Renowned French yacht builder equips its production with ABUS EOT cranes

The French shipbuilding company “Construction Navale Bordeaux” (www.cnb-yachts.com) was founded in 1987 and forms part of the Bénéteau Group (www.beneteau.com).

Construction Navale Bordeaux build sailing and motor yachts between 18 and 24 metres long using composite materials. CNB supply discerning yachtsmen and those who love luxury. In doing so, they have gained unbeatable experience in meeting the highest technological standards. Their know-how has been recognised by numerous prestigious international awards.

The shipyard in Bordeaux has acquired an international reputation thanks to their construction quality and the finish of their vessels across all their brands but in particular for Lagoon, the world leader in cruising catamarans with lengths between 11 and 24 metres.

The shipyard is situated in Bordeaux on the banks of the river Garonne just a short distance from huge vineyards. The shipyard covers an area of 105,000 m² with 56,000 m² roofed.

The 300-metre long deep-water quay is ideal for launching and initial testing.

Construction Navale Bordeaux has currently more than 800 employees.

ABUS Levage, the French subsidiary of the ABUS Kransysteme group, has been supporting CNB in their development and productivity improvement since 1999. 27 ABUS EOT cranes have been installed so far: they all feature two wire rope hoists each (with load totalisation) that make it easy and safe to handle bulky sub-assemblies. Production takes place in 3 workshops:

CNB1: This is where prototypes are assembled. A ZLK double girder EOT crane with a load capacity of 2 x 10 tonnes is installed here.

CNB2: Moulding of hulls, decks and upper roofs of the “Lagoon” multihulls takes place here. This workshop features single girder EOT cranes ELK with 2 x 5 tonnes and 2 x 7.5 tonnes SWL respectively.

CNB3: This workshop is used for the assembly of the catamarans and the installation of the decks on the finished boats before final inspection. It is equipped with single girder EOT cranes of the ELK type with SWLs of 2 x 2 tonnes and 2 x 4 tonnes.

Several tandem operating features allow the use of 2 EOT cranes simultaneously for the transport of loads attached to 4 synchronised hooks.

Yachts and catamarans are launched directly via CNB’s slipway overlooking the river Garonne.

CNB have more than 1,500 boats to their credit by now thanks to their modernised and well maintained production equipment.