January 26 - BigLift Shipping's vessel Happy Buccaneer has transported a 1,200-tonne continuous ship unloader (CSU) from Taiwan to Japan, and installed it at the Haramchi thermal electric power station.
The project, which was executed in cooperation with BigLift's client IHI Transport Machinery, involved the CSU being loaded on board Happy Buccaneer in Kaohsiung using the vessel's two 700-tonne capacity cranes and two 24 m lifting beams.
BigLift explained that the challenges of this particular project included the high deckloads, the lifting height and required outreach of the ship's cranes necessary for the installation of the CSU in Haramchi.
Due to the construction of the CSU, which is a replacement for the thermal electric power station that was damaged during the devastating tsunami in 2011, very large forces were expected on the supports of the bucket wheel boom and ballast arm, said BigLift. Therefore, a detailed load-spreading plan was created to lead the forces into Happy Buccaneer's upper deck.
During the shipment, the acceleration forces on the CSU were constantly monitored using BigLift's OCTOPUS-Onboard system, which the shipping line says delivers real time vessel monitoring and supports the vessel's route planning, speed optimisation, heading and fuel consumption.
On arrival at Haramchi, the port was closed due to bad weather, meaning that the ship and cargo were required to ride out the storm at sea. Once the storm had cleared, Happy Buccaneer was able to berth at the Japanese port and install the CSU at the thermal electric power station.
Installing the huge unit involved passing over a conveyor belt system on the berth, said BigLift. This operation required a lifting height of 40 m above the wharf and a crane outreach of 14.15 m from the ship's side.
