The new Huisman-supplied ‘super fly jib’ on the BigLift Shipping heavylifter Happy Buccaneer made its operational debut recently. Teijin Aramid’s lightweight Twaron fibre, said to be five times stronger than steel, was employed for the first time in the vessel’s FibreMax cable stays to help extend the crane’s lifting height and outreach by around 50%.
According to Teijin Aramid sales & marketing director Christoph Hahn, using Twaron in these cables – which have a rated minimum breaking strength of 920t – enabled the crane’s radius to be increased to 55m and extended its lifting capacity to 350t at 35m outreach. He added: ‘This is the first time that an aramid fibre such as Twaron is used in a marine heavylift crane application that complies to the requirements of Lloyd’s Register as specified in its Code of Lifting Appliances in a Marine Environment.’
BigLift project engineer Gem Wender commented: ‘The specifications and conditions of Twaron exemplify the suitability of these fibres for heavy lift applications. Because of the strength, flexibility and light weight of Twaron stay cables, we were able to significantly shorten and simplify the installation of the super fly jib on the Happy Buccaneer.’