During the past year Sweden’s TTS Ships Equipment, Gothenburg, part of Norway’s TTS Marine ASA, Bergen has won orders for two Linkspans for Scandinavian ports.
During the past year Sweden’s TTS Ships Equipment, Gothenburg, part of Norway’s TTS Marine ASA, Bergen has won orders for two Linkspans for Scandinavian ports. The first, which become operation in April this year (2005) is installed at Karlskrona and the second, which is for Gothenburg, will be delivered
During last year (2004) TTS Ship’s Equipment won a contract from Stena Line Scandinavia AB for the delivery and installation of a Linkspan for the Stena Terminal at Verko, located close to Karlskrona in Sweden, the first such Linkspan ordered from TTS.
The Linkspan will be used to load and unload trucks on a second level simultaneously to/from the Stena-owned vessels Stena Baltica and Stena Nordica, which operate on Stena’s Karlskrona (Sweden) - Gydnia (Poland) service. Both vessels have been modified, using TTS cargo access equipment, for this new berthing operation.
The traffic between these two ports has increased dramatically over recent years and Stena Line has reacted to this by using two new ships on this service. The existing Linkspan at the Verko Terminal allows for loading/unloading operations from the vessels’ main deck. This new development is for the Weather Deck Ramp to be added to the existing Linkspan, allowing vehicles from the vessels’ weather deck to be unloaded simultaneously.
The vessels will be berthed with the bow towards the existing Linkspan for both loading and unloading operations. Special attention has been given to the different bow arrangements of the vessels, the Stena Baltica is equipped with double leaf side doors swinging astern, while the Stena Nautica has a bow visor, which swings upwards. Both vessels have bow ramps, which interact with the existing Linkspan.
The latest contract won by TTS is for Stora Enso’s Netss Project and involves a linkspan for the Port of Gothenburg, which will be positioned at Berth 702. As part of an upgrade of this berth in Alvsborgshammen, the TTS Linkspan will offer a flexible loading/unloading operation for those vessels using the berth.
The new 14.5 m x 24 m Linkspan will connect the stern ramps to the quay. The structure is designed for a traffic flow of translifters with StoraEnso Container Units (SECU) in three lanes simultaneously. There will also be other vehicles operating on the Linkspan, such as terminal tractors handling trailers.
The Linkspan, which is expected to be used some 12 hours each day, is to be hinged in the entrance end and to be movable in the outer end via hydraulic cylinder-operated towers located at each end of the quay sides. The Linkspan is to be fixed during unloading/loading operations and will be operated easily to various fixed levels.
For more details contact:
Lennart Svensson
Marketing Director
TTS Ships Equipment AB
Tel: + 46 31 7257900
Email: lennart.svensson@tts-se.se