u/DikkeBMW69

Hi all,

I have a question regarding swl of schackles on tugboats and would appreciate your professional opinion on the following.

Apparently it is normal practice to cross SWL of schackles in tugboats operations. Since schackles usually have a safety factor of 5-6 breaking load would be 5-6 times SWL. What happens is that tugboatowners hold a safety margin of around 3 times SWl, so if a schackles is rated at 85 tons you can use it until 3*85 255 tons pull in towing operations.

This surprised me. Can the community here give their wisdom on this practice? I would appreciate it. Is this normal practice? Is this done in other industries?

Thank you.