Shipyard illumination is typically broken into sub-categories of wall pack, flood, and canopy dock lighting. LED lighting systems are an ideal solution for all three sub-categories. SpecGrade LED produces luminaires with high beam uniformity for consistent lighting across an entire shipyard. They also provide a high Color Rendering Index (“CRI”) to replicate natural lighting conditions, improving contrast and visibility. With better uniformity, shipyard employees experience less fatigue that can be associated with moving between well-lit and poorly-lit environments. The combination of all of these elements creates a shipyard with maximum safety, security and efficiency.
LED systems have been shown to reduce shipyard operating expenses and maintenance costs. LED lighting produces more illumination for less than half the electricity costs of traditional lighting systems, such as high-pressure sodium or metal halide lighting. LED’s also have a longer useful lifespan, with LED fixtures lasting upwards of 50,000 hours of continuous operations and in some cases upwards of 100,000 hours. LED heat sink technology reduces thermal loads that can degrade LED performance over time, thus further adding to the durability of LED systems. If a single luminaire does fail, or is damaged by any operations in a shipyard, maintenance crews can easily replace a single modular fixture with little or no interruption of the functionality of the rest of the lighting system.
Creative folks have begun to use LED lighting to transform shipyards into giant kinetic art installations. While colorful and sometimes spectacular in their own artistic manner, these lighting systems must remain functional for years so the nightly operations can continue. LED products can serve both the artistic and functional needs for warehouses, docks, rail and ship yards.
Shipping operations that rely on round-the-clock operations to maximize their profitability will benefit from the rapid on-off capability of LED systems vs. older technologies that require fifteen minutes after power-up to provide full power output. The resulting energy savings can make a significant difference in generator sizing as well.
