Worlds Ports Open to Roro with Revolutionary New Link Span

As from June this year, it has become possible for common-user RoRo terminals to operate without any structural alterations to the quay and accommodate RoRo’s of all shapes and sizes.
This follows the announcement of MacGregor’s revolutionary new Link Span design which was unveiled by the International- MacGregor Organisation at the opening of Ro-Ro

’77 in London. The Bacbridge Link Span is a portable unit which can be easily moved from berth to berth or even from port to port if necessary.
Macbridge is the collective name for a package of solutions which can be tailored to meet any port operator’s requiremetns. The key to efficient Ro-Ro operation in port is the shipto-shore interface, i.e., the link span, accepting very high throughputs in a very short space of time. Hitherto, such high level of berth productivity have only been possible at terminals where the-link space has been designed specifically for one shipowner or class of vessel.

Common-user flexibility

The requirement for tomorrow’s port is for a totally flexible
‘Common User’ facility with the constant increase in the number and size of Ro-Ro vessels. It is with this in mind that MacGregor developed the revolutionary new designs of portable Macbridge Link Spans to accommodate almost every type of Ro-Ro in almost every type of port. Designed, engineered and tested by experts with over 30 years in maritime cargo handling, Macbridge Link Spans provide the ultimate in flexibility to the port operator faced with the ever-growing complexity of today’s Ro-ro traffic.
There are two basic design types: 

Macbridge ‘B’ — a fully portable span on a floating barge for operation in areas of moderate tidal range.

Macbridge ‘F’ - a semiportable link span based on a submerged pontoon for operation in areas having a tidal range up to 9 m or more.
A wide range of both types, which can handle rolling loads well in excess of 100 tons has been developed and engineered to meet the requirements of port worldwide. One Macbridge ‘B’ type is already in service and has been operating very successfully in Hong Kong for over one year. Patents for these devices have already been applied and extensive tests and evaluations, both technical

& operational, have been made by leading Ro-Ro port operators and consultants.

Macbridge Link Spans are designed for optimum compatibility with variations in: 1) The structure of existing port facilities (marginal quay, finger pier, enclosed dock, river berths, paved and un-paved berths, height above water, depth and nature of bottom alongside etc.) 2) Tidal conditions
(range, rate and direction of tidal flow) 3) Ship design (ships with or without ramps, variations in beam, height of threshold, door dimensions etc.) 4) Rolling traffic (trailers, low loaders, fork lifts, container and other rolling loads of extreme width or height.)

No Quay Construction

At an existing quay, no cutting into the margin is necessary and, therefore, no alteration to existing facilities is required. For example, in Hong Kong where a Macbridge ‘B’ unit is in operation, Ro-Ro vessels are handled at a container terminal without restricting the operator’s ability to employ container gantries on rails at all berths. Where no quay exists a simple concrete base is all that would be required to support the shore end of a MacBridge Link Span.

No underwater construction is required to enable the operator to use either type of Macbridge Link Span, and as quay construction requirements are negligible, a terminal can be fully operational within the time required to construct and deliver the Macbridge Link Span.
For example, the first
‘B’ type unit was on site within five months, and in this instance, no prior preparation of the quay facilities was necessary.
In the case of an acute port congestion at the spot, a Macbridge unit can provide the port operator with a concenient Ro-Ro ‘by-pass’.

Maintenance costs can be kept to a minimum, due to the rugged simplicity of the Macbridge designs, which do not require sophisticated maintenance programmes to achieve continuous operation.

MacGregor Wins new Contract for Two Container Carriers

Amidst stiff international competition, MacGregor South East Asia Pte. Ltd. has won the contract to fabricate locally, the hatch covers for two specially designed cargo vessels. The contract for the fabrication of the hatch covers by MacGregor South East Asia was signed in early June, 1977 between Mr.

Loy Ah Wei, the Consulting Engineer of Sing Koon Seng Pte. Ltd and Mr. A.R. Jumabhoy, the Managing Director of MacGregor South East Asia Pte. Ltd.
Sing Koon Seng (P) Ltd., a well-known and reputable yard in Singapore had earlier signed a contract with Simonsen and Slang of Oslo to build the two vessels, with an option for two more. These vessels will be built such as to carry containers on the upper decks and paper rolls on the tween decks.

In order to maximise utilisation of all available space on board, their owners have stipulated that the upper deck and tween deck hatch covers to be specially designed and constructed to fulfill these requirements, and in the near future, a similar vessel of 499 GRT will be built in Oslo.
The upper deck hatch cover will measure 38.06M x 10.26M and will be of the MacGregor Single Pull with ‘Long chain drive’ operated by hydraulic motors.

A special feature of this hatch cover is that the opening of the panels can be selective at every two panels to allow spot loading of paper rolls in the tween decks.
The measurement of the tween deck hatch on the other hand will be 39M x 10M/4.66 M and the hatch cover will comprise of 19 identical pontoons to avoid unnecessary delays when closing the hatch. This is because the pontoons need not be replaced in sequence and are interchangeable and the pontoons are designed to carry loaded forklifts up to 7 tons and yet can give a very close tolerance to prevent damage to the paper rolls.