The US Navy has successfully completed multiphase testing of new crane technology designed for at-sea, ship-to-ship cargo transfers.
The large vessel interface lift-on/lift-off crane (LVI LO/LO) is an advanced motion-compensated at-sea cargo transfer system that transfers fully-loaded cargo containers between ships at sea.
During the multiphase testing, the technology transferred 128 containers from one ship to another with waves of up 3ft in height, according to spacewar.com.
The Office of Naval Research Sea Warfare and Weapons Department programme manager Paul Hess said the crane performed to the set standards and proved more capable than the ship’s mooring configurations would allow.
“The technology will facilitate the flow of containerised logistics through the sea base to the shore thereby eliminating the need for a secure deepwater port,” Hess said.
LVI LO/LO will also enable the rapid and safe transfer of containers, Humvees and other heavy loads at sea.
