CRANES, THEIR OPERATION AND REASON FOR FAILURES

This publication was prepared and released by the Japan P&I Club. The intention of the authors was to give some brief introduction to the shipboard cranes and their operation, with due attention paid to the most common reasons for their failures. This compact title provides general guidelines on the routine maintenance and inspections of the cranes. The structure and machinery of the cranes have been discussed together with the wire ropes.

Then the content proceeds to the crane operation and the incidents that involve crane damage. The grabs have been discussed separately together with their capacity, SWL and use. And of course, the authors concentrated on safety matters as well. The cargo handling cranes are installed on most of the vessels, especially general cargo ships and bulk carriers.

They are normally quite robust units continuing to work with nearly minimum maintenance; however, they are complex machinery units incorporating many components that are manufactured to the fine tolerance values. All of the components shall function correctly through the entire lifetime of the crane. The cranes shall be duly maintained and checked at a specified time intervals to make sure they are operated safely and correctly.