When Sutton Harbour Fisheries needed an alternative method of handling fish boxes from boats to the quayside while its normal facilities were out of action due to scheduled harbour maintenance in 2007, it found a vehicle mounted Penny Hydraulics Swing Lift crane offered an ideal solution.
“We are very pleased with the crane and it's been exactly what we needed,” says Pete Bromley, Harbourmaster and Fisheries Manager of Sutton Harbour Company.
Based in Plymouth, UK, Sutton Harbour Fisheries is one of the most successful fish markets in the UK, trading millions of pounds worth of fish each year caught locally or landed at other ports throughout the country. The harbour is accessed through a lock gate which can be closed to create a haven for local boats to moor and land their catch. Sutton Harbour Fisheries normally offloads fish boxes using specialist handling equipment permanently installed at the quayside. The lock gate was scheduled for renewal during the second half of 2007 and this meant the boats would need to find an alternative position to land their catch while the work was being carried out because they would not have access to the harbour.
Sutton Harbour Fisheries recognised that it needed to find an effective temporary method for landing the local catch safely and efficiently so that the fishermen's livelihoods would not be affected. A permanent location was considered impractical and instead the company came up with the idea of a crane mounted on a vehicle that could drive to any position along the quayside and lift fish boxes from the boats and take them to the market. Pete Bromley made contact with Penny Hydraulics which proposed one of its Swing Lift cranes with an integrated electric winch for handling loads below quay level. The crane was installed to the manufacturer's specification at the rear of a new Iveco extended flatbed pickup by a local specialist marine engineer.
When a boat arrives at the quay the vehicle drives alongside and uses the crane to lift up to three fish boxes weighing as much as 200kg in total from the boat to the platform. The simple design of the crane allows the boom to be extended and positioned by hand for simplicity and reliability. Depending on the size of boat and tide the crane may need to lift the boxes from up to 8m (25ft) below quay level. This is achieved using the crane's integrated electric winch to lift and lower the boxes. As soon as items are clear of the quayside the boom is rotated by hand so that loads can be lowered onto the vehicle. When the boxes have been offloaded the pickup takes the catch to market before returning to the quay for more fish. Reliability is vital because fish must reach market as soon as possible after arriving at the quayside.
Sutton Harbour Fisheries has already found a number of other jobs it can do with the crane and has now decided to keep the vehicle once the harbour reopens even though it had originally decided that the truck and crane would only be needed while the lock gates were out of action.
