Patent ID: 7780397

Claim:
A method of loading items onto a vessel with a hold, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a rotating lift truck, the lift truck having a rotator and an elevator both of which being operably connected to the lift truck; (b) using the elevator of the rotating lift truck to elevate two palletized stacks of cartons of frozen chicken located in a first area, the palletized stack of cartons having pallets supporting a plurality of layers of cartons, each layer having a plurality of cartons, the first stack having a first height and the second stack having a second height, the first height being substantially larger than the second height; (c) using the rotating lift truck to move the elevated stack of cartons from the first area to a loading area for loading on a lifting robot, the lifting robot having a base loading area; (d) using the rotator of the rotating lift truck to rotate the elevated stack of cartons and pallets by at least about 180 degrees in a first direction, the rotator having a rotation stop for automatically stopping rotation at 180 degrees; (e) during at least part of step “d” the rotating lift truck moving the elevated stack of cartons closer to the loading area; (f) using the rotating lift truck to load the stack of cartons on the lifting robot, wherein the pallet is located above the base loading area of the lifting robot; and (g) preventing the pallet from being raised with the loading robot.