Hamburg engineers bring expertise to bear
A new Hamburg based engineering company sees a market in specialist vessel conversions, and aims to help clients take on challenging lift and build projects in overseas shipyards.
The HeavyLift@Sea team offers design and planning services for heavy lift shipping and offshore projects, led by founders Lars Rolner and Hendrik Gröne. Mr Rolner, who is also CEO of heavy lift company SAL and an expert in the field, explainsed: “There are currently a lot of ship owners looking to remodel their ships to adapt to changing functions, for example, by installing the DP2 system to ensure safety and precision in offshore operations.” He added that new regulations, for example in the environmental sector, also require ships to be upgraded.
It’s also about preserving expertise and making it work even in overseas shipyards. Mr Gröne, an experienced shipbuilding expert whose CV includes the role of chief engineer at the Sietas shipyard in Hamburg explained: “The number of ship building sites in Germany is decreasing. At the same time, there is a great deal of engineering know how to be found in the field of design and technology for challenging shipbuilding projects and in the development of highly complex solutions which, for example, the shipyards in the Far East cannot offer.” He went on to say: “This know how needs to be bundled, maintained and supplied to customers like ship owners and builders of offshore plants.”
The company prepares individual simulations and calculations to ensure the best possible proportions and movement in the ship, crane and cargo based on the intended application. The company designs, for example, chain hoists with special cross beams for particular purposes. One of its first projects was the development of a chain hoist for the offshore installation of a natural gas field on the sea floor in the eastern Mediterranean.
Mr Gröne sees bringing it all together as important, and the company offers to supervise building work at overseas shipyards. “Everything we do, we do from the position of chief engineering, which means we are always focussed on the ship’s system as a whole, he explained “We ensure that the basic concept and the initial idea behind the vessel are observed at all times and remain in place throughout the building process.”
The HeavyLift@Sea team develops entire special purpose vessels based on customer specifications along with prototypes of its own, such as for a jack-up service vessel and a heavy lifter. The basic designs of these prototypes can be adapted to meet customer requirements.
Alongside customer projects, the engineering company also works on a research contract with the Hamburg University of Technology on the subject of ships, cranes and seas.
