ST LAWRENCE Seaway Management Corporation of Canada (SLSMC) has received the International Transport Forum's 2015 Promising Innovation in Transport Award in the freight category for developing the world's first hands-free mooring system for deep water locks.
The award offered by the International Transport Forum at the Organisation of Economic Cooperation Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organisation for the transport sector with 54 member countries, will be presented on May 28 in Leipzig during the summit of transport ministers.
The SLSMC operates the Canadian sections of the St Lawrence Seaway that connects 40 ports within the 3,700 kilometre Great Lakes/Seaway System to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Seaway has 16 high-lift locks, 14 within the Canadian portion and two on the US side. Transiting each lock traditionally requires using heavy steel mooring lines to tie a ship up to a series of bollards on the lock wall.
The Hands-Free Mooring (HFM) system employs vacuum pads mounted on vertical rails to secure the vessel during the lockage process, tracking the vessel as it is raised or lowered, while keeping it at a fixed distance from the lock wall.
"Vessel operators participated in testing; pilots made recommendations and acted as ambassadors; Transport Canada partnered with us in providing funding for the modernisation project; and Cavotec worked tirelessly to deliver the technology," said SLSMC president Terence Bowles.
Full deployment of the HFM will be completed by 2018 five years after implementation started, and will encompass all 16 of the Seaway's high-lift locks.
WORLD SHIPPING
22 May 2015 - 21:29
St Lawrence Seaway wins innovation award for hands-free mooring
ST LAWRENCE Seaway Management Corporation of Canada (SLSMC) has received the International Transport Forum's 2015 Promising Innovation in Transport Award in the freight category for developing the world's first hands-free mooring system for deep water locks.
WORLD SHIPPING
22 May 2015 - 21:29
St Lawrence Seaway wins innovation award for hands-free mooring
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