Taiwan to Japan with BigLift Shipping and 1,200 tonnes
03 February 2016
BigLift Shipping’s Happy Buccaneer was used to transport a 1,200 tonne, 45 metre high continuous ship unloader (CSU) from Kaohsiung in Taiwan to Haramachi, Japan, for installation at the Haramachi thermal electric power station.
The CSU is a replacement for the thermal electric power station that was severely damaged in the Tsunami in March 2011.
The project was executed in close co-operation with the engineering department of Japanese client IHI Transport Machinery Co. The CSU was loaded and discharged using the ship’s two 700 tonne heavy lift mast cranes (1,400 tonnes in tandem), using two 24 m BigLift lifting beams in the lifting arrangement. Particular challenges in this project were the high deck loads, the lifting height and required outreach of ship’s cranes necessary for the installation of the CSU.
Due to the construction of the CSU, very large forces were expected on the supports of the bucket wheel boom and the Ballast arm. Therefore, a detailed load spreading plan was made to lead the forces into Happy Buccaneer’s high-strength upper deck.
During the voyage, the acceleration forces on the CSU were constantly monitored, using the OCTOPUS on-board system, which delivers real time vessel monitoring and supports the vessel’s route planning, speed optimisation, heading and fuel consumption.
The vessel sailed from Kaohsiung on 12 January and arrived at Haramachi on 17 January where the vessel was challenged by a closed port due to bad weather so the ship and the CSU had to ride out the storm at sea. Eventually, Happy Buccaneer berthed on 20 January and had the CSU installed by the 22nd.
