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Displaying items by tag: Giant Cranes for Liverpool2

#GiantCranes – Giant Chinese constructed cantilever rail-mounted gantry (CRMG) cranes arrived by heavylift vessel to Peel Ports Liverpool2 new £300m deep-water container terminal over the May Bank Holiday, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The CRMG cranes, the first of six are to be installed at Liverpool2, the Merseyside quayriver facility (not Liverpool Docks) to berth considerably larger and deep draft containerships. Docking at the port development was heavylift vessel, Zhenhua 25 that set off with the cranes from Nantong,China on the 11,930nm/20,000km voyage to Liverpool.

The 40 day passage of Zhenhua 25, took a route via south-east Asia, India, the Arabian Peninsula and through the Suez Canal before finally completing the voyage to Liverpool last Sunday.

On the opposite side of the Irish Sea, the Peel Port Group are the operators of the Dublin Port container terminal, Marine Terminal Ltd. At  the MTL terminal near Ringsend, one of the largest vessels ships to use the facility, Nicholas Delmas (capacity: 2,207 TEU's) departed yesterday.

The Chinese built Nicholas Delmas had arrived from Liverpool from where the new quayside CRMG cranes to be installed having been also constructed by a Chinese manufacturer, ZPMC. According to the Peel Ports Liverpool, ZPMC also supplied the five ship-to-shore cranes already on site at the entrance to the port.

This first batch of CRMG's are the first of 12 required for phase 1 of the terminal. Ultimately the site will have eight STS and 22 CRMG cranes as part of a £100m investment.

The cranes will be capable of performing an average of 20 moves per hour, with semi-automated control linked to the port’s new Navis N4 terminal operating system. They have a 40 tonne under-spreader capacity and a maximum container lift height above quay level of 21m under spreader (6+1 containers).

Liverpool2 is to have a phased opening, with marine trials due to begin shortly and other elements of the semi-automated terminal coming online throughout Q2 of 2016. The first phase of the new terminal will be fully operational in the autumn.

Published in Ports & Shipping

Marine Institute Research Vessel Tom Crean

Ireland’s new marine research vessel will be named the RV Tom Crean after the renowned County Kerry seaman and explorer who undertook three major groundbreaking expeditions to the Antarctic in the early years of the 20th Century which sought to increase scientific knowledge and to explore unreached areas of the world, at that time.

Ireland's new multi-purpose marine research vessel RV Tom Crean, was delivered in July 2022 and will be used by the Marine Institute and other State agencies and universities to undertake fisheries research, oceanographic and environmental research, seabed mapping surveys; as well as maintaining and deploying weather buoys, observational infrastructure and Remotely Operated Vehicles.

The RV Tom Crean will also enable the Marine Institute to continue to lead and support high-quality scientific surveys that contribute to Ireland's position as a leader in marine science. The research vessel is a modern, multipurpose, silent vessel (designed to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research), capable of operating in the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Tom Crean is able to go to sea for at least 21 days at a time and is designed to operate in harsh sea conditions.

RV Tom Crean Specification Overview

  • Length Overall: 52.8 m
  • Beam 14m
  • Draft 5.2M 

Power

  • Main Propulsion Motor 2000 kw
  • Bow Thruster 780 kw
  • Tunnel thruster 400 kw

Other

  • Endurance  21 Days
  • Range of 8,000 nautical miles
  • DP1 Dynamic Positioning
  • Capacity for 3 x 20ft Containers

Irish Marine Research activities

The new state-of-the-art multi-purpose marine research vessel will carry out a wide range of marine research activities, including vital fisheries, climate change-related research, seabed mapping and oceanography.

The new 52.8-metre modern research vessel, which will replace the 31-metre RV Celtic Voyager, has been commissioned with funding provided by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine approved by the Government of Ireland.

According to Aodhán FitzGerald, Research Vessel Manager of the MI, the RV Tom Crean will feature an articulated boom crane aft (6t@ 10m, 3T@ 15m), located on the aft-gantry. This will be largely used for loading science equipment and net and equipment handling offshore.

Mounted at the stern is a 10T A-frame aft which can articulate through 170 degrees which are for deploying and recovering large science equipment such as a remotely operated vehicle (ROV’s), towed sleds and for fishing operations.

In addition the fitting of an 8 Ton starboard side T Frame for deploying grabs and corers to 4000m which is the same depth applicable to when the vessel is heaving but is compensated by a CTD system consisting of a winch and frame during such operations.

The vessel will have the regulation MOB boat on a dedicated davit and the facility to carry a 6.5m Rigid Inflatable tender on the port side.

Also at the aft deck is where the 'Holland 1' Work class ROV and the University of Limericks 'Etain' sub-Atlantic ROV will be positioned. In addition up to 3 x 20’ (TEU) containers can be carried.

The newbuild has been engineered to endure increasing harsher conditions and the punishing weather systems encountered in the North-East Atlantic where deployments of RV Tom Crean on surveys spent up to 21 days duration.

In addition, RV Tom Crean will be able to operate in an ultra silent-mode, which is crucial to meet the stringent criteria of the ICES 209 noise standard for fisheries research purposes.

The classification of the newbuild as been appointed to Lloyds and below is a list of the main capabilities and duties to be tasked by RV Tom Crean:

  • Oceanographic surveys, incl. CTD water sampling
  • Fishery research operations
  • Acoustic research operations
  • Environmental research and sampling operation incl. coring
  • ROV and AUV/ASV Surveys
  • Buoy/Mooring operations