarding to see this long-term development now being applied in a major industrial project. This contract represents an important step in bringing HydroTable® into commercial application at scale.”

In addition to this project, AHS is engaged in dialogue with leading international cable manufacturers, offshore installation contractors, naval architects and vessel designers regarding future onshore and offshore applications of HydroTable®.

POTENTIAL TO RESHAPE
HydroTable® has also been nominated for the Offshore Energy Innovation Award 2026, recognising its potential to reshape how large-scale cable-handling systems are designed, built and operated. AHS will showcase the technology at the Offshore Energy Exhibition & Conference in Amsterdam on 24–25 November, at the Innovation Pavilion, stand 2.303.

“This delivery demonstrates what hydrostatic support can make possible at industrial scale and represents another important step in establishing AHS as a recognised international technology supplier to the offshore cable-handling industry,” says Bård André Solberg, VP Sales & Marketing at AHS.

“As cable carousel capacity increases, conventional designs have typically become heavier and mechanically more complex. HydroTable® challenges that established approach. We believe the technology has the potential to transform how future cable-handling systems are designed, built and operated, both onshore and offshore.”

About AHS

• AHS is a Norwegian engineering and manufacturing company specialising in offshore cable and umbilical handling systems for the offshore energy industry.
• The company is the developer of HydroTable®, its patented hydrostatic technology for large-scale cable carousels.