The Netherlands-headquartered BigLift Shipping has transported seven historic German Navy missile speedboats – Schnellboote – from Kiel, Germany to Aliağa in Türkiye.
Commissioned between 1983 and 1984, the seven Type 143A Gepard-class vessels formed part of a series of 10 identical craft. In 2015 and 2016 they were decommissioned.
The ex-S72 Puma, ex-S73 Hermelin, ex-S75 Zobel, ex-S76 Frettchen, ex-S78 Ozelot, ex-S79 Wiesel, and ex-S80 Hyäne were transported by BigLift. Each vessel weighs approximately 330 tonnes with dimensions of 58 m x 7.9 m x 9.3 m.
BigLift’s Happy Sky stowed two of the boats in its hold, with the remaining five secured on deck. So that three boats could be accommodated side by side, Happy Sky’s weather deck was extended by using the tweendeck hatch covers.
Equipment mobilised for the operation included A-frames, cut-to-shape dunnage, lifting beams, chains with BigLift’s new speed lashing system, as well as heavy load platforms (HLPs). Limited and outdated data on the German boats meant that each had a different centre of gravity due to their age and maintenance history.
