Self-Deploying Cruise Ship Gangway

Nautical Structures Industries is proud to be supporting the construction of a large cruise ship being built in the United States. Utilizing our expertise in engineering and developing unique boarding solutions the shipyard and vessel design team engaged Nautical Structures to develop multiple boarding gangways for the ship. The primary gangway shown in these images stows in the full 22.15m/72.6 ft beam-width of the ship, and self-deploys to both starboard and port sides of the ship. If both sides of this gangway were to be folded open simultaneously this structure would measure 34.92-meters / 114.5-feet long tip-to-tip!

A steel transport car drives the gangway out of the ship on a set of tracks. The gangway provides a total deployment length of 15.24m / 50.0-ft to either side of the ship, and rotates forward 85-degrees and aft 15-degrees for optimal boarding configurations. Integrated handrails deploy along both sides of the gangway. Hydraulic one-way bypass and "Float" features allow the gangway to be positioned on multiple embarkation locations that will be visited by the ship. The fact that the gangway self-deploys and self-centers for storage provides the ship flexibility to board and discharge passengers in locations where Stevedore service may not be available.

The gangway system is a hybrid construction of mild steel in the transport car and marine grade aluminum construction in the gangway sections. Nautical Structures' unique folding hinge design allows the gangway sections to fold 180-degrees for compact stowage in the ship. This folding design also ensures the walking surfaces remain consistent in width and planar-surface. Ramps for wheelchair access are built into the gangway for ADA compliance. This gangway Conforms with ISO 5488, ISO 7061; Gangway standards for sea-going vessels.

Nautical Structures Industries brings our thirty-five years of equipment design and manufacturing experience to the maritime industry to provide unique and innovative solutions. For more specific information regarding this gangway solution, or other interesting projects contact me directly at [email protected]