Manitowoc Crane Group

The President of Brazil, Luiz Inàcio Lula da Silva (popularly known as Lula), took the controls of a Manitowoc Model 18000 crawler crane for a keel-laying ceremony at the Atlântico Sul Shipyard in Ipojuca, Pernambuco State, Brazil. The event, which took place mid-September, the crane positioned the central section of the Suezmax 1 oil tanker. The tanker is the first of 10 vessels ordered by Transpetro, the tanker-owning part of the state-run oil company, Petrobras.

Kyle Nape, vice president and general manager of Manitowoc’s Latin America operations, said everyone at the ceremony enjoyed seeing the country’s President at the controls. “It was a great to see Lula take the controls of the 18000 at one of the most important new industrial facilities for Brazil,” he said. “This is a huge project for us with 29 Manitowoc cranes, including several large-capacity crawler cranes. There were an estimated 9,000 workers at the keel-laying event, together with local government officials and some of Brazil’s most senior business leaders. Our Manitowoc Crane Care crew was at the project in the weeks before the ceremony to set the cranes for upcoming work. The guys – Camilo Filho, Angelo Furlan and Jeff Keil – did a great job as things are working out really well – well enough even for the President of Brazil!”

One of the most recent projects at the shipyard, which is still in the final stages of completion, was the erection of two 1,500 t capacity gantry cranes. For this, the shipyard used two Manitowoc Model 18000 crawler cranes, including one newly arrived at the job. First stage of the gantry crane erection involved unloading the components from a ship. This involved lifting 22 loads ranging from 66 t to 530 t.

Following the unloading, the shipyard decided to relocate one of its Model 18000s, and brought in an additional new 18000 and a Model 16000. In addition, it added a MAX-ER capacity enhancing attachment to the original Model 18000 and also fitted the 16000 with a MAX-ER. Manitowoc Crane Care staff oversaw the commissioning of all this work in just 11 days. Once it was finished, assembly of the gantry cranes began.

Camilo Filho, customer support manager for Manitowoc Crane Care, said the whole process ran smoothly. “The work continued 24/7 to get these cranes ready and we even stayed around after everything finished, just in case there were any problems, but everything ran smoothly,” he said. “We’ve been speaking to the operators who said they love the precision and the smooth control of the cranes, especially the big crawler cranes. They said the movements were so smooth that even when making heavy picks, it feels like there’s nothing on the hook.”

There is a huge volume of work for the Manitowoc cranes at Atlântico Sul, which is the largest and most modern shipyard in the southern hemisphere. In addition to the three Model 18000 cranes and the Model 16000, there are two Model 999 cranes plus 23 mobile cranes; a mix of Grove all-terrain cranes and rough-terrain cranes, and National Crane boom trucks.

The shipyard at Atlântico Sul purchased one of the Model 18000 cranes directly and rented a second from Van Adrighem, a global crane rental company with headquarters in The Netherlands. The remainder of the cranes is all from the fleet of Brazilian crane rental company Saraiva.

In addition to helping with the final stages of construction at the shipyard, including erecting the gantry cranes, the cranes are also playing a major role in shipbuilding activities. The high capacity crawler cranes position many of the large “blocks” used in the process, while the Grove cranes help with a range of support and material handling duties.

The 750 t capacity Model 18000 cranes at Atlântico Sul are all configured with 54.9 m of main boom and mast of 42.7 m. On the MAX-ER they are working with 351 t of counterweight. The Model 16000 has a 400 t capacity and is working with 54 m of boom, while the Model 999 has a 250 t capacity and is fitted with 67.1 m of boom. For the keel-laying ceremony, the Model 18000 positioned the K-13 section of the oil tanker, measuring 15 m2 by 2 m tall, and weighing 150 t. Keel-laying is an old shipbuilding tradition where workers place the keel (the central part of the hull) on a coin in the dock. The coin is said to bring the vessel good luck.

The Atlântico Sul shipyard is still relatively new, having only been established in November 2005. It is a partnership between Camargo Corrêa, Queiroz Galvão, Samsung Heavy Industries and PJMR. The processing capacity at the facility is 160,000 t of steel per year and it is able to build ships of up to 500,000 dead weight tonnes. With an investment of $775 million in the facility, it is set to completely revitalize the shipbuilding industry in Brazil.