The votes have been counted and International Cranes and Specialized Transport magazine revealed the winner and two runners up of its 2011 TopLift competition. Jumbo Offshore was selected winner with its major performance on the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm project.
Readers of International Cranes and Specialized Transport magazine were asked to choose their favourite lift of the year from our selection of 10 spectacular projects carried out over the last 12 months. It was a close-run contest this year as three entries went head-to-head, with last minute votes separating them by a small margin.
Jumbo Offshore finally took the top spot in the latter stages of the competition. Jumbo installed 131 transition pieces, each weighing up to 300 tonnes, at the Greater Gabbard Offshore Wind Farm. Its DP2 (dynamic positioning) Jumbo Javelin achieved a record-breaking installation speed of more than one a day. It was the first time transition pieces were transported and installed using a free floating vessel on dynamic positioning.
Close behind, in second place, ALE impressed with 1,338 tonne lift and only a small number of votes separated it from third placed equipment user ABF.
[mappress] Offshore Wind Staff, December 23, 2011; Image: jumbo shipping