Heavy-lift ship

MV Blue Marlin carrying USS Cole after being holed by an Al-Qaeda explosive.
MV Dan Lifter returns RFA Sir Tristram to the United Kingdom in 1983 after she was badly damaged during the Falklands War of 1982.
The incomplete Australian landing helicopter dock HMAS Adelaide embarked on Blue Marlin
Cosco Shipping Zhi Yan Kou in Curaçao carrying three smaller vessels on board.[1]
Spliethoff groups yacht transport semi-submersible Super Servant 4 in Curaçao.
Project cargo ship Happy Diamond berthed at Fremantle, Australia

A heavy-lift ship is a vessel designed to move very large loads that cannot be transported by normal ships. They are of two types:

  • Semi-submersible ships that take on water ballast to allow the load—usually another vessel—to be floated over the deck, whereupon the ballast is jettisoned and the ship's deck and cargo raised above the waterline.[2]
  • Project cargo ships that use at least one heavy-lift crane for handling heavy cargo and sufficient ballast to assure stability and sea-keeping properties.[3]
  1. ^ "Zhi Yuan Kou". COSCO Heavy Transport. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  2. ^ Wijnolst, N.; Wergeland, Tor (2009), Shipping Innovation, IOS Press, p. 831, ISBN 9781586039431
  3. ^ van Hoorn, Frank (2008), "Heavy-lift transport ships—Overview of existing fleet and future developments", in Choo, Yoo Sang; Edelson, David N. (eds.), Marine Operations Specialty Symposium, Singapore: Research Publishing Services, pp. 83–99, ISBN 9789810802264