Winches for dredgers and vessels

Winches for vessels and dredgers

No large vessel can do without such essential marine equipment as winches. They not only ensure the safety of the vessel but also help improve the efficiency of automated operations on board, such as deck work, lowering anchors or fishing nets, towing operations and cargo handling.

Just like vessel types, winches have their own properties and purposes, so the selection or design of winches for a specific application must be approached with great care.

For example, swing winches are mainly designed to keep the dredging head in continuous contact with the soil and to maintain the required pressure while the cutter is operating. Such winches are used in dredger design.

When it comes to designing an icebreaker or a tug, it must be equipped with towing winches capable of towing vessels of various weights and purposes.

And every vessel must be fitted with an anchor-mooring winch. Mooring operations are impossible without this type of winch; these winches make it possible to adjust the tension of the mooring lines as the water level fluctuates or the vessel's draft changes during cargo operations.

All these differences are determined by a number of characteristics:

• drive type: hydraulic or electric;
• compact design: possibility of transport by rail or road;
• control: remote or local;
• speed control: precise (0.5–80 m/min);
• monitoring of paid-out rope length;
• replaceable drum;
• various rope spooling systems;
• adjustable load and lifting force

Based on these characteristics, you can select the right hoisting and pulling mechanism for your vessel.