December 19 - The Honghai gantry crane has been used for the first time, launching the Nordic Trym platform supply vessel at Honghua Offshore Oil & Gas Equipment Company's new shipyard in Jiangsu, China.
The giant crane was used to launch the new vessel, which has an overall length of 83.2 m and a deadweight of around 3,900 tonnes. The vessel is expected for delivery to its new owners - Nordic Offshore Supply - in April 2015.
The crane, which was developed by the Honghua Group and Wuhan Bridge Heavy Industries Group, is claimed to have the largest lifting capacity of any movable gantry crane in the world at 22,000 tonnes.
With a total height of 150 m and a maximum lifting height of 65 m, the crane will primarily be used in the construction of offshore drilling platforms.
