Heavy Lift and Project Cargo Operations
Moving indivisible loads by sea: lift planning, deck strength and ballasting, sea fastening, the marine warranty surveyor, and the ships built for the trade.
Heavy lift and project cargo is the carriage of indivisible loads too large or too heavy for a standard ship’s gear and general stowage: transformers, refinery columns, harbour cranes, rail vehicles, turbine nacelles, ship sections and drilling equipment. The cargo cannot be broken down, so the ship, the gear and the voyage are engineered around the single piece.
The full article will cover the operation end to end. Weighing and centre of gravity determination, the lifting points and whether they were designed for the lift or added for it, the rigging arrangement and its spreader beams, the deck strength check against point loading, and the ballasting programme that holds the ship upright as the load comes over the side and its weight transfers from the quay to the hull.
It will also cover the commercial and assurance layer, which is heavier than in liner or bulk work: the marine warranty surveyor and what an approval actually certifies, the sea fastening design and its calculation against the design motions, the cargo securing manual’s role, and the charter forms and liability regimes the trade uses.