The gangway system is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of ship types. A trolley, moving on rails alongside the vessel, will position the gangway, which will be aligned with doors into the terminal building.

The gangway tube is vertically adjustable and the shipside element has both a telescopic and tilting function. The telescopic operation is powered by hydraulic cylinders. The tilting gangway will be hinged to the telescopic gangway and operated automatically in the manoeuvring mode. This arrangement serves to reduce the vertical force on the vessel support. Safety is of prime importance on an installation of this kind, and the design therefore allows for the gangway to be automatically released from the vessel after an alarm has been raised, should the vessel experience extreme movement.

TTS Port Equipment has also recently adapted the ropax vessel Finnarrow and landside equipment at port of Gdynia in Poland in order to improve traffic flow on linkspans at the ports of Karlskrona, Sweden and Gdynia.

The Finnlines vessel has been chartered by Stena Line until 2010 following its decision to extend the line between Karlskrona and Gdynia, but urgently needed to be adapted to the linkspans in both ports.

Working within those constraints, TTS Port Equipment designed, fabricated and installed a solution to streamline Finnarrow’s transition through port. This turnkey delivery of a stern ramp and bow platform was completed within three months with minimal disruption.

The project entailed:

· Placing a quay wedge on the lower linkspan ramp in Gdynia, to smooth the transition angle between the ship’s stern ramp and the linkspan. The six ton quay wedge was delivered in June 2007, only 20 days after the order was received.

· Enabling efficient loading/unloading at Gdynia, by installing a new stern ramp on deck five. The 9.2m long ramp has a breadth of 5.2m and a maximum load of 42.5 tons.

· Installing a bow platform on deck five. This is a fixed platform that will work in conjunction with the upper linkspan at Karlskrona, supporting it to ensure safe loading/unloading of the deck. The bow platform is 16.5 m long, with a breadth of 5.0 m and a maximum load of 42.5 tons.