Double minehunter lift breaks records

The job consisted of two 620t warships (minehunters) from Belgium to Pakistan, and they were carried as deck cargo on the MV UHL Fame, which is four years old and sails under the Madeira flag. It is owned by Germany’s United Heavy Lift company.

“Preparations were extensive with more than 1.35km of vable used on the lashings for each ship,” said Peters & May. “Sixteen slings were required to tandem lift each of the warships into place on board the UHL Fame with a mixture of the ship’s main spreaders and sling equalising assemblies.

“The receiving deck also required significant work with the use of heavy lift platforms to spread the load, preventing point loading and deck damages. Integrity of the cargo for the trip was ensured by Peter & May’s specialist cradling beneath the hulls.”

Peters & May said each ship needed two days to prepare the lifting gear followed by a whole day to complete the lashings on board. 

“It’s not unusual for the company to transport one vessel of this size, but two of them going onto one ship is highly unusual,” said Robert Blades, global commercial sales manager. “Finding a heavy lift ship to tackle such a movement was the first challenge. There aren’t many ships out there with the capacity to lift two warships simultaneously, along with suitable lifting equipment, however United Heavy Lift had the MV UHL Fame in position.”