- Sangsangin Ship Machinery has been contracted by Sembcorp Marine Singapore to build two sets of 15,000-ton goliath cranes to be used in Sembcorp’s integrated shipyard.
- The order was placed in early 2018 and the cranes are delivered to the client in February 2020.
This is the world’s largest Goliath crane that is capable of lifting 15,000 tonnes of ship blocks in one unit and up to 30,000 tonnes of cargo when both cranes are used. The assembled crane measures 62m in length, 185m in width and 122m in height. In addition, the crane was separated by blocks and transported over two shipments on the DWT 50,000 class self-propelling barge.
KNT Cargo, an XLP member based in Korea has been contracted for the transportation. They were responsible for the engineering of the cranes for loading, unloading, sea transport and sea fastening.
1st Shipment
The first transports were bogies, legs and leg head blocks. It was started on 24th January 2019
Goseong Port was a shallow water basin, so bridge barges (10,000P) were used between the port and the dock. SPMT was used for loading by Roll-on and each bogie weighs approximately 250 tons.
The challenge of the first shipment was to balance the self-propelling barge with the bridge barge. Bogie loading started two hours before high tide to secure an air draft. Loading and sea fastening took about two weeks.
The self-propelling barge arrived at Sembcorp shipyard on 11th February 2019. SPMT was used for unloading. The problem was that the edge of the pier and the end of the ship’s poop deck were about 3M apart, and the shipyard ground reinforcement was mostly weak. So, the width of the unloading area was quite limited compared to the size of the cargo. In line with these conditions, they unloaded cargo by shifting the ship from side to side. Unloading took about two weeks.
2nd Shipment
The second transport for two girder assemblies was the most important highlight of this project.
The weight of each girder assembly was approximately 9,000 tons and the total weight was 18,000
tons. SPMT used in shipment was 216 axes and the loading weight per axis was 14.29TON / M2. Loading was started on 8th February 2019.
The preparation work for the girder loading took about two days, and the loading time for each girder took approximately two hours. Sea fastening took about 6 days. The material used for sea fastening is about 300 tons. So, the total loading time was 10 days.
The unloading at the Sembcorp Marine shipyard was spectacular. The ship arrived at the Sembcorp marine shipyard on April 1st, firstly berthed at the general pier and unlashing for about five days, and then the ship was placed in the dock. All lashings had been completed to keep the ship stationary, and the SPMT is clearly positioned to the centre of gravity of the cargo. Finally, using SPMT, they rotated two girders 90 degrees. SPMT used for girder rotation was a total of 316 axes. After the girder had finished turning, the mooring line was adjusted to lower the girder to the proper position.
Technical Considerations
- Adjusting the centre of gravity of the cargo before the rotation starts,
- Programming with 90-degree rotation of SPMT 316 axes simultaneously
- Balancing between girder rotation speed and ship’s ballasting speed
- Securing UKC and an air draft of ships in tides.
- Mooring line tension adjustment.
Prior consultation with the owner was essential, as 18,000 tons of cargo would be rotating on the ship. They had prepared ideas and engineering materials for girder rotation and consulted with ship owners since 2018. The ship owners and masters recognized that the idea had no problem with the safety of ships and approved it.
On April 07, 2019, under the direction of the General Superintendent, the SPMT worker, ballasting operator of the ship, and yard work supervisor became one and the girder rotation work was carried out. The girder turning took about 40 minutes only for turning. Since cargo can only be operated at high tide, the final positioning of the cargo took about 24 hours. This task was completed safely.
