UK-based Osprey Heavy Lift has made a second visit to the Isle of Wight to assist Wight Shipyard Company relocate a catamaran, weighing 72 tonnes, from its fabrication shed to the River Medina.
In a previous project, SPMTs were used to relocate the vessel Red Jet 7, weighing 112 tonnes, to the nearby quay.
Two of Osprey's mobile cranes – an 800-tonne capacity LTM1800 and 550-tonne capacity LG1550 – were then used in a tandem lift to lower the ship into the River Medina.
The Red Jet 7 entered service in July 2018.
For the most recent project, it was initially thought a tandem lift solution would be required. However, in conjunction with the lifting beam manufacturer, Osprey engineered a bespoke lifting arrangement, which enabled the catamaran to be lifted using a single crane.
The lift was completed using a 1,000-tonne capacity Liebherr mobile crane, with a 36 m high rig, and a Modulift spreader beam configuration beneath its hook. The rigging gear was sourced from FLG Services, the specialist lifting division of A-Plant.
For the lift a Modulift MOD400 top beam was used together with two MOD70H beams underneath with two at either end with two different lengths of sling used to connect them to the top beam.
Sue Spencer, technical director at Modulift, commented: “We devised a design whereby the tension load in the central sling could be monitored using a wireless load link to ensure that the sling was carrying the correct share of the weight of the beam throughout the lift, that required us to adjust the tension using a chain block.”
