Marine and Terminals

One of the largest container ships in the world, the Emma Maersk, was put under tow on March 1 during rough seas off the coast of Brest, France, the French Maritime Authority said.

The intervention, assistance and rescue tug Abeille Bourbon engaged in a towing exercise as it brought the 15,500 TEU giant to a safe haven where it will undergo maintenance.

The 2006-built Emma Maersk was towed for about three hours at a speed of 3 to 5 knots.

Featuring a length of 400 meters and a width of 56 meters, the vessel is owned and operated by the shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.

The number ONE problem of the malfunctioning of an STS is corrosion due to humidity entering the housing of switch and connection boxes. These may be sealed with silicone but the silicone dries out fast, compromising the water tightness and corrosion is inevitable. Filling the voids with Raytech Gel will avoid this, ensuring a faultless operation. The inspection can also be extended over far larger periods making time for your preventive maintenance programs.
The locations of these sensors are usually difficult to reach making inspection and maintenance dangerous and very time consuming. Something a terminal doesn’t need is when a STS fails during operation. The sensors along the boom are still reasonably reachable but the Festoon sensors are not. This of course depends the crane manufacturer. The below photo clearly shows a sensor out of arms reach. Using the Raytech products will eliminate problems where used. Inspections can be prolonged from annual to 5 years or more, saving man hours and valuable maintenance time. Also stoppages during loading and discharge will be zero as the gels eliminate the corrosion problems. Losing 32 moves an hour can result in the vessel missing its next slot. It’s an investment that pays back instantly.