Electric drive expertise secures MacGREGOR new contracts

Four deepsea ConRos under construction at Hyundai Mipo for French owner CMA CGM will benefit from liftable car decks from electric drive experts MacGREGOR

The MacGREGOR Group’s RoRo division – part of the Cargotec Corporation – has received a contract to design and fabricate RoRo equipment and electrically-driven liftable car decks onboard four deepsea ConRos. The vessels are being built at the Hyundai Mipo shipyard and are destined for French owner CMA CGM. The contract value exceeds €25 million.

Each ConRo shipset will comprise around 1,300 tonnes of equipment including: one stern quarter ramp; a stern door; two ramp covers (crocodile type); one top-hinged front door; and two level liftable car decks including access ramps. Delivery of equipment will take place 2010-11.

The liftable car decks, about 5,200m2 per vessel, will all be electrically-operated with an electric jigger winch installed in the car deck panels.

“In the last few years, MacGREGOR has been contracted to deliver over 90,000m2 of electrically-operated car decks, which underlies its expertise in this field,” says Magnus Sjöberg, director of sales and marketing for MacGREGOR’s RoRo division.

MacGREGOR highlights a number of advantages of the electric drives compared with hydraulically-operated units:

Advantages for the shipowner
• no oil pollution or damage to goods by hydraulic oil as no hydraulic oil is required
• maintenance friendly
• energy saving as continuous running is not required
• easy to monitor
• no change in operating times in cold conditions

Advantages for the shipbuilder
• cable wiring is easier than piping
• no flushing work is required
• no need for hydraulics specialists
• no pump unit required


Caption: Typical electric driven car deck panel above a fixed ramp on a car carrier

MacGREGOR