Please first view the video about the Glensanda facility. My company bid for this loader back in 1986. Thank goodness we never got further.

The workings are now nowhere near as environmentally friendly as originally suggested. The stacker has turned out to be very environmentally unfriendly indeed and there is sod all they can do about it because a dust chute won't clear the travelling cranes or stacked hatch covers. Shame. But what the Outer Hebridean Authorities can pretend not to see is their affair. This outloading facility allegedly faces open sea so the workings wouldn't impair the view from land. Really? Glensanda supposedly mines granite from a cavern dug deep inside the island. That is quite common in mainland UK and offshore coal mining and outloading was pioneered by 13th century monks not far away. Scottish independence notwithstanding: the hollow island will also make a good nuclear submarine base. So there really is money in them thar' hills.

Whatever. My main interest is on the ship and the crane for the hatch covers. This gadget has plenty of headroom to carry unloading grabs. Does it: and if not: why not?

I suspect the main crane has those auxiliary cranes to swing a grab into place but I cannot see the cross travel hoist. Is there one?

If the crane can carry a hatch cover it can carry a loaded grab. Is there any more information on this technique, please? ■