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Displaying items by tag: Cranes

Three huge cranes which left Cork Harbour at the end of August have arrived at their final destination the New York area, as RTÉ News reports.

Tom MacSweeney covered the three Limerick-built cranes upon their departure from Port of Cork on board the Big Lift Baffin for their transatlantic journey.

As our own Jehan Ashmore previously wrote, the three 150m ship-to-shore (STS) Liebherr cranes represent the largest single objects ever engineered in Ireland.

Logistics for transporting the massive ‘megamax’ cranes were complicated by the presence of the Bayonne Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey, which has a clearance less than half that of their fully assembled height.

But the Big Lift successfully passed the bridge on schedule on Saturday afternoon (10 September) and the cranes will now be installed at Maher Terminals at Port Newark in New Jersey.

RTÉ News has more on the story HERE.

Published in Port of Cork

#CorkHarbour - The first of three Liebherr cranes has been loaded onto the Albatross heavy lift vessel at the Port of Cork.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the three 85-metre-tall cranes — each weighing more than 1,000 tonnes — are bound for Puerto Rico after being assembled from kit form at Cobh by employees from the Liebherr plan in Kerry.

Liebherr Marine has posted photos captured by drone as the first crane was loaded onto the specially adapted Albatross in Cork Harbour yesterday (Wednesday 22 February):

Published in Cork Harbour

Three cranes, each weighing more than 1,000 tonnes and 85 metres high will be loaded on to a massive ship next week in Cork Harbour bound for Puerto Rico. It will be an amazing feat of engineering and an equally spectacular sight at the Port of Cork to see the massive cargo depart Roches Point.

The cranes have been asembled from kit form having first been shipped by sea from Fenit in County Kerry to the Doyle Shipping Group Terminal at Rushbrooke in Cork Harbour.

60 employees from the Liebherr crane plant in Kerry have been constructing the massive cranes prior to their transatlantic voyage.

The specially adapted ship, The Albatross from Holland, arrived yesterday into the Port of Cork awaiting its giant cargo alongside at Cork Dockyard, as the photo below shows. Known as a 'heavy lift' vessel, the Albatross is 264.45 metres long and 42.54 metres wide, the ship has a maximum speed of 9.5 knots.

HEAVY LIFT ALBATROSS AT CORK DOCKYARDThe heavy-lift ship, Albatross, is making maritime history in Cork Harbour this weekend having arrived at Cork Dockyard to transport three huge, fully-completed dock cranes to Puerto Rico Photo: Tom MacSweeney

Tom MacSweeney in Cork Harbour adds:  It is the first time that the Liebherr crane manufacturing company based at Killarney has exported fully-assembled cranes from Ireland for which they used the Cork Dockyard facility at Rushbrooke near Cobh to assemble them over the past few months.

The ship can automatically lie level alongside the dockyard quayside at all stages of the tide during the loading operation which is expected to take 4 to 5 days. Tracks will be laid to move the cranes onto the vessel.The Albatross will then move across Monkstown Bay to Ringaskiddy deepwater port where the cranes will be bolted to the ship and she will ballast for the voyage to Puerto Rico.

Published in Cork Harbour

Naval Visits focuses on forthcoming courtesy visits by foreign navies from our nearest neighbours, to navies from European Union and perhaps even those navies from far-flung distant shores.

In covering these Naval Visits, the range of nationality arising from these vessels can also be broad in terms of the variety of ships docking in our ports.

The list of naval ship types is long and they perform many tasks. These naval ships can include coastal patrol vessels, mine-sweepers, mine-hunters, frigates, destroyers, amphibious dock-landing vessels, helicopter-carriers, submarine support ships and the rarer sighting of submarines.

When Naval Visits are made, it is those that are open to the public to come on board, provide an excellent opportunity to demonstrate up close and personal, what these look like and what they can do and a chance to discuss with the crew.

It can make even more interesting for visitors when a flotilla arrives, particularly comprising an international fleet, adding to the sense of curiosity and adding a greater mix to the type of vessels boarded.

All of this makes Naval Visits a fascinating and intriguing insight into the role of navies from abroad, as they spend time in our ports, mostly for a weekend-long call, having completed exercises at sea.

These naval exercises can involve joint co-operation between other naval fleets off Ireland, in the approaches of the Atlantic, and way offshore of the coasts of western European countries.

In certain circumstances, Naval Visits involve vessels which are making repositioning voyages over long distances between continents, having completed a tour of duty in zones of conflict.

Joint naval fleet exercises bring an increased integration of navies within Europe and beyond. These exercises improve greater co-operation at EU level but also internationally, not just on a political front, but these exercises enable shared training skills in carrying out naval skills and also knowledge.

Naval Visits are also reciprocal, in that the Irish Naval Service, has over the decades, visited major gatherings overseas, while also carrying out specific operations on many fronts.

Ireland can, therefore, be represented through these ships that also act as floating ambassadorial platforms, supporting our national interests.

These interests are not exclusively political in terms of foreign policy, through humanitarian commitments, but are also to assist existing trade and tourism links and also develop further.

Equally important is our relationship with the Irish diaspora, and to share this sense of identity with the rest of the World.