Gondola Lift Goes Badly Wrong


From a friend at Damietta Port, Egypt, we've learned of a failed flatrack lift that went bad on loading the C/V XIN YAN TAI yesterday (23 February) afternoon at Berth 2/3.
From the looks of the accompanying photographs (see below), the overheight load of spools was being hoisted by four wire rope pendants secured to the underside of the container crane's spreader and attached to the four corner fittings of the flatrack's folding end walls.
Such a lift will certainly allow the forces to be transmitted vertically; through the corners, which is correct and acceptable. That being said, however, if the flatrack is in other than serviceable condition (or perhaps overloaded/or carrying a concentrated floor load), anything can happen... and in this case it did.
Some questions that arise:
1). How much did the spools weigh?
2). What state of repair was the flatrack in?
3). Was the flatrack enrolled in an ACEP program?
4). If so, was ACEP compliance well monitored?
Finally, the well-worn waterfront axiom of staying out from under suspended loads certainly takes on respectable meaning here.






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