Newport Shipyard Buys Custom Marine Travelift
Marine Travelift Inc. announced that Newport Shipyard has purchased a customized 200CII mobile boat hoist for its Newport, R.I. facility. When it’s delivered this fall, the machine will join the 70-, 100- and 500-ton Marine Travelift hoists currently in operation.
The new 200CII boasts the first top-beam extension on a Marine Travelift 200-ton hoist and has been designed to use piers that were dedicated to a 100-ton machine and to travel into an indoor workspace.
According to Eli Dana, Newport Shipyard’s General Manager, the yard was facing two challenges that prompted the 200CII purchase.
“We’ve had increased demand from commercial customers, whose vessels are too heavy for the 100-ton hoist and are more difficult to schedule for the 500-ton due to space restrictions,” Dana explained. “The new 200CII will allow us to handle more commercial customers in the same footprint as the 100-ton.”
“Second, we needed a machine with a specific height so it could travel into our shed,” he continued. “That will make us more competitive for larger refit work. Otherwise, we have to hire trailers to move boats into the building.”
The Marine Travelift and Newport Shipyard teams worked together to customize the 200CII design to meet shipyard needs. The result: a unique mobile boat hoist that will fit the current pier size—and be short enough to move in and out of the work shed, which allows the yard to work on vessels year-round.
“The help Marine Travelift provided was so valuable,” Dana said. “They engineered this machine to meet our very specific needs, and we had great communication throughout the process. Our relationship with them is a long-standing one. Their team bent over backward to create a machine that is very specific, yet also offers maximum versatility within our parameters.”
Newport Shipyard has purchased four Marine Travelift mobile boat hoists in 16 years, three of those purchases taking place in just the last six.
The new 200CII is a key component of Newport Shipyard’s ongoing expansion program, which is allowing the yard to operate around the clock and hire more employees. And, its many features contribute to enhanced operational efficiencies as the yard continues to grow.
As Dana noted, each feature is important for different reasons. In addition to the custom design that allows the new machine to fit on the existing piers and travel in and out of the indoor workspace, the top-beam extension accommodates the superstructures of larger vessels, allowing the yard to broaden its reach among potential customers.
The raised engine compartment provides better access for forklifts as they place boat stands underneath a vessel. And the lifting blocks allow slings to directly attach, so operators don’t need to use a 7-foot spreader.
“It helps to maximize lifting height,” Dana said.
Newport Shipyard staff members are awaiting the new 200CII’s delivery so they can start taking advantage of the benefits and added value it will provide to their operation, the manufacture said. Here, too, Dana said the Marine Travelift commitment to its partners truly shines.
“I was pleasantly surprised by a call from Jason Johnson, North America Director of Sales, letting us know that they will be moving delivery up from mid-December to October of this year,” he said. “That allows us to use it for our end-of-season hauling.”
Located downtown on Newport Harbor, Newport Shipyard is Newport's oldest working boat- and shipyard facility. With dockage for boats ranging in size from 20 to 350 feet, and host of one of the country’s most celebrated sailboat races, the Newport-Bermuda Race, Newport has been christened “New England’s Yachting Hub.” Its expansion is a significant development for the marine industry in Rhode Island and the Northeast, for which it serves as a major resource.
