Built for Versatility: The Carver Companies’ E-Crane Fleet

Another application for the Carver Company’s 3000 Series E-Crane, Model EC19421 CR-D was an overwhelming success as the dockside crawler mounted E-Crane and Carver Company’s crew proved instrumental in the first loading of the Great Lake Dredge & Dock rock vessel “Acadia”.

The Acadia is the first U.S.-flagged, Jones Act–compliant subsea rock installation vessel, built for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock (GLDD) by Hanwha Philly Shipyard. Capable of carrying 20,000 metric tons of rock, it protects offshore wind foundations and subsea cables.

While this was the initial loading of the vessel which took place at the Port of Coeymans, the operation was flawless and was the first use of the E-Crane with skip pan designed to load the 20,000 metric ton of rock material into the Acadia for its maiden voyage.

The E-Crane, using the skip pan attachment designed by E-Crane, was easily capable of handling 22 metric tons / net load of material per cycle into Acadia’s dual holds. The impressive capacities along with the E-Cranes’ unique balance, impressive 140ft reach, and boom and stick geometry, gave the operators great confidence in the job at hand. The Carver Companies operators have become very proficient with their use of Carver’s E-Crane fleet in a variety of applications which include stevedoring, marine construction and dredging. The loading of the Acadia came with a new set of challenges in which the operators quickly became acclimated, as the vessels holds are tight quarters with the Acadia’s ships gear mounted right in the center of each hold.

Once the vessel was loaded, it set sail to perform the offshore duty it was designed for in transporting and precisely placing its bounty of 20,000 mt of rock material to a depth of 65 meters on the ocean floor for the New York offshore, Equinor’s, Empire Wind 1 project.

The initial rock material loading was accomplished in a 2-day span and will be repeated every 7 – 10 days to replenish the vessel’s holds for continuing the offshore operation.

All in all, the Carver Company’s crew, use of their 3000 Series E-Crane with skip pan attachment had a remarkable initial loading of the GLDD , newly built, “Acadia” state of the art rock vessel.