The pontoon with the 4 mega cranes, 112 metres high, acquired by Grupo Davila for Termavi left Amsterdam - The company expects to disembark the vessel before Sunday.

The port's new titan sails for home. The Super Post Panamax crane acquired by the Davila Group in Holland for use in the Container Terminal -Termavi- left the docks of Amsterdam on Saturday. Throughout the week, the pontoon on which it travels together with its other three sister ships - destined for the Tenerife terminal - will sail the waters of the North Sea and the Atlantic. The weather that accompanies her during this voyage will determine her arrival in Vigo. The dates that were being considered yesterday for the estuary to receive its new guest were between Friday and Sunday. The rain, the wind, and bad sea conditions have already forced to postpone the embarkation, originally scheduled for the end of September.

The maneuver is a real challenge for the company and will mark a milestone in the sector. "It is the first time that four cranes of this type are transported simultaneously on a pontoon," says Álvaro Molina, head of the Projects Division of Altius, part of the Davila Group. To give an idea of the "complexity" of the process, Molina recalls that, between the four cranes alone, the load totals more than 5,600 tons. "Up to the port of Brest, in France, we have a second tug for support; from there we sail with just one", he says. The speed at which it moves "depends on the weather conditions", but it ranges on average between 3.5 and 9 knots.

Throughout the voyage, Altius technicians will monitor the minute-by-minute progress of the cargo via the Internet. Those in charge have a modern program that continuously updates the estimated time when the pontoon will reach port. Nothing is overlooked in such an unprecedented maneuver that will allow a 1,350-ton, 112- meters high with the boom raised (72 meters in working position), and 26 meters wide, to be unloaded at Termavi. These are measurements that, in the entire Atlantic arc, can only be found in the Sines terminal (Portugal) and make Vigo the best equipped port in Galicia. To tie up every detail of the operation, Altius used 320 tons of steel, 8,000 hours of work with a team of 20 welders and 750 hours of engineering to design and build the reinforcements. Arriving in Vigo, however, will not be the end of the challenge. Once in Termavi, the engineers will have to work with a system of counterweights that will prevent the weight on the platform from being unbalanced when the crane is lowered. "We will use ballasts," they say.

[rev_slider titan]

Source: El Faro de Vigo