Crawler Crane Makes Ship Repairs in the Bahamas
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July 22, 2015 - About 80 miles off the coast of Florida at the Grand Bahama Shipyard, a ship arrived for repairs that would require 45 days of around-the-clock efforts. All eight of its massive drill head sheaves would need to be replaced. The job required a crane with above average reach and capacity, but that could also be transported over land and water. ALL Crane Rental of Florida used a Manitowoc 18000 crawler crane to complete the task.
The first job would require the Manitowoc 18000 to lift out the worn drill head sheaves, or pulleys, at the top of the drilling tower and hoist new ones into place. ALL set up the Manitowoc 18000 with its wheeled MAX-ER attachment, which boosted its capacity to 825 tons.
The boom was erected at 340 ft. for the lifts. Each sheave weighed approximately 65 USt, but several loads had higher weights. For lifts of 75 tons, the crane was configured at its longest counterweight radius of 59 ft. and wheeled counterweight of 386 tons – the lift radius for these loads measured 204 ft. For the heaviest loads of 135.3 tons, the crane was maneuvered to lift from a 152-ft. radius.
“Planning the lifts alone took four weeks,” said Mike Weaver, special projects manager at ALL Crane Rental of Florida. “We used ALL’s 3D Lift Plan software to simulate these lifts and come up with the ideal crane to use. We chose the Manitowoc 18000 for its efficiency and suitability for this project.”
The Manitowoc 18000 has a capacity of 660 tons, which can be raised to 825 tons with the MAX-ER attachment. With a luffing jib attachment, the crane’s boom can reach to 520 ft.
Getting the crane to the job site was no easy task. The crane was mobilized from ALL’s Atlanta branch. Parts were loaded onto trucks, and then shipped via ferry to the dock in Freeport, Bahamas. The entire process took about 30 days. As ALL owns its own fleet of trucking tractors and trailers, the company was able to mobilize the crane quickly at lower cost than using a third-party transit service.
The project was completed, and the ship is now back in service. ALL reported the Manitowoc 18000 worked flawlessly on the job site.
