World record slew bearing

The first of two giant crane slew bearings has been completed by Huisman.

The Netherlands-headquartered lifting and offshore engineering specialist completed the 30 metre diameter segmented bearing at its factory in China. The bearings will support the pair of 10,000 tonne capacity tub cranes the company is building for Dutch contractor Heerema’s semi-submersible crane vessel Sleipnir.

Huisman has been designing and building its own bearings since 2012, the largest of which before this latest one was 14 m in diameter.

Huisman said that its slew bearing design is much lighter than using bogies or large diameter wheels running on a circular track that tub cranes usually have. Another positive feature is that the design of the bearings allows for inspection of the rollers without having to dismantle the bearing.

Assembly of the second bearing for the other crane is due to start in March.