How is your day going? We hope that it is going better than the folks who were load testing a new 90 meter high Liebherr TLC crane on the offshore installation support vessel Orion 1. The crane had a 160-meter long boom and is designed to have a lifting height of up to 180 meters—almost twice as high as the Statue of Liberty—and a lifting capacity of 5,000 tonnes at more than 30 meters outreach. We use the past tense of “had” a 160-meter long boom, because during the load test something went badly wrong, as can be seen in the video below. Fortunately, there are no reports of anyone seriously injured in the accident.
Orion 1 is owned by COSCO (QIDONG) OFFSHORE CO., LTD, and was moored at the quayside at the Liebherr construction yard in Rostock, Germany during the load test.
I saw this reported on the German site NDR.de and, not being very crane savvy, it took an explanation of what went wrong for me to figure out which end of the crane folded. Actually 2 people do have serious but not life threatening injuries. They were in the crane cab. There were a number of injuries treated at the scene. The hook that should have held an overload of 5,500 tons snapped at around 2,600 tons. The ship still is listing and the damage on the quay is chilling. As is seeing the hook assembly slam the edge of the crane cab. Still, I find this big building stuff fascinating.
woops
The company’s first attempt at putting a crane this big on a ship…
…should’ve gone to someone who knew what they were doing instead of going for the lowest offer.
I did a lot of work with Heerema and McDermott. Inc. in the North Sea and Borneo with lifts at 3300 tonnes. This failed at 2600 tonnes on its way to 5000. There are a lot of lucky people going home to their loved ones. As an engineer, the priority is the peoplex affected first then finding out what happened and making sure the information is disseminated and not hidden. Unfortunately, the lawyers usually get there first.
Hook failure is definitely in there but in my experience, there is usually a series of events. Why? Why? Why? Until you get to the root cause.
Before:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=crane+collapse+orion&client=ms-opera-mobile&channel=new&espv=1&prmd=nsiv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiUoqCT7qPpAhWxp3EKHcX9AmcQ_AUoA3oECAsQAw&biw=1138&bih=712&dpr=2.25#imgrc=bC_jM_j73YarYM
After:
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=crane+collapse+orion&client=ms-opera-mobile&channel=new&espv=1&prmd=nsiv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiUoqCT7qPpAhWxp3EKHcX9AmcQ_AUoA3oECAsQAw&biw=1138&bih=712&dpr=2.25#imgrc=wluFLvsUcgTPZM
Why do people make stupid assumptions of being Liebherrs first attempt at putting a crane on ship, i think Liebherr know what they are doing, it was the hook block that failed and that was sourced from an outside supplier. People need to check the facts before making and stupid statements about lowest offers.
No one has suggested that this was “Liebherrs first attempt at putting a crane on ship.” It is accurate to say that this is the largest shipboard crane ever built by Liebherr. Also, according to Liebherr, the hook block broke at less than half the test weight. The fact they purchased a critical component like the hook block and then failed to ensure that it met minimum specifications says nothing good about Liebherr quality control.
Liebherr’s initial statement referred to only minor injuries. It is amazing that no one was killed.
@Martyn Williams: I suggest you properly read what is written before bothering to make any more stupid comments.
I have seen many comments about a lack of slings. Could it be they used solid anchors for the hook that may have put detrimental loading on it?
Pure speculation from an offshore engineer.
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