Relying heavily on a variety of cranes in order to carry out operations, ports and shipyards remain an essential part of worldwide infrastructure. Discover how Alimak’s range of offshore elevators have been used to improve efficiency, safety and uptime at busy ports around the globe.
Historically, maritime trade has played a pivotal role in shaping global events and many of the greatest cities in the world today have risen to prominence and influence on the back of the industry in their ports and shipyards.
In the modern era, ports remain an invaluable part of our infrastructure and still play an indispensable part in facilitating trade as part of the global economy, connecting all kinds of producers, manufacturers, importers and exporters with their customers all over the planet.
This makes our ports some of the world’s busiest industrial environments, responsible for constantly processing huge, heavy loads of shipping containers quickly, efficiently and safely on a daily basis. Container ports are a vital link in the supply chain; both in harbour locations where maritime shipments must be loaded and unloaded and also at inland container ports which facilitate transfer between land-based transports, commonly from train to truck, and provide for wider distribution.
Ports rely on cranes to facilitate efficient, high-volume processing of large shipping containers, lifting them safely from ship to shore as well as completing stacking and storage in other areas of the facility in preparation for their next use. The technology and engineering of container cranes is constantly advancing and various types of crane serve a variety of functions. More versatile systems provide for cranes to travel around the port area more freely, commonly utilising Rail Mounted Gantry Cranes (RMGs). Rubber Tired Gantry Cranes (RTGs), meanwhile, are commonly used to efficiently manage container inventory, stacking incoming containers ready for collection and onward transport and to facilitate storage of outbound containers ready for loading. Alimak has a large range of Industrial Elevators from marine elevators, explosion proof elevators through to Concrete lifts and Warehouse lifts.
Bearing in mind the importance of cranes to so many of the key operations in busy ports, it is worth considering how effective your current vertical access solutions are and what impact they have on the efficiency of everyday processes, completing ongoing maintenance, machine downtime and, most importantly, on the safety of crane operators and of everyone present in the port environment. A high quality explosion proof elevator or marine elevator for example, from Alimak have been deployed to improve crane operations and increase safety in nearly 100 countries all over the globe and have been recognised by our customers as providing a number of tangible benefits compared to only being able to achieve access by physically climbing up the mast via ladders.
A significant saving of time and energy is perhaps the most obvious benefit a marine or explosion proof elevator provides over climbing ladders. A typical offshore elevator can involve an exhausting climb of between 15 and 20 minutes. Not only does this eat away at the time the crane can usefully be in operation, but this physical barrier to access also discourages regular inspections and routine preventative maintenance tasks, all of which can have a negative effect on product uptime. Additionally, where maintenance works or repairs do need to be carried out, an access elevator markedly improves the efficiency of these vital tasks, providing for the correct personnel along with the required tools and replacement parts to be effortlessly transported in the car within minutes: tasks that would otherwise require organising winches or other devices. Again, this contributes to reduced downtime and improved ongoing care of your offshore elevators.
Alimak customers responsible for ports around the world are already enjoying the benefits of improved efficiency, better product maintenance and reduced safety risks that industrial elevators provide. Depending on the individual needs of the project, a number of products from the extensive Alimak range of vertical access solutions can be deployed to meet the particular requirements. For vertical access at ports and shipyards, however, it is also worth bearing in mind the benefits of Alimak SE-L Crane Lift. Based on the tried and tested success of the Alimak SE range of lifts, the SE-L Crane Lift is specially engineered and adapted to suit the demands of port and shipyard environments with capacities ranging from 300kg to 450g and a two-car operating system for improved efficiency.