Four deepsea con-ros under construction at the Hyundai Mipo shipyard for French owner CMA CGM will be equipped with electrical drive liftable car decks from MacGregor, part of Finland's Cargotec group.
As reported in the April 2008 edition of WorldCargo News (p28), the new ships have been ordered for Delmas' African trades. They have a capacity for 600 cars and maximum container intake is 1700 TEU. MacGregor's contract is worth more than E25M.
Each con-ro shipset will comprise around 1300t of equipment including one stern quarter ramp, a stern door, two ramp covers (crocodile type), one top-hinged front door and two level liftable car decks including access ramps. The liftable car decks, totalling about 5,200 m2 per vessel, will be electrically-operated with an electric jigger winch installed in the car deck panels. "In the last few years," said Magnus Sjöberg, director of sales and marketing, MacGregor ro-ro division, "we have been contracted to deliver over 90,000 m2 of electrically-operated car decks."
Advantages compared with hydraulically-operated units include avoidance of oil pollution or damage to goods by hydraulic oil; maintenance friendliness; energy saving as continuous running is not required; ease of monitoring and no change in operating times in cold conditions. The shipbuilder gains as well, as cable wiring is easier than piping, no flushing work is required, there is no need for hydraulics specialists and no pump unit is required.
MacGregor also reports that it has supplied what it claims is a unique stern ramp solution to the 87m offshore/ro-ro vessel ELEKTRON, which will operate along the Norwegian coastline for national power company Statnett, repairing and changing cables and transmission systems. The 16m long ramp was built in two parts and delivered with four hinged sections. It can take a load of 500t and has a maximum opening breadth of 12m and a clear opening height of 10m. Operation of the ramp in most instances is via a programmed sequence using a PLC unit.
MacGregor's sales manager Göran Hugin explains: "During cable repairs, a vertically-stored stern ramp gets in the way of operations, so we supplied a stern ramp that is fitted into a frame, enabling the owner to lower the ramp to the deck. "This is achieved by having hydraulic cylinders that can be repositioned. In addition, each of the ramp's outer sections can be operated individually to suit different quays." |
