Gantry crane lifts 17,000t
21 December 2009Yantai Raffles Shipyard’s 20,000t Taisun gantry crane has completed its third commercial lift, mating the 17,000t deckbox of Saipem’s Frigstad D90 semi-submersible drilling rig, Scarabeo 9, with the hull.
Scarabeo 9 has been built by Italian oil and gas company Saipem for ultra deepwater drilling, and is the third semi-submersible drilling rig constructed by Taisun. Taisun’s first commercial lift saw it install the 14,000t deck box of COSL Drilling Europe AS’s semi-submersible drilling rig, COSL Pioneer, and then mate the hull and 12,000t deckbox of Schahin’s SS Pantanal semi-submersible drilling rig for its second commercial application.
Yantai Raffles said this third commercial lift is the crane’s largest to date, and is the ‘world’s heaviest commercial lift’. Brian Chang, deputy chairman of Yantai Raffles, said: “This is another major feat for Yantai Raffles and is an important milestone in the overall construction of Saipem’s Frigstad D90 semi-submersible, Scarabeo 9.
“Our 20,000t crane Taisun has now firmly realised its reputation as the lifting methodology of the future and we will continue to work closely with Saipem to meet their expectations.”
Niels Haakman, managing director of the Taisun division at Yantai Raffles, gave a presentation of the crane during the recent Cranes Asia conference in Singapore, where he said the giant gantry could be upgraded to handle even heavier loads in the future, as it has been built on a double girder design capable of lifting 30,000t.
