Page 24: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2013)

24 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? DECEMBER 2013 No industry has escaped the economic changes of the last decade, and the marine industry is certainly no ex-ception. But with every economic strug-gle emerges new solution providers, poised to help Þ ll new needs. St. James Stevedoring Partners LLC is among these innovators in the marine in-dustry. It operates the state-of-the-art St. James Stevedoring (SJS) bulk handling operations along the lower Mississippi River serving ocean going vessels and river barges and transloading millions of tons of dry bulk commodities. To offer the most efÞ cient transfer of bulk cargo between ocean vessel and river barge, SJS uses 10 mobile harbor crane barges. This mid-stream transloading of cargo provides maximum efÞ ciency, ß exibil-ity, and value to its customers. Striving to continuously evolve, SJS is fully committed to Þ nding and evaluat- ing high-quality and reliable technologi-cal solutions that will improve its opera-tions and service. Lighting efÞ ciency has emerged as a key factor. With the goals of innovation, ef Þ cien-cy and safety in mind, SJS began work-ing with Phoenix Products Company to outÞ t its Gottwald Model 8 mobile har- bor cranes with LED ß oodlights. The companies collaborated to un-derstand the challenges of lighting a barge-based bulk handling crane and ul- timately chose ModCom Hi 300W LED ß oodlights with a customized optical ar- rangement to replace the existing 1000W Metal Halide Þ xtures.To fully analyze this new option, SJS wanted to directly compare the lighting on two of the crane barges ? one retro- Þ tted with LED Þ xtures and one with existing traditional metal halide lighting. The KevinD barge was used as the reference for their existing lighting tech-nology, and the C.J.L. barge was chosen for the retroÞ t. It is now among the Þ rst mobile harbor cranes to have the main production and boom lighting converted fully to LED. LED Stability Many lighting challenges result from the high-vibration environment of port equipment. The constant, rapid move- ment of cranes does not enhance the re-liability of traditional lighting Þ xtures, making maintenance a huge expense. And, for a bulk terminal that faces the demands that SJS experiences daily, consistency and productivity are impera-tive. The cranes are operating 22 ? 24 hours per day, seven days a week. There is no time for unscheduled maintenance, es-pecially since replacing a broken lamp involves laying the crane out on the deck of the barge and keeping the crane out of service for up to two hours.Whether it?s to replace a broken lamp or repair a Þ xture, sending someone to perform maintenance on port equipment is time consuming, expensive and dan-gerous. Because LED lighting is solid-state technology, there are no moving parts, fragile Þ laments, or breakable glass. Quality LEDs are also typically rated for 50,000 hours. For a Þ xture that is on 12 hours each day, that equates to more than 11 years. Instant-On Lighting Traditional lighting like the 1000W metal halide ß oodlights installed on the KevinD requires up to a 15 minute warm-up period following a power inter-ruption. Conversely, LED Þ xtures reach full brightness in less than a second. For a facility like SJS, the elimination of warm-up time increases productivity by an average of 5 ? 7 cycles for every shut-down during night operations. Safety on the deck of the barge was SJS? number one consideration when teaming up with Phoenix to outÞ t the Port Security ? TechnologyLED LightingReduce Costs, Enhance SafetyJoey Cehan grew up working in his family?s genera- tor rewind shop in Louisiana. He then spent six years owning and operating Marine Electrical Contracting Company. In 2000, Joey switched his focus to outside sales, which has earned him a combined 32 years of experience in the marine industry. MR #12 (18-25).indd 24MR #12 (18-25).indd 2411/27/2013 2:41:03 PM11/27/2013 2:41:03 PM