decommissioning the hunterston wingsail with smart green shipping
Smart Green Shipping’s (SGS) ‘FastRig’ project, supported by Scottish Enterprise, industry partners and private investors, and resulting in a 20metre high ‘FastRig’ structure, was deployed to Hunterston earlier this year. Our very own specialist welding team, John Tracey Specialist Welding, alongside design and build specialists, Malin Equipment, have supported SGS with this innovative project, fueled by a desire to demonstrate that a vessel powered by renewable energy can lead to a revival of civil shipbuilding on the Clyde, create new green jobs, export opportunities, and contribute to Scotland’s NetZero commitments.
With the structure operational in Hunterston for the past 6 months, it has been gathering data, which will allow the SGS team to work with their partners to refine, modify and finalise the Fastrig for wide scale production. With data gathering complete, the Malin Equipment team worked with SGS to decommission the test piece, as detailed below.
Decommissioning preparation
Prior to decommissioning of the Wingsail, multiple components were removed to facilitate transport, including the top cap, nosecones, and tail-flaps. This required collaboration between the Malin Equipment mechanical fitting team and the telehandler operatives to safely remove, flip and orientate for transport each component. The nose cones and top cap were removed by drilling out multiple rivets on each section and unfastening the bolted end panels. With the uniform curved profile, the nose cones were stacked on 2 pallets for safe transportation. The Wingsail was then rotated to allow the tail flaps to be lowered onto the telehandler forks and unfastened from the Wingsail.
Wingsail Lift
Following the initial preparation on site, and alignment of the wing in its lifting orientation, the 2 mobile cranes and extended maneuver trailer were moved into position and rigged for a tandem lift. Using Battery Operated Torque Multipliers (BOTMs) the Wingsail was unfastened from the base slew ring. The cranes took up the weight of the wing at both ends and the final bolts were unfastened from the base. Once the Wingsail was removed from its base, it was landed on an extended maneuver trailer and was secured for travel to Malin’s dedicated fabrication facilities at G2, Westway with a Police escort.
Base preparation
Prior to lifting, the Wingsail base for transport the base was unfastened from its securing studs and separated from the concrete and grouting pour it was embedded in. The method used involved deploying a 50-tonne hydraulic jack to crack the concrete away from the base. Once free, the base was positioned on shims ready for the lift.
Base lift
During the final operation of decommissioning the Wingsail, the aim was to transport the base to Caley Ocean Systems. To achieve this, the procurement of a mobile crane, transportation in the form of a lorry and its 40ft flatbed, and appropriate lifting equipment was required to safely lift the 25-tonne wing sail base. The Malin Equipment Senior Project Manager, ensured that there was a safe and effective lift plan, with the necessary risk assessments undertaken to complete the lift. The next stage involved securely lifting the base, ensuring a clean separation from the mounting studs and finally, landing it on the flatbed of the lorry. The final stage was to secure the base to the flatbed with chains and ratchet strapping.
Next stages
The demonstrator wing is now at Malin’s fabrication facility undergoing NDT and inspection after its rigorous testing at Hunterston. The wing will then be prepared for installation onboard the Pacific Grebe NTS vessel for the at-sea testing. It will be transported to Barrow on Furniss using a similar transport arrangement and installed to the vessel with a set of bespoke fabricated foundations to transfer the wing loads into the vessel frame. Meanwhile the SGS team, collaborating with Houlder and Caley Ocean systems will be analyzing the test data. This will be followed by refining the design and build methodology, after which the aim is to fabricate on a larger scale, to retrofit multiple FastRigs to vessels across the 60,000 ships in the merchant fleet.