On 3 March the UK’s largest crane passed under the Forth bridges in Scotland after a 14,000-nautical-mile sea voyage, bound for Babcock’s Rosyth Dockyard in Fife. The Goliath crane will play a vital role in the assembly of the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers.
The crane left its construction site at Shanghai, China on 17 December on board the heavy lift vessel. The St Vincent-flagged 44,770dwt vessel had to be ballasted down considerably so that there was a two-metre clearance under the Forth bridges. The crane was delivered partially erected, with the girder and upper sections of the legs already assembled, and it was erected to its full height on the ship deck over a six-week period, before being winched from directly onto the crane rails. It will take over four months to erect, test and commission the crane, which should be available in September.
