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Peters & May breaks own double ship movement record
The British Peters & May group transported two 620-ton (about 562 metric tonnes) warships as deck cargo from Belgium to Pakistan. This transport, which was announced October 11th, 2022, has set the company’s new record for heaviest and longest double ship movement.
Robert Blades, Peters & May’s Global Commercial Sales Manager, stated: “This contract followed on from the shipment in 2018 of the first of these vessels. Following the client’s positive experience with Peters & May, the double shipment was due to be made in 2020, but the global pandemic put this back to September 2022. Finding a heavy lift ship to tackle such a movement was the first challenge. There are not many ships out there with the capacity to lift two warships simultaneously, along with suitable lifting equipment, however United Heavy Lift (UHL) had the MV UHL Fame in position.”
UHL Fame
It is not uncommon for Peters & May to transport one vessel of this size, but two being transported via one ship is highly unusual. The two warships were transported aboard the UHL Fame. Built in 2018, the general cargo vessel measures 150 metres in length and 25.92 metres in width, and has a gross tonnage of 16,729 metric tonnes. Loading was supervised by two senior loadmasters and two trainee loadmasters.
Loading operations
More than 1.35 kilometres of cables were used to lash each ship to the deck. Additionally, 16 slings were needed to tandem lift each ship into position aboard the UHL Fame, using both the ship’s main spreaders, and Peters & May sub spreaders and sling equalising assemblies. The receiving deck also needed heavy lift platforms to spread the load, thus preventing point loading and deck damages. Cradling was also used beneath the ship hulls to protect their integrity. Overall, two days per warship were needed to prepare the lifting gear, lift, then cradle. One more day was also required for the lashing.
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