(STURGEON BAY, Wis.) — Marine Travelift Inc. has 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.
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 said. “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 closely together to customize the 200CII design to meet shipyard needs. The result: a 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.
To learn more about Newport Shipyard, visit www.newportshipyard.com. For more information about Marine Travelift, call (920) 743-6202, e-mail the sales team at sales@marinetravelift.com or visit www.marinetravelift.com.
