These winches are “quite substantial in size” said Kees Kraaijeveld, general manager at Machine & Lierenfabriek C Kraaijeveld in Sliedrecht, the Netherlands. He is understating things wonderfully, as the winch is 4.5m in length and width, with a height of 4m.
It weighs in at 90 tonnes and is suitable for a chain diameter of 157mm, currently the largest chain size available. In addition to the two winches, Kraaijeveld has also delivered the hydraulic drive and the chain stoppers.
A distinctive characteristic of the vessel is the fact that a very large loading deck stretches all the way down to the bow and, as a result, little space is available for the winch. In addition to this, both the ship and the winches will be partly submerged in the water during loading and unloading. This has given a new twist to the brief. “Due to the specific design, some parts of the winch have to be kept dry, such as brakes and clutches, to avoid contact with seawater, said Mr Kraaijeveld. “In one way or another, the winches nowadays are getting bigger, more customised and more complicated as well.”
Both the ship and the winches had to be delivered in a very short period of time. “Due to our new assembly hall and the fact that we take care of the engineering and manufacturing process in-house, we were able to offer short delivery times”, concluded Mr Kraaijeveld.
A new category, Type-0, has been assigned to the ship, indicating that it is a completely new class of heavy lift vessel with a load capacity exceeding 110,000 tons.
Technical specification:
Length: 4.5m
Width: 4.5m
Height: 4m
Weight: 90 tons
Chain diameter: 157mm
