Italian Cruise ship lengthened with support from ALE Heavylift
ALE Heavylift has used its skidding and heavy transportation expertise to successfully lengthen a cruise ship in Palermo, Italy.
The cruise ship, Grimaldi Roma, originally measured up to 225m. Once the new section was installed, another 30m was added onto the ship, taking it to around 255m once complete.
To install the new section, weighing around 2,540t, ALE optimised their equipment fleet and deployed skid shoes, varying from 500t – 1,000t capacity, along with 96 axle lines of SPMT in a configuration of 4 x 2 file 24.
The new ‘mid section’ was transported by SPMTs, while the ship cut section, weighing around 10,500t, was skidded across skid tracks so the new section could be installed. In consideration of the sheer size and weight, ALE opted for lateral skidding to ensure stability throughout.
“This was a technically complex manoeuvre and we had to design a methodology to cope with the size and weight of the ship. I want to thank the team for all of their hard work to ensure that we achieved this engineering milestone,” said Elena Muñoz Collado, Project Manager for ALE.
“We are expanding our capabilities across Italy and have used our experience from similar operations around the world to complete this kind of project for the first time in the country,” explained Filippo Anello, Global Projects Division Director for ALE.
“By working closely with the client, applying our knowledge and a tailored engineering solution in this way, it represents a major milestone for ALE in this sector and demonstrates our commitment to providing specialist heavylifting services to our clients in Italy with the potential to utilise these methods on other projects.”
This is first of two cruise ships ALE has been contracted to lengthen, the Grimaldi Roma and Barcellona, which were built the same originally. The project started in late 2018 and expect to complete the project using the same skidding methodology towards the end of June 2019.
