Overhead Lifting Solutions News

The first open hatch vessel (12,000 dwt) with gantry cranes was delivered to Oestberg's Rederi, in Norway, December 1962. This revolutionary vessel and crane design was a result of cooperation between Oestberg, Crown Zellerbach Co. and the Munck Group in Bergen. Crown Zellerbach Co. was one of the leading pulp and paper companies, located in San Francisco. Its shipping department was headed by Clyde Jacobs, who was a driving force in making the Open Hatch design the new standard for paper and pulp transportation at sea. At that time the vessels were primarily based on the traditional "Shelter Deck" design and the loading and unloading was done with complicated "boom and winch" arrangements.