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NAVFAC Successfully Tests Ship-to-Ship Cargo Handling System

Posted on: Friday, 1 July 2005, 09:00 CDT

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) reported on June 16 that it has completed successful at-sea testing of the quarter-scale Automated Logistics (AutoLog) cargo handling system, which is designed to move cargo from ship to ship during heavy seas.

"The AutoLog system has the potential to revolutionize the way the Navy transfers sea-based cargo," said Capt. William Beary, commanding officer, Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center (NFESC) at Port Hueneme (California), the NAVFAC command managing the AutoLog project.

"With AutoLog, the fleet will have greater flexibility to conduct operations through a broad spectrum of sea conditions. Transfer operations will also be safer, faster and more responsive to the logistics requirements of forces ashore," Capt. Beary said.

For safety reasons, conventional ship cranes cannot accomplish ship-to-ship cargo handling operations in seas greater than sea state 2, particularly when offloading cargo from a ship deck to an adjacent lighter/barge. In sea state 2, winds are at least nine knots, with waves at least one-and-a-half feet high. According to the Defense Science Board, finding a solution to this cargo handling challenge is one of the three critical technological issues that must be solved for the Navy to implement Sea Basing, one of the key pillars of the Chief of Naval Operations' Sea Power 21 strategy.

Instead of a moving crane boom, AutoLog employs four fixed "telemasts," each equipped with a winch and cable, located on the starboard and port sides of a ship deck. The four cables from each telemast meet at a common spreader, which is the device used to pick up a cargo container. Using robotics controls, the four cables can be differentially moved to stabilize the spreader and container in a spatial frame of reference, independent of ship movement. In contrast, a conventional crane has a suspended load dangling from a crane boom and is subject to ship movement as it is buffeted by sea swells.

The recent at-sea testing included moving a quarter-scale container from a fixed ship location to a target area on a lighter alongside the ship. Numerous tests were performed, resulting in the majority of landings being within one foot of the target area - despite the amplified heave, yaw and other unconstrained motions of the unballasted lighter, which simulated a ballasted ship platform in high sea state conditions.

With completion of sea-based testing using the quarter-scale system, the AutoLog team is now developing a full-scale prototype using a lightweight load that is scheduled for testing in Summer 2006. The team is also working with Tomahawk missile logisticians at Naval Surface Warfare Center Port Hueneme, to evaluate and test the reloading of Vertical Launching Systems (VLS) at sea.

END

Source: Pentagon Brief

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