ACRM's Meclift is important to operations

An ML1612R compact variable reach truck from Oy Meclift Ltd of Tampere, Finland is accompanying the America's Cup World Series during its global road show for sailboat races involving wing-sail catamarans.

The reach truck has a lifting capacity of 35,200 lb. (16, 000 kg), a diesel Volvo model TAD 650 VE engine and a cabin capable of vertical hydraulic movement up to 26 in. (650 mm). ZF Friedrichshafen AG manufactured the three-speed automatic transmission, and Kessler & Co GmbH & Co KG made the drive axle.

Peter Ansell, onshore operation director for America's Cup Race Management (ACRM), says organisers acquired the Meclift in advance of events that required its use in Cascais, Portugal on 6-14 August and Plymouth, England in September.

ACRM rents additional equipment locally as needed.

For the San Diego event in November, for instance, ACRM rented five other forklifts with lifting capacities of 7,700 lb. (3,465 kg) through Hertz Equipment Rental Corp's San Diego facility. Hertz Equipment is a business segment of publicly traded Park Ridge, New Jersey-based Hertz Corp.

In setting up and dismantling a race village in each location, ACRM uses the Meclift reach truck in loading and unloading cargo.

For the 30-day trip from Plymouth to San Diego through the Panama Canal, Ansell says the cargo ship HR Constitution transported the Meclift reach truck, a crane, nine catamarans, the equivalent of 108 shipping containers and 20 support boats. Total weight of the shipment: 6.6 million lb. (2.97 million kg).

The 2012 schedule includes two world series events in Italy - 7-15 April in Naples and 12-20 May in Venice - and the series conclusion on 23 June-1 July in Newport, Rhode Island, US.

The world series with 45 ft. (13.5 m) catamarans is a prelude to the 160-year-old America's Cup in San Francisco, California, tentatively on 7-21 September 2013, with each team using a 72 ft. (21.6 m) catamaran.