Award-winning crane safety system trialled by Jumbo Maritime

Jumbo Maritime, the international heavy lift shipping, offshore transportation and installation contractor has been trialling the award-winning remote-controlled crane safety system developed by fast-growing lifting and orientation solutions specialist Verton Technologies.

Verton general manager Europe, Craig Millis, said the Australian company’s Everest load management system had a successful demonstration aboard Jumbo’s heavy lift carrier MV Fairlift at Rotterdam in The Netherlands. “The Jumbo team are really enthusiastic about the safety benefits of the Everest system. The Everest 6 (E6) was designed as an integrated lifting beam with a 20-tonne safe working load limit. Jumbo are particularly excited about the development of an Everest 30 system which is five times more powerful than the E6 and can provide continuous torque indefinitely. Given the modular nature of the E30, additional modules can be added to further increase rotational capacity.”

Jumbo engineering and innovation manager, Tom Milder, said there was highly positive feedback from the team on MV Fairlift about Verton’s Everest lifting system, which fits with Jumbo’s workplace health and safety initiative the ‘Stay Well’ program. “At Jumbo we strongly believe that all accidents can be prevented and we strive hard to realise this. In 2005 we pioneered our very own Health & Safety initiative the ‘Stay Well’ program, which is unique in the heavy lift shipping industry. Stay Well is a broad-ranging program and aims to ingrain safety awareness into the DNA of our employees,” Mr Milder said. “This was an interesting test and we are positive about the use of this system and its potential for larger loads. Using several taglines and tuggers can be quite a challenge with bigger cargoes and larger lifting plans. This system could be a good solution if it is indeed made modular and can be fixed on our own beams.”

Verton CEO Trevor Bourne said the Verton team was excited by the opportunity to work with a major global operator such as Jumbo and to demonstrate the ability of the Everest system to enhance safety and efficiency in maritime heavy haulage operations. “With our solutions, suspended loads can now be managed and rotated with a remote-control system. Workers have been using taglines to steer loads for ages and this has finally become obsolete. Workers no longer have to be near or even under moving loads, keeping them out of harm’s way. Using our remote-controlled solutions makes lifting simpler, faster and much, much safer.”