Nautical Structures' Classed Cranes - Life Saving Appliances

Lloyd's Register of Shipping's motto is very applicable here: "Because Life Matters".  Nautical Structures takes the requirements for classed equipment seriously and has embraced the changes and evolution of the luxury yachting industry building yachts to class.  In a generally self-regulated industry, the IMO/LSA Rules lay out very specific requirements for class approval.  This ensures that each crane or lifting appliance delivered will meet specific minimum standards of safety, redundancy and performance.  This doesn't mean that all classed equipment is built to the same standards of quality, fit and finish.  Some equipment is simply built to the minimum established standard to comply with the rules.  This is not Nautical Structures' approach to this business.  Nautical Structures has been an innovating industry leader, working with virtually all of the classification societies in the shipping industry and developing standards that are applicable and make sense for the luxury yacht-building industry.

Our class-development work has not gone unnoticed.  When Nautical Structures made our first application for type approval of our non-fouling hydraulic linear winch system with gravity-assist free-fall; a classification society was incredulous:  How was it possible to build a fully-compliant winch with only five moving parts?!  Not only was Nautical Structures the first company to obtain linear winch technology approval, we also managed to include composite fiber rope specification into our approval certification.  Virtually all Nautical Structures' crane structures are fabricated from aluminum alloy, a material-of-construction not typically seen in classed crane equipment.  The use of finite-element analysis (FEA) has made it possible to build large-capacity lifting appliances to full IMO/LSA Rules for SOLAS in both Life Raft Launching and Rescue Boat Launching compliance in aluminum alloy.  Virtually all of Nautical Structures' crane types are available fully-classed. 

Nautical Structures engineers work with Cayman Islands Shipping Registry, MCA-UK and other Flag State classification societies in the interpretation of the rules as applicable for individual and unique tender-handling systems.  This ensures that each piece of classed equipment designed and built will be in full compliance with all rules in effect at the time of manufacture. 

There are specific rules for davits and cranes applicable to standards based upon the intended use and location of the life savings appliance.  It is common knowledge that there are different rules and standards for vessels under 500-gross tons verses vessels over 500-gt.  What is less understood by many are the rules for Rescue Boat Launching compared to Life Boat and Life Raft Launching.  The rules evolve for LAME (Lifting Appliances for the Marine Environment) Chapter 6: manned submersible launching.  The rules regarding lifting and launching speeds, stored power, control and operation in varying sea-state conditions change depending upon the application.  It is incumbent upon the manufacturer of life saving appliances to be knowledgable of these rules and requirements, knowing which application to apply the given rule.  Failure to do so can result in equipment not accepted by class.

For those who would like a review of the IMO/LSA Rules Nautical Structures recommends Lloyd's register Rulefinder 2009 - Version 9.12   A brief overview of the most typical rules is listed on our "Rules" page.