Chester company debuts new marine crane
Hawboldt Industries in Chester unveiled what it’s calling “the country’s most advanced marine crane” on Wednesday.
The HAW66-300K, which Hawboldt maintains is the largest and most complex marine crane ever built in Canada, is designed to protect commercial ships, fishermen, recreational sailors and armed forces personnel at sea.
“What makes this unique for Hawboldt is it’s physically so much larger than any crane we’ve built before; it’s five times larger,” general manager Dylan Wells said during a demonstration of the crane on Wednesday.
“So, we had to invest in some new testing grounds to actually mount it and pick up the weights that it needed to prove it meets the requirements of the customer’s specs.”
The HAW66-300K, which can be used at temperatures as low as minus 30, was built to support the Canadian Coast Guard’s Aid to Navigation operations. Critical maritime infrastructure, including navigational aids such as buoys, are maintained by the coast guard to assist mariners in locating their position and warn of dangers and obstructions. It’s valued somewhere between $2.5 million and $3.5 million.
“This is a milestone moment for our company, for Nova Scotia and for the country. This crane is exceptional,” Wells said in a news release.
“It can operate in Arctic conditions and is built to stringent ... standards to ensure safety while crew are performing lifts offboard the vessel at sea.”
The crane has three hoists, weighs 95,000 kilograms and has a reach of 20 metres. Its builder says it can lift navigational buoys and other items up to 28 tonnes.
Hawboldt, which employs 60 people, says it’s the only manufacturer in the country making this advanced type of crane, which was built as part of Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy.
“The construction of equipment like the HAW66300K will support the work of the coast guard for decades to come,” said Wells.
“The NSS enables companies like ours to develop new capabilities to improve our position in the global marine equipment market while providing long-term highly skilled jobs.”