Superyacht offloading going wrong

If they didn't there wouldn't be these videos to watch would there?

That is a very typical accident on a heavy outsized cargo vessel with off center lifting gear. Due to the lifting capacity of the cranes at a specific outreach, the cargo sometimes has to be offloaded to the side, where the lifting gear is located. If the cargo then is longer than the distance between the two cranes, things are getting much more dificult. The lifting, turning and balancing of this heavy and large cargo with two independent and manually operated cranes, operated by two seaman and controlled by radio from the cargo master standing on deck, needs some professionalism. Very easily, the cargo straps start sliding, are getting damaged by sharp edges on the cargo (i.e. fiddles or stabilizers) which lowers their capacity and their goes the load. This constant movement of two independent hooks in azimuth, outreach and cable length, takes some very proficient crane operators and a very good cargo master. But this extremly slow cargo handling looks like less than ideal skilled operators and lack of communication. Old and worn out or pre dammaged cargo straps may have contributed to this accident also.
Hopefully nobody got injured or killed.

Below an example of one of those vessels and its lifting capacity versus outreach.

I'm sure it will buff right out.

If you can call having all that visible deck hardware rammed through the bottom you might be right.

I'm not sure personally that I wouldn't prefer having the boat totally destroyed over the damage they have. Without examining it closer we don't know that it isn't a total loss. It could be like a car that looks mostly ok, until you realize the frame is bent.

I'm never comfortable watching any boat being lifted in a sling.

You never really know what the damage is until it is surveyed.

Remember oh about 9-10 years ago the very nice Feadship Katrion was dropped in San Diego. We didn't hear much but it appeared it was a worse drop and it came out of it pretty well. As I remember it was dropped on the shafts and props with also stabilizer damage, and if memory serves I head it hit on the edge of the pier or something solid. Feadship was involved in the fixes... and new mounts of various equipment... new shafts, props, rudder shafts and stabilizer shafts were involved... lots of alignment and inspection type things. But the bottom was not the real issue damage wise... things were very quiet about it all but there were no videos.

Here the damage might be very little but as it was not high and landed flat on a deformable steel deck of the ship it was on... looks like the moving stuff was not in the drop zone. Interesting to hear about the repair. Might be very little visibly but like above might be lots of unseen things like alignments, engine mounts and various mounting of important equipment in the engine room... !

The time is what could be really bothersome to an owner. This could take a long time to get the boat repaired and back in service. Insurance issues. The issue of who repairs. May end up shipping the boat. Supposedly it was in a shipyard in Italy just a couple of weeks prior.

That's a very disturbing statement, and should make everyone moving a boat think twice about moving a boat as deck cargo. This video could be a very effective marketing tool for the companies that use float on ships.

Great reply NYCAP. But you are correct, float on / float off is the better way of transporting bigger boats, period.

And their is nothing wrong with my statement. And it does not say, it happens very often. But when it happens, this is a very typical accident. I am involved in that type of business with heavy and outsized cargo for many years and that includes yachts and other types of boats. But yacht transport is only a very little part of it, because it is not very profitable. We only take them as an return load for otherwise empty spaces. And we never had a boat falling off the slings (jet ).

We do all versions, below deck storage, deck load with heavy gear and gearless with external (floating) cranes and semi submersible self loading vessels (float on / float off), blue water and on inland European waterways. It is much more interesting than just moving boxes around the world.

But this type of special cargo handling needs very reliable and more than correct people involved and perfectly equipped, maintained and managed vessels. Besides salvage crews, those seaman involved are the best paid crews in European merchant shipping. Thats why Dutch and German heavy cargo handling companies are so successfull in this business segment . With a higher accident rate, nobody would be able to make any profit after having paid the insurance for such a transport.

Glad you pointed out where I may have given the wrong impression between typical and happening often. With what we see here it can sometimes seem that it happens a lot. But of course when it goes flawlessly it doesn't make news. Still, loading a boat like that with two cranes coordinating would scar hell out of me as an owner, captain, or if I was one of the crane operators or the deck boss. Very high stakes, and huge skill required.

The shipper you're using plays a significant role in your risk. There are some who have regular shipping schedules for boats and a record of very few problems. SevenStar is the best example of that. Then some of the builders have standard situations they use for shipping from West Coast to East or across the oceans. We don't know who was handling the shipping on this boat. I don't believe SevenStar uses Port Cristobal in Colon, Panama. I do know United does. I'm sure many others do as well.

What was the site of the insurance adjuster working in the (maritime) shipping industry again?
All kinds of cases where things got dropped, lost over the side, the ship ran out of water, ... and whatnot. Also included outcomes of inquiries and court cases which made it even more interesting.

Dropping a 40m yacht? Relatively cheap compared to other big cargo, say rector vessels for the chemical industry.

NYCAP +1 from me. Sometimes, when I watch my crews and the heavy cargo handling specialists, lifting a 30 Million Euro piece of almost 300 ft long, 1000 metric ton heavy cargo (like a new cracking tower for an oil refinery or similar) from an inland waterway cargo ship or a barge onto the ocean vessel, I cannot stand the tension and leave the scene. Those specialists really earn every cent of their salary and their bonuses.


A little boat is peanuts in regard to one of those giant loads. But sling loading a large yacht is not a very comfortable task either. A faired, high gloss hull and some very delicate appendages can easily be damaged. But the thing, I hate the most is, if people are standing on that yacht, while in the air. Thanks god, that this is forbidden and not tolerated in my country.

Word is Sevenstar dropped the ball on this one...

If so, wouldn't that be in a location that isn't part of their normal ports? If so, could certainly increase the risk.

Big Ball.

I have always hated slings... and particularly unsecured slings for lifting. This is a example of that. Cargo straps may be protective of finishes but they are not good for lifting heavy load and can slip positions easily [caveat, that is my opinion]. That slippage can be used to advantage for turning a sail boat hull over in construction but that is a special case... a simple hull is different than a completed boat.

I wonder if building a cradle and using chain or steel cables attached to fixed position is not the real solution. This takes the issue of angularity of the straps as the load is lifted (hard to maintain perfectly) removing slippage of straps problems.

It the issue of strap condition is one of the issues to worry about. I would imagine shipping companies have rules as to use of chains and cables and maintenance to follow. The fabric straps are easily damaged and that damage may not be apparent. Personally buying new straps every time might be a good idea for a yacht owner to consider... and cheap insurance too.

Construction of a good purpose constructed and fitted cradle should not be really that expensive and 50,000 to 100,000 euro [I would guess for this boat] might seem a waste... for one time use... but really is it ??? Particularly, if the yacht is 20-30 million euro in value ??? But it can be reused but there is possibly a storage problem.