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Lift-Away Hatch Covers

Lift-Away Hatch Cover (also called Pontoon Hatch Cover) on a container ship serves the purpose of weather-tight sealing into the hatchway and carries additional cargoes on top of the hatch cover.

The design of a Lift-Away Hatch Cover for a vessel involves many factors such as structure rigidity, stack weight, etc. SMS-SME has optimized Lift-Away hatch covers for its light-weighted but rigid structure.

SMS-SME has successfully supplied Lift-Away Hatch Covers to major shipyards in South Korea, China, and Japan from 3 rows up to 6 rows of containers per panel, covering 1,000 TEU feeder to 23,000 TEU mega-container carries.

The supply includes not only engineering,

but also completed structure of hatch cover by Mokpo factory in South Korea.

SMS-SME partner factory in Korea : Hatch covers are manufactured at the Mokpo factory with quality control from steel cutting to painting.
NC cutting machine, automatic welding machine.

Finite Element Method

Hatch cover design is tested on a 3D modeling program for deflection control, structure rigidity, fatigue, etc.

The Lift-Away Hatch Cover design has brought to the most optimized light-weighted but rigid structure based on our 29 years of
experience and additional CAE and 3D modeling.
For safe loading in a harsh sea environment, rigidity cannot be compromised, and we are always assuring structure safety through
Finite Element Method (FEM) modeling.

Pads have gone through many innovation from the first model.

SMS-SME also focuses on harmony with ship hull design and hatch cover structure understanding. We have developed various support pads and rubber packings for easy maintenance and lifespan extension.

We believe the best solution is now the sandwich pad, while many types of pads are used, from weldox, hardox, bronze to engineering plastic pads in the pad ships.
Our SMS-SME Sandwich Pad has evolved to integrate precise layering of steel and rubber, so our products withstand the harshest environment of the sea for the intended purpose.

The benefit of a Sandwich Pad includes

Sandwich Pad encases steel plates using weather-tight rubber material, providing rigidity and cushion.
It is corrosion-resistant and does not require pad housing, saving maintenance costs.

It’s also easy for maintenance and replacement and prevents friction between hatch cover and hatch coaming with reduced noise and vibration pollution.

A rubber sealing system is introduced to expel the liquid and small objects by predesigned channels.
This system provides a protective barrier for the cargo and vessel from foreign elements like fallen particles, seawater damage, etc., thus it minimizes the maintenance requirement.

Our extensive range of original seals and sealing systems will meet any requirements.

We ensure that each sealing system performs its intended purpose through in-house testing, from pressured rubber packing to flap rubber sealing solution.

A reasonable sealing force is indispensable for the sealing arrangement.

The coaming arrangement must work correctly at the same time as well.
SMS-SME looks through the whole system to provide optimal alignment of all parts, areas such as the tightness and position of the covers,
and the counterpart positions are correct.
The additional components like support pads, locators, and restraints must be arranged in the optimal position.

As any changes in a part of the arrangement will affect the rest of the system.