Shipping containers

[Young Mike]

Topic Originally Created in May of 2016:

 

This is one we did from a few years back (2009). One of the shipping ports in Essex asked if we were able to assist with some containers which had tipped over inside a boat whilst at sea. One rotator and a heavy recovery vehicle were sent to the port to assist.

Rather than blocking the port loading bay, the recovery operation was done in the entrance to the harbour  :shock:   😎

They are ocean-going containers weighing approx. 64960lbs each and double stacked on flat racks. It seems someone left a tanker in the row, and when the boat hit rough seas it left a gap, allowing the containers to topple. You cannot access the containers from the rear or side, so all work has to be done from the front. As the containers fell over they slipped outwards, becoming very close to the side of the boat. This meant that we had to not only lift but also slide the base of the containers away from the side of the boat. 

Once they were righted, we were informed that the stevedores would not move the double stack containers with the still unbalanced loads. We had to take the top container off each pair. This was particularly difficult as there was no head room and we only had one rotator. There was only one place in the hold of the boat where we could carry out the lift. There was a small recess in the roof that allowed for air con etc, and this allowed us to get the boom of the 1075 about 3-4ft above the container. The W900 was in a particularly precarious position, having no outriggers and insufficient height etc. We used it at the rear, but it isn't something that we would recommend.

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Raddamant said:

Just a little pucker factor. You guys get some crazy jobs

 

ASAPautomotive said:

Got to love the technical jobs.

What was you total scene time?

 

Young Mike said:

it took virtually all night . we have done quite a few of these over the years.mick