August 2008(pdf) - Port Nelson

Port Nelson Limited report. August 2008. Page 6
around the port...
On the Lines
Pulling wet lines out of the water is heavy job, and if you can take some of the effort out of it, that’s got to be good. We had a
look at how other ports handle lines - some mount a capstan on the back of a flatbed truck, but our workshop team developed
a system that uses an electric motor-driven capstan which can be attached to a forklift. The greater manoeuvring capability of a
forklift will be beneficial and trials with a prototype have been quite successful. When final modifications are made we’ll continue
the evaluation and we look forward to taking some of the heavy work out of this job and making the task safer for our people.
Crane Training
Austria - it’s a land of mountains, music
and machinery. We sent Grant Cottle and
Craig Terris to Nenzing where the Leibherr
cranes are produced, for an update on
the technical side of these machines.
They came back with praise for the product
and a good understanding of Liebherr’s
design and construction methods and
intentions. Their weeklong course focused
on the hydraulics, electrical systems and
safety features of the cranes.
It’s a decade since our units were
manufactured, and there have been
modifications since then. Grant and Craig
will be introducing some of their new
know-how to enhance the reliability of
our two Liebherrs. For example, drivers
are now giving the winches time to warm
up to avoid a repeat of the gearbox failure
we had a couple of years ago.
Craig says Nenzing is a very small village
where 1000 people work in the Liebherr
factory - 120 of them as apprentices.
Temperatures were in the thirties while
they were there, but there was still snow
on the mountains.