With many of its communities only accessible by air or sea, travelling in Alaska presents some unique challenges. The Alaska Marine Highway System plays a vital role in the State’s transport network, stretching 3,500 miles from Bellingham in Washington State, through the inside passage to Ketchikan and Juneau to Whittier, near Anchorage and out to the Aleutian Islands and Dutch Harbour. The ferries that make this journey have to be extremely robust and they are built tough at the Alaska Ship and Drydock, now a Vigor Industrial Company.
Two new ferries are currently under construction at the shipyard and two cranes from Ace World Companies are playing their part in this.
Delivered around two years ago, the cranes are identical full gantry cranes with 75/75/25t capacities, spanning over 100ft and lifting approximately 100ft. They feature variable frequency drive controls with programmable logic controller, true vertical lift and are classified by the Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMMA) as Class D duty cycle (heavy service). “Our speciality is high capacity, high duty cycle and custom cranes and that is all we do,” says Tad Dunville, director of corporate development at Ace World Companies and CMMA board member.
“These cranes were a bit of each, so the idea that we fitted the job description perfectly sat well with the buyer. They knew we weren’t going to be distracted by a bunch of smaller crane projects.”
He adds that, given its public sector work, another attraction for the shipbuilder was that the vast majority of Ace World Companies’ cranes are made in the US. “A high percentage of the crane parts were made, not just assembled, in-house,” says Dunville. “This allows us to control the supply chain and provide spares quickly, with items such as gearboxes and sheaves designed specifically for cranes.”
In the case of the cranes destined for the Alaskan shipyard, they were designed at the company’s technical centre in Fort Worth, Texas, the machine parts were made in the adjacent machine shops and the cranes were assembled and tested in its erection hall near Knoxville, Tennessee.
“Since we specialise in custom work we had the flexibility to do things like change the design in mid-stream, ship via barge and install in a location off the North American road grid,” says Dunville.
“The design and manufacture of customised cranes is always a very collaborative process. It’s a bit like building a skyscraper—neither the customer nor the builder tells the other exactly what to do. We have a consultative process where we work with the customer and architect like partners.
“The customer is putting an immense amount of money into custom cranes, so it would be a bit disingenuous if we opened a three-ring binder and picked out a hoist and a bridge girder. We spend a lot of time analysing the work cycle, loads, operators, geography and so on to make sure the owner realises a great return on their investment.” Ace World Companies isn’t involved in a maintenance programme for these particular two cranes but provides this service on a case-by-case basis.
“We can offer something as basic as a spares list and ensuring their stock is ample and in most states, we can offer support through a local authorised Ace World Repair centre,” says Dunville. “Or we can station a man at the customer’s facility.” All Ace World Companies’ shipyard customers are looking towards improvements in equipment and technology, he adds.
“Whether they do naval, civilian, government or private work, they are all trying to get innovative,” he says. “And as a certain group of people agitate to remove the Jones Act [the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, a federal law that regulates maritime commerce in the US], they are all being careful and trying to expand their portfolios.
“As of right now there is no silver bullet but incremental improvements can still make millions of dollars in savings each year. For example, we work with firms that update the operational software every year with regard to anti-sway and no-go zones. By improving both the software and the hardware used to implement the software they can improve throughput as well as keep their people and product safer. Safety and productivity initiatives have a clear impact on our customers’ bottom line.”
MHE-Demag has supplied cranes to various industries across Southeast Asia since 1972. The company talked to Hoist magazine about its work with the shipyard sector.
MHE-Demag’s portfolio includes all types of cranes from standard overhead cranes to specially designed gantry cranes. Its cranes are commonly used for lifting steel plates, ship manufacturing, repair work and so on.
One of the company’s many loyal customers is Keppel. In Singapore it has supplied a 30t double girder engineered crane and four double girder standard cranes ranging from 10–20t to Keppel Shipyard Ltd. All the cranes, which have a span of 28.6m, are installed in the shipyard’s fabrication workshop.
In addition to Singapore, MHE-Demag supplied 26 cranes to Keppel Philippines Marine in Bauan in the Phillipines province of Batangas; including seven 25t double girder overhead cranes with capacity and span range from 10–25t and 25m, and four single girder overhead cranes with capacity and span ranges from 3.2–5t and from 12.5–25m.
“We have also manufactured and installed two double girder semi gantry cranes with a capacity of 15t and a span of 11.m, two smaller semi gantry cranes to supplement the production floor and 11 double girder full gantry cranes with capacity and span ranging from 12.5–40t and from 20–42m,” says Tilkorn.
Four recent applications of cranes in the shipbuilding sector
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