gCaptain.com

Two months ago we brought you photos of the world’s largest crane being built, today we show you it’s first lift. Yantai Raffles Shipyard Limited tells us:

Today our shipyard celebrated the much anticipated First Commercial Lift by Taisun amidst a blaze of fireworks and the expectant gaze of the 750 strong local as well as international guests who were all gathered at the Yantai Raffles Shipyard in Shandong, China, to witness this momentous event. Taisun, a crane with an unparalleled 20,000 MT capacity, lifted the massive 14,000 MT Deckbox of COSL Drilling Europe AS’ (“COSL”) Semi-submersible Drilling Rig, the ‘COSLPioneer’, and mated it onto the Columns and Hull of the Rig in one single operation, demonstrating an unprecedented feat within the industry.

The Russian Ministry of Gas ordered the self- propelled crane vessel “Stanislav Yudin” from the Finnish Wartsilla shipyard in 1982.

The crane fitted on the stern of the vessel was designed by GustoMSC and built by Kone Oy in Finland.

The vessel built by Wärtsilla has a length of approx. 183 m, a width of 36 m and a depth of 13 m. The crane was originally designed with two 800-ton main hooks, which could be operated separately, a 400 ton auxiliary hook and a trolley with a 30 ton hook which could travel along the length of the box girder crane boom. To lift the maximum load of 1,600 tons, the 2 main hooks can be used independently allowing an angle with the vertical of up to 15° or they can be coupled together by a hoisting beam with a 1,600 ton hook.

As the vessel has an active ballast system and a minimum draught was required, the weight of the crane is minimized by omitting the counterweight and by using high tensile steel. [Continue Reading →]

Nearly 7 years ago Yantai Raffles Shipyard, in Shandong Province China, recognized that the building of tomorrow’s largest offshore oil vessels and platforms would require machinery of epic size. To prepare for this future they commissioned the construction of the World’s Largest Crane.

The Proposed Site

Groundbreaking

Laying The Foundation

Building The Towers

[Continue Reading →]

The task is to lift the whole bridge sections, each weighing approx. 3500 tonnes.

[Continue Reading →]