Straightpoint load cells vital in gas project lift

1 April 2015

Print Page

Components for a gas facility, including a 718t absorption tower, were offloaded at the Port of New Orleans using a Liebherr crane and load cells from UK-based Straightpoint. The absorption tower, measuring 170ft long and 24ft wide, was lifted from SAL Heavy Lift’s Type 116 MV Amoenitas ship along with the gas facility’s flash vessel. SAL Heavy Lift transported the components from Shanghai, China to New Orleans, where the load was transferred onto barges alongside deck cargo pontoons, overseen by Fracht FWO, the US subsidiary of Swiss freight forwarding company Fracht.

Straightpoint supplied wireless load cells to rigging and testing specialist Marine & Industrial Supply, which was tasked with sourcing the load cells and shackles for the project.

The load cells offer wireless transfer of data to a PC, as well as the ability to monitor the pick points of dynamic loads while the loads are being moved.

Charles Duprey, project manager at Fracht FWO, said: "The load cells were crucial given that when we loaded the absorption tower and flash vessel in China the lift weight in the barge was drastically inaccurate, so for safety reasons we wanted to weigh them again in New Orleans.

"Importantly, when we used the load cells to weigh the items at the port, the weight matched the documents of the manufacturer which told us that the measurements recorded by the barge crane instruments were incorrect.

"This wireless capability was hugely beneficial to the project, as was the convenience of being able to change the capacity in which the information was displayed from tons to pounds, for example. The Marine & Industrial Supply team were fantastic, as was the capability and performance of the Straightpoint load cells."