Heavy lift

Heavy lift is a single cargo item too heavy for ordinary ship gear, generally a piece above 100 tonnes that needs purpose-built cranes or floating sheerlegs. Project cargoes such as transformers, reactor vessels, port cranes, and yacht hulls fall in this class. Heavy lift vessels carry derricks or revolving cranes rated to several hundred or, on the largest, over 1,000 tonnes, often in tandem lift, plus reinforced tank tops and strong points for lashing. The freight is quoted as a lump sum reflecting the lift weight, the engineering, and the deck or hold space the piece sterilizes.