The world’s largest offshore overhead travel crane developed and manufactured by Enerpac, mounted on the Zourite jack-up barge, has set sail for Reunion Island, located East of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The crane will be used in construction of a 5,400 m bridge for a new offshore highway (Route du Littoral) connecting Saint Denis – the administrative capital of La Réunion – with La Possession.
The Enerpac Over Head Travel Crane (OHTC) comprises two pairs of lifting beams, with an overall width of 30m, and a lifting capacity of 4,800 tonnes for lifting, moving and lowering the concrete blocks for the offshore highway.
Offshore Highway
The French consortium Bouygues Travaux Publics, VINCI Construction Grands Projets, Dodin Campenon Bernard and Demathieu Bard Construction are constructing a 5,400 m bridge for a new offshore highway in Reunion Island. It replaces the existing coastal road, which is exposed to falling rocks and flooding from swells and tropical storms.
The Zourite jack-up barge is being transported to Reunion Island aboard the Offshore Heavy Transport’s Hawk semi-submersible vessel, and is expected to arrive in June.
About the Over Head Travel Crane (OHTC)
The Over Head Travel Crane (OHTC) comprises two pairs of lifting beams, with an overall width of 30m, and a lifting capacity of 4,800 tonnes for lifting, moving and lowering the concrete blocks for the offshore highway. The crane is classified as A5 for the structure classification and M5 for the mechanism classification and designed to operate in tropical marine conditions (IP66). Design and testing conforms to Bureau Veritas code for Offshore Units.
The Enerpac OHTC will be used on the Zourite jack-up barge. Lifting and lowering is accomplished with a reeved winch system, based on eight grooved drum winches. Longitudinal travelling of the gantry uses a trolley arrangement comprising two trolleys per lifting beam. Each trolley is propelled with hydraulic drive motors and planetary gearboxes. The wheels run on two parallel rails bolted onto the barge’s runway beams. Side shifting of the gantry hoists in a continuous movement is achieved using long stroke cylinders.
OHTC testing has been conducted on one of the pairs of beams and included lifting 1100Te blocks, synchronized lifting of the block with a hook from each beam, and checking the crane’s positioning, lifting / lowering accuracy to 1 millimeter.
