Gjerde, the Norwegian distributor of Italian-made Heila Gru marine cranes, has supplied a hatch deck crawler crane to Prosafe Drilling for use on Esso’s Ringhorne platform in the North Sea.
The crane is a modified 20tm Heila crane that it has mounted on rubber crawler tracks that sit within a support frame. It is equipped with a 5t winch, man-rider winch, load cell for wire line, hydraulic power pack and radio remote control. It is designed for use in Ex-zone1. The order followed the previous delivery of a similar hatch deck crane that ran along rails.
Gjerde said that the offshore market usually used overhead travelling cranes in this area, but it argues that mobile cranes have more flexibility and a wider area of application. Mobile cranes can be used for lifting in hatches, for wire line operation and for man-riding.
