MacGREGOR has received further orders for outfits of lift-away hatch covers, bearing pads and lashing equipment for 14 ships in a 4,250 TEU series being built at Chinese yards for China Shipping Container Lines

Fourteen 4,250 TEU newbuildings booked for the China Shipping Group China Shipping Container Lines are split between Hudong-Zhonghua Shipyard (five ships) and Dalian New Shipbuilding Heavy Industry (nine ships). All are specified with MacGREGOR lift-away hatch covers and bearing pads, and lashing equipment. MacGREGOR is also responsible for the design of the lashing bridges, deck stanchions and cellguides.

Container handling is optimised thanks to MacGREGOR's complete system
responsibility for hatch covers, lashing bridges and cellguides. Advanced system solutions resulted from the close co-operation between MacGREGOR hatch cover and lashing system designers.

The ships design is a modification of a 4,100 TEU series built by Hudong-Zhonghua for the China Shipping Group in 2002, for which MacGREGOR also supplied the hatch cover design, key components and lashing material. The main change affects the container stowage plan on deck from hatch 1F to hatch 3F.

Lashing bridges

An outfit of lift-away covers will serve 14 hatches, with lashing bridges fitted from the aft end of hatch 3F to hatch 7A. A two-panel cover set for hatch 1F will provide a clear opening 12.6m long x 12.98m/18.05m wide; all the other covers are triple-panel sets with two longitudinal joints offering clear openings of 12.6m x 18.05m/23.12m (hatch 1A), 12.6m x 23.12m (hatch 2F) and 12.6m x 28.2m (hatches 2A-7A).

The covers are designed to accept container stack loadings of 70 tonnes/20ft units and 90 tonnes/40ft units on hatches 1F to 3F, and of 90 tonnes/20ft units and 120 tonnes/40ft units on hatches 3A to 7A; any 45ft containers can be loaded on hatch covers 1A and 2A. The hatch covers 1F to 3F will allow mixed stowage arrangements, 40ft or 45 ft containers stacked on 2 x 20ft containers.

Controlled wear

Replaceable, flexible-type MacGREGOR Lubripads will securely transfer the weight of the covers and containers to the ship hull, the material combination being stainless steel against PTFE/bronze. The bearing pads, which accommodate any relative movement between cover and coaming caused by hull flexing, promise a very low and predictable wear rate for ease of maintenance and control.

Weathertight sealing between hatch cover and coaming is achieved by MacGREGOR CAT-profile seals, and sealing between the cover panels by MacGREGOR double rubber lip seals.

For further information, please contact:

Mr Jens Fuge, Sales Manager, MacGREGOR-Conver GmbH,

Zum Panrepel 41, D-28307 Bremen, Germany

Tel: + 49 421 83 91 956 Fax: +49 421 83 91 899

e-mail: jens.fuge@macgregor-scr.de