Mammoet has worked with ESTA to develop new stability SPMT guidelines for transporting large and heavy loads.
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Published in October 2023, the new stability guidelines will be referenced in the first upcoming revision of the DNV ST-N001 Maritime Operations Standard, published by assurance and risk management experts DNV. Mammoet’s involvement in the group is being led by Director of Operations for Europe, Ludo Mous, who possesses over 30 years of industry experience, who said the industry needed to move on from “rules of thumb” approaches with SPMT stability.
“These days, with transport becoming more complex and reaching greater limits, the calculations for stability must be correct,” he said. “By creating awareness of these guidelines, we hope to prevent operations being performed with dangerous and critical transports.”
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To establish the guidelines, testing was carried out by Mammoet on SPMTs at its quayside yard in Schiedam, the Netherlands. It covered aspects such as acceleration, breaking, tilting and emergency stops.
Currently, the ESTA working group is reviewing a learning outcome that will be used to establish the minimum training requirements for an SPMT operator, further enhancing user knowledge and safety.
“The core principle of the guidelines is a calculated approach,” said Mous. “Past guidance was based on a measured stability method. This new method is calculating stability taking into account dynamic factors like braking, acceleration, wind, road camber, and so on.”
Mammoet was part of ESTA’s first SPMT guidelines working group, established in 2016 that created its original Best Practice Guide for SPMT operation. A second, larger workgroup was later formed to review the existing guide and expand on it.
