Ports & shipyards
Mammoet’s professionals design and execute efficient heavy lifting and transport operations for ports, shipyards and shipbuilders – helping clients increase the productivity of ships and harbors.
Optimizing shipbuilding
As global economies grow, international shipping is key to the expansion in trade and movement of goods. This expansion has fueled a quest for efficiencies and economies of scale in the shipping industry. Larger loads are one way of bringing about these efficiencies, stimulating a market for vast vessels and bigger harbors to accommodate them. To support this market, shipyards are seeking to operate as efficiently as possible, delivering new vessels and performing maintenance work according to optimized schedules.
Ports and harbors are expanding and maximizing their performance to accommodate and service ships of increasing size. Minimizing construction, maintenance and handling time maximizes a ship’s productivity. High-capacity cranes are an essential element in both harbor and shipyard efficiency, for cargo handling or ship construction and maintenance activities. These cranes need to be built, installed, maintained, upgraded and sometimes relocated. Developing and realizing the optimal scenario for the movement of these massive pieces of equipment requires specialized expertise and equipment.
With both vessels and cargo handling equipment around the world growing larger in scale, shipbuilders and harbor owners face new construction and maintenance challenges. Mammoet’s engineered heavy lifting and transport specialists are ideally positioned to find engineering solutions to help optimize ship building and port operating activities, including harbor crane installation, the building and launching of new ships and the maintenance and upgrading of ships, shipyards and port facilities.
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Supporting growth
Harbors handling containers and cargo use specialist ship-to-shore (STS) cranes to unload and maneuver them. Likewise, tall gantry cranes with a large span are used to lift large and heavy ship sections or other components and cargo at many ports and shipyards. When constructing different types of cranes for harbors and ports, minimizing disruption to daily operations is an important consideration.
Disruption and lost working space or time can be reduced by assembling these cranes in a nearby construction area or by shipping a crane in one piece from the factory. In either case, a specialized partner is needed to transport a fully assembled crane from the construction area or barge it to site. Another option is to build these machines in large sections at ground level, before erecting them in one operation. By contracting Mammoet’s professionals to develop the optimal solution for such projects, the operation can be streamlined from start to finish.
Accommodating change
From time to time, cranes require maintenance, upgrading or even complete relocation to a different position or terminal. Mammoet works with clients to consider the available options, enabling owners and operators to make the best decision about the modification or relocation of these container cranes. Early
involvement of our specialists brings the opportunity to optimize this type of work. Harbor cranes vary in capacity, size and track width, and a detailed assessment and thorough forward planning are needed to consider the best options for transport or modification of an assembled crane. Good preparation also ensures all permits are in place and additional costs, such as demurrage charges, are avoided.
Improving productivity
Mammoet brings together years of operational engineering experience in the shipbuilding sector with an unrivalled fleet of equipment. This enables us to design new solutions for safely and efficiently launching and transporting ships, reducing construction time for optimal yard usage. Our experience includes negotiating locks and bridges with oversized ships and cargos in order to meet the growing needs of our clients. With shipyard facilities optimized, better use of facilities and access routes, the highest standards of safety and accelerated schedules, Mammoet contributes to its shipbuilding clients’ profitability.
We can also find creative engineering solutions to optimize ship maintenance or upgrades. Replacing large and heavy components, such as engines or crankshafts, on ships and cruise liners safely and cost-effectively requires expertise and dedicated equipment. As ever, early involvement is beneficial to find the optimal way to work in the restricted spaces often presented by these types of component replacement operations. Additionally, ways may be found to do the work while avoiding a dry dock, saving time and costs.
Whether it is a cruise liner, ferry or container ship, minimizing the amount of time spent at shore maximizes productivity. Our tailor-made methods for planned or emergency maintenance work on ships, such as crankshaft and engine exchanges, keep vessels in operation while the team comes on board to plan the exchange. As soon as the ship is docked, we set to work immediately with our dedicated equipment, designed specifically for use in the space-restricted hull of a ship. Minimizing the amount of time the ship is under repair means greater efficiency for its owner.
