Orders roll in for Middle East ship lifts
A Rolls Royce Syncrolift, showing its platform and the wheel system that helps the vessel into its dry berth.
Rolls-Royce is to supply ship lifts to two shipyards in the Middle East, with both orders for units that can handle vessels weighing up to 5,000 tons.
One order, from Damen Shipyards Sharjah FZE (DSS), will see a Syncrolift designed and installed at Hamriyah Free Zone shipyard at Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates. This installation, with a docking platform of 120m in length and a width of 26.5m, will be operational by the end of 2012.
The second contract, for Zamil Offshore Services, involves the installation of a ship lift with a platform 102m long and 32m wide at a new shipyard being constructed in King Abdul Aziz port, Dammam, Saudi Arabia. This will be ready in 2013.
Both contracts will make use of a transfer system alongside the lift, promising extra productivity for a fraction of the cost. A recent study has shown that three or more shore-berths adjacent to the Syncrolift can be built, each at less than 50% of a single berth cost. With more berths, the cost per berth goes down, so seven or more berths were estimated to cost less than 25% of the single standard berth. Two or more smaller ships can be berthed together, and transfers can often be accomplished in less than half an hour.
Rolls-Royce says that although there is a single level transfer system available, its standard two level transfer system is probably the best option if the site has space to accommodate it. This is a modular end transfer cradle, which is configured via a combination of keel or keel and bilge supports, and assembled to suit the ship to be drydocked.
This cradle then moves the ship longitudinally on rails, rolling on a series of specially designed high capacity, low profile wheels, which are mounted to the underside of the cradle modules. A side transfer carriage, recessed in a pit so that rails on its upper surface can align with the longitudinal transfer rails at the shipyard grade level, then takes over and carries the ship and transfer cradle to align with rails at the designated shore berth. Once aligned, the ship is slipped into it sideways.
Rolls-Royce suggests the system is not as heavy on energy as might be expected because of its low coefficients of friction (1-1.5%). A yard vehicle such as a tractor or light crane can usually provide the necessary power.
Single level transfer systems are also often specified. The simplest version works very similarly to the two level systems except that side transfer involves a step whereby the side transfer vehicle must physically lift the end transfer cradle wheels clear of the ground for transfer, rotate them through a right angle and lower them for transfer into a shore berth.
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