BigLift for 800 tonne jack-up platform
BigLift’s ‘Happy Rover’ recently carried a Jack-up platform from Rotterdam to La Reunion Island for client Enerpac. The Jack-up consists of a platform of 515 tonnes and four telescopic legs of 72 tonnes each.
The legs were dismantled from the platform and stowed separately to be installed again upon unloading in La Reunion. The platform itself has a length of 53.4 metres and is 28.6 metres wide, which made it a challenging lift for Happy Rover. This was a typical lift were BigLift stayed just within the limits of the crane capacity, counter ballast (both port and starboard side) and stability of the vessel. Besides this, there was only limited space on each side of the platform when it was turned between the cranes. In order to get more room to play with both cranes were rigged slightly off-centre which proved to be a successful idea.
This Jack-up platform was designed by Enerpac and will be used to submerge large concrete skirts from the quay level to a designated water depth. Once submerged, a specially designed barge will then float over and lift off the concrete skirts to position them on the foundations of a new offshore highway ‘Route du Littoral’ which is currently under construction in La Reunion.
BigLift Shipping – member of Spliethoff Group – is a heavy lift shipping company with a history dating back to 1973. BigLift’s fleet consists of 14 modern heavy lift vessels with lifting capacities up to 1,800 tonnes, and two state-of-the-art heavy transport vessels.
By Jake Frith
Related Articles
MARINE CONSTRUCTION
POWER & PROPULSION
ENVIRONMENT