“Through the close working relationship between Cavotec and the SLSMC, we continue to develop and refine automated mooring for the unique needs of the Seaway,” explains Cavotec CEO, Ottonel Popesco.
Under the latest agreement, Cavotec is to deliver three MoorMaster 400LC units that will be installed at one of the SLSMC’s Beauharnois Locks. The Group will also support the SLSMC with on-site commissioning of the units.
Under its modernisation initiative, the SLSMC ordered two units that underwent trials in 2007 and 2008. The following year, the SLSMC ordered an additional two units that were installed in Lock 7 on the Welland Canal. “Throughout our rigorous testing programme for MoorMaster, we have been consistently impressed by how the technology makes great improvements in safety, and holds the potential to generate marked reductions in vessel transit times,” comments Terence Bowles, President and CEO of the St Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation.
Cavotec engineers, working in close coordination with the SLSMC, have adapted MoorMaster™ to the specific physical and environmental demands of the Seaway. For example, the units already supplied securely hold vessels through variations in water level of up to 14m. The St Lawrence Seaway is the world’s first inland waterway to introduce automated mooring.
Staying in North America, Cavotec has also received an order to supply a detailed engineering study on the implementation of MoorMaster systems for ship-to-ship applications. This order follows a similar one received in 2006 and underlines the on-going interest in further developing and expanding the MoorMaster range.