27.08.2014

Manitou Rotary for Harbour

Ullapool Harbour, on Scotland’s west coast, has taken delivery of a fully equipped Manitou MRT1850 360 degree telehandler.

When Ullapool harbour master Kevin Peach began looking for a versatile loading machine for the small port, he looked at a wide variety of different equipment, including cranes and aerial lifts. He chose the Manitou MRT1850 rotary telehandler as it was able to cover a whole range of applications.

Ullapool Harbour attracts an increasing variety of vessels including passenger and freight ferries, fishing vessels, cruise ships, tall ships and pleasure craft - most of which have some requirement for handling. Larger vessels require palletised loads to be handled efficiently and safely which the Manitou is of course designed to do, but it is also used fort suspended loads and as an aerial work platform. It is also versatile enough to be used on a wide range of essential harbour maintenance duties.
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The over the wall capability of the 360 degree telehandler with winch is proving very useful for harbour work

The MRT 1850 was supplied by local dealer, G. M. Leitch of Inverness and is equipped with a selection of front end attachments including a five tonne winch, an extendible work platform, pallet forks, a bucket and lifting hook. An optional extra wide carriage is fitted for enhanced load handling.

General duties include over the side harbour wall work, handling trawler netting and sails from yacht masts, positioning 20ft empty containers - weighing around 2.2 tonnes, and handling frozen fish blocks. Eight harbour operators have been fully trained and certificated to operate the MRT1850 in order to give the Harbour the flexibility to ensure that all loads are handled on a prompt, efficient and safe basis.

Peach said: “A number of years ago we replaced a tractor loader with a 14 metre Manitou MT1440 telehandler and noticed the benefits immediately. The logical step up was to an 18 metre rotary and the new MRT1850 represents the latest technology for a rapidly developing harbour business.”

Latest developments at Ullapool Harbour include a 33 metre extension to the ferry berthing pier to coincide with the arrival of the new Ullapool to Stornoway ferry. The MV Loch Seaforth is a 116 metre roll-on roll-off ferry capable of transporting 700 passengers and 143 cars or 20 commercial vehicles. The ferry terminal building is undergoing a second storey extension to accommodate the new Passenger Access system.

The harbour supports a local inshore shellfish fleet of prawn creel and trawl fishermen all year round, combined with seasonal landings of crabs, lobsters and scallops. The harbour has also supported the fish farm industry for many years, initially with the transfer of feedstuffs and more recently with the transhipping of live salmon smolts from shore sites via purpose built tank ships to west coast sea farms.
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The Manitou MRT1850 in Ullapool