Steel Ropes News

The Liebherr offshore crane division installed a board offshore crane, type BOS 35000 on the heavy lift barge “Giant 7”. The state of the art offshore crane will be used for wind plant installation in the Baltic Sea region. The entire project starting from design through manufacturing to final assembly and testing has been conducted in the company’s production site in Rostock, northern Germany. The crane was especially developed for the use on the “Giant 7”, a heavy lift barge. On arrival at the Liebherr Rostock facility in January, the crane installation started immediately. The biggest challenge when assembling heavy lift giants like the BOS 35000 is the handling of oversized parts. The lattice boom is 78 meters long. Its weight amounts more than 250 tonnes.

The largest and most complex maritime salvage operation ever carried out was concluded this summer. The Costa Concordia parbuckling operation on the rocks of the Italian island of Giglio has been a success in many ways—not least for the objective to retrieve in one piece, such a massive vessel (117,000 tons) with minimal damage to the delicate marine environment on which it foundered. High performance ropes with Dyneema played a key role in the operation. DSM Dyneema has been supplying UHMWPE fiber, branded as Dyneema  for ropes used in tug and salvage operations for almost 15 years.

It hasn’t been too long since industry icon Tom Crowley, Jr. offered that the one technology that had the biggest impact on the safety and efficiency of [his company’s] maritime operations was, in a word: ROPE. The reasoning was simple. Today’s lighter, stronger synthetic strands have gone a long way in helping to reduce back and other related lifting injuries on deck. He stands by that answer today. So does Teufelberger, especially when it comes to the innovative products that they bring to the waterfront today. Established as a premium cordage manufacturer more than 220 years ago, Teufelberger produces products across its three distinct business divisions at its six locations around the globe.

WireCo WorldGroup Inc., the world’s leading producer and marketer of specialty steel ropes and high synthetic ropes, announced today that WireCo has acquired the assets of Endenburg B.V., a Netherlands-based company. As part of the agreement, WireCo will establish a crane rope distribution center at the current Gouda location, called the WireCo Crane Center. Founded in 1855 and headquartered in Gouda, Netherlands, Endenburg supplies hoisting and lifting gear including steel wire ropes, shackles, fiber ropes and custom-made tarpaulin covers for the shipping, towing, construction and transport industry. The Endenburg name will not be continued and all activities will be incorporated into current WireCo business units.

Alps Wire Rope Corporation announced the opening of a new warehouse location in Houston, TX. Abe Guerrero will be joining the existing sales team of Rick Coughran and Bill Lee, to manage the facility. The demand for wire rope products from the region has led to the opening of the new distribution point. The new facility will provide Alps Wire Rope close proximity to customers and business partners in the area. In addition to Oilfield Products, Alps will stock Elevator Rope, Stainless Steel Ropes & Strands, Specialty Crane Ropes, and of course General Purpose Rope Products.

Brazilian oil giant Petrobras has specified ultra strong, lightweight Dyneema fibers for a complete set of mooring ropes for a semi-submersible mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU). Headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Petrobras has substantial interests in deepwater exploration. Petrobras specifically asked for the ropes to be made with SK78 grade of UHMWPE (ultra high molecular weight polyethylene) fibers from DSM Dyneema for its high strength at low weight properties. SK78 grade…

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the largest independent institution of its kind in the world, recently began developing a new piston corer for retrieving sediments from the ocean floor. Once complete in 2006, the deep-water coring system will be the largest in the U.S. and among the biggest in the world. The corer’s enormous weight — 25,000 pounds — coupled with the environmental demands associated with working in water up to 20,000 ft. deep presented major technical challenges to the system required to lower the corer to the sea floor then recover it, along with its ancient sediment samples. Located in Cape Cod, Mass.…

Dubai Maritime City has placed the first shiplift within its Industrial Precinct. Industrial Precinct of the City will incorporate two shiplifts manufactured by world-renowned shiplift specialist company, Hydraudyne Rexroth, said an official. One of the shiplifts will be 90 m long and 25 m wide and designed to lift vessels up to 3,000 tonnes while the other will be 140 m long and 30 m wide and designed to lift boats of up to 6,000 tonnes. Both the shiplifts will be capable of 14 m vertical travel and the platforms and vessels shall be raised and lowered by a series of winches and steel ropes along the length of the shiplifts. Dubai Maritime City is going full steam ahead with setting up the new shiplift facilities, which will be commissioned by March 2007.

According to reports, Dubai Maritime City has announced the launch of manufacturing process of new shiplifts of Jadaf Dubai -- one of the oldest ship repair yard in the Arabian Gulf - which is currently located at Dubai Creek. The shift of Jadaf Dubai to Dubai Maritime City reflects the distinction of the Maritime City as a prestigious location and is expected to provide a major impetus to regional maritime trade. The relocation will also facilitate a number of companies operational at Jadaf Dubai to expand their operations. With its direct access to sea, vessels calling at Dubai Maritime City will not be limited by size, as is the case at Al Jadaf Dubai's current location where vessels are restricted because of bridge crossings.

The collapse of a giant, brand new gantry crane which killed 36 people in a Shanghai shipyard may have been caused by loose steel ropes, state media and an engineer at the crane's designer said. Chinese authorities are investigating the accident, the latest in a series of deadly fires, explosions and building collapses that highlight China's lax safety standards and have roused public anger. The collapsed crane is one of the largest gantry cranes to be built and designed in China, capable of carrying 600 tons, engineers and shipbuilding executives say. It was only inaugurated on Monday. The H-shaped structure weighed a total of 4,900 tons and consisted of two legs and a 3,000-ton crossbeam, an engineer at a Chinese company which designed the crane said.